
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994                   TAG: 9406290029
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-11   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN                                LENGTH: Medium

HAM CLUB JOINS IN FIELD DAY

Area amateur radio operators will join a nationwide on-air chorus of "CQ field day" this weekend. Members of the New River Valley Amateur Radio Club will be among the thousands of "hams" across the United States and Canada taking part in the annual American Radio Relay League event from a site next to the New River Valley Fairgrounds.

Field day - which got its start in the 1930s - is "ham radio unplugged" for most participants, who set up away from home and power their gear from generators, batteries or even solar, water or wind power rather than from the nearest outlet. The idea is to exchange brief radio messages under quasi-emergency conditions with other stations doing the same thing.

It starts Saturday afternoon and wraps up Sunday afternoon, but groups and individuals often plan weeks or even months ahead of time.

"I've been ready, I stay ready," said Doug Minnick of Christiansburg, this year's club field day chairman. "We're going to start next month for next year's."

For many clubs, groups and individuals, field day means roughing it in a tent somewhere in the woods and running radios from an emergency power source. Generators are the most common.

For the two dozen or so New River Amateur Radio Club members participating in this year's field day, it means setting up three radio operator's positions in a 28-foot Wells Cargo van borrowed from Virginia Tech Network Services - fairly plush accommodations for field day.

"We're going up and exercising our emergency capabilities," said Minnick, whose amateur call sign is KE4HNY. "We'll score some points, but ... we won't be winning any big prize."

Minnick, a Tech employee, said the club's getting to use the van in cooperation with Tech's emergency plan and the Virginia Tech Police.

So far, he said Thursday, everything's coming together for this year's effort, and both radios and an assorted array of antennas are ready to roll Saturday morning.

"It looks like we're going to have some fun, too," he said. The group will power its short-wave radio equipment from a gasoline generator. Operators - using both voice and Morse code - will work shifts throughout the 24-hours the club plans to operate, Minnick explained. "I don't know if I'll stay up all night," he conceded. On air, the club will use the call sign WB3S, which belongs to Bob Cecil, a club member and ham radio equipment dealer from Christiansburg.

Minnick said visitors are welcome to stop by anytime during field day and learn more about the event and amateur radio. To be licensed, hams must pass a Federal Communications Commission examination, and the club can help newcomers get started in the hobby.

The club's field day operation will be set up on the parking area of the New River Valley Fairgrounds, off Virginia 100 just north of Dublin.

by CNB