Members of the Indian Peaks Radio Club will participate in the national Amateur Radio Field Day (http:// www.arrl.org/field-day) exercise, June 25 – 26, at Columbine Campground (https://www.recreation.gov/camping/ campgrounds/232381) near Black Hawk. The group will stay in the campground over the weekend, making as many radio contacts as possible with people around the country and world using ham radio equipment as a demonstration of emergency readiness.

All are welcome to stop by the campground between noon on Saturday, June 25, and noon on Sunday, June 26 to learn about the use and importance of amateur radio. Since 1933, ham radio operators across North America have established temporary ham radio stations in public locations during Field Day to showcase the science and skill of Amateur Radio.

For over 100 years, Amateur Radio - sometimes called ham radio - has allowed people from all walks of life to experiment with electronics and communications techniques, as well as provide a free public service to their communities during disasters like fires and floods, all without needing a cell phone or the Internet. Field Day demonstrates ham radio’s ability to work reliably under any conditions from almost any location, no matter how remote, and create an independent communications network. Over 18,000 people from thousands of locations participated in Field Day in 2021.

Anyone may become a licensed Amateur Radio operator! As an amateur radio operator, you can learn about electronics, meteorology, physics, and many aspects of science that is practical and helpful in your community. There are over 700,000 licensed hams in the United States and 3 million around the world.

“It’s easy for anyone to pick up a computer or smartphone, connect to the Internet and communicate, with no knowledge of how the devices function or connect to each other,” said Sean Kutzko of the American Radio Relay League (https://www.arrl.org/home), the national association for Amateur Radio. “But if there’s an interruption of service or you’re out of range of a cell tower, you have no way to communicate. Ham radio functions completely independent of the Internet or cell phone infrastructure, can interface with tablets or smartphones, and can be set up almost anywhere in minutes. That’s the beauty of Amateur Radio during a communications outage.”

For more information about amateur radio, visit https://www.arrl.org/what-is- ham-radio and for information about the Indian Peaks Radio Club, visit the club’s website at https://indianpeaksradioclub.org/. Club President, Charley Ray (K4NYN) would be happy to answer any questions about ham radio or membership in the club. Contact Charley and the IPRC Board at board@indianpeaksradioclub.org.

We hope to see you during the 2022 Field Day at Columbine Campground. When you pull in the campground, look for the campsite with an array of antennas!