DARC Winter Field Day 2022

Greetings! The Decatur Amateur Radio Club is trying something different this year.

We are going to try to participate in Winter Field Day on January 29-30,2022.

We’ve never done this event before. It’s not an “official” ARRL contest, but it’s still a great opportunity to gather equipment, set up stations, and operate under less-than-normal conditions. Consider it practice for winter or spring weather emergencies.

WFDA Logo

Winter Field Day runs for 24 hours during the last full weekend in January each year from 1900UTC (1:00pmCST) Saturday to 1900UTC (1:00pmCST) Sunday. The Winter Field Day website has details, rules, and the history of this event.

We have reserved the main pavilion at Delano Park in Decatur for both Winter and Summer Field Days for 2022. It’s the same large pavilion near the tennis courts that we used last June for Field Day 2021.

Carlton Corbitt KI4NHK is heading up this effort. We’re looking to setup 2 HF stations although 3 stations could be possible. There is no GOTA station for Winter Field Day so we suggest just using HandyTalkies to communicate within the club and on the repeater.

We can start setting up equipment at 10:00 in the morning on Saturday the 29th at Delano Park and hopefully be on the air by 1:00pm .

What we need to make this happen:

  • 2 HF radios
  • 2 Antenna tuners
  • Equipment to setup antennas (using a man-lift is doubtful due to park rules about not driving on the grass after any rain)
  • 1 generator
  • Food and drinks
  • Shelter from any adverse weather
  • Heaters (maybe)
  • And OPERATORS (especially overnight)

If there are any questions please just ask. Send an e-mail to the club secretary or to Carlton KI4NHK and volunteer!

NOTE: We need to know how many of you are interested. If possible, please let us know ahead of time if you plan on coming out so we have an idea of how many operators and how much equipment we will have.

See you there!

Richard Matthews

Author: KB4CAY

Ham since 1981. Secretary of Decatur Amateur Radio Club since 2001. I like digital modes and listening to local repeaters.