Rose State College Is Calling All Amateur Radio Operators Published June 21, 2018

Rose State College to host Field Day, 2018, a nation-wide communications drill

Rose State College will play host to “Field Day, 2018,” a national amateur radio emergency communications exercise sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). Participating in the two-day event on June 23-24 will be the Oklahoma City Autopatch Association, a local amateur radio club. This will be the first time Rose State College will host one a Field Day station site, with over 1,500 amateur radio stations estimated to be participating in the demonstration across the country.

Amateur Radio Operators, commonly referred to as Ham Radio Operators, play an important communications role, often times helping to sustain communication during various natural disasters and emergency events when commercial and government communication channels may be overloaded or damaged. Ham radios have played key communication roles in disasters such as the Murrah Federal Building, and various Oklahoma Tornadoes.

This 24-hour communications exercise demonstrates the value of amateur radio, and allows amateur radio operators an opportunity to practice establishing communication stations in non-traditional locations, operating them for extended periods, and provides new amateur radio operators training in emergency communications procedures.  Visitors are welcome and will even be given an opportunity to operate one of the “Field Day” stations.

"Field Day, 2018" will begin at 1 pm on Saturday, June 23, and will continue for 24-hours until 1 pm on Sunday, June 24. Setup for the event will begin at 9 am Saturday morning in the Business Building on campus. Electrical power (110 VAC) will be provided to all amateur radio operators wishing to attend. For more information, contact Thomas W. Webb wa9afm@arrl.net or 405.370.6445.