By Barbara A. Preston | June 22, 2022
Learn how to literally throw a wire in a tree for an antenna, connect it to a battery-powered transmitter, and communicate all over the entire United States and around the world.
Rocky Hill Mayor Bob Uhrik, a ham radio enthusiast and member of the David Sarnoff Radio Club, will take part in a 24-hour Amateur Radio Field Day on Saturday, June 25, from 2 pm through 2 pm the following day. He invites Princeton-area residents to join the club event at 707 Alexander Road in West Windsor this weekend to experience and learn about radio.
“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,” according to David Isgur, of the American Radio Relay League, 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.”
“Hams can literally throw a wire in a tree for an antenna, connect it to a battery-powered transmitter and communicate all over the entire US and around the world,” Isgur added.
“Hams do this by using a layer of Earth’s atmosphere as a sort of mirror for radio waves. In today’s electronic do-it-yourself (DIY) environment, ham radio remains one of the best ways for people to learn about electronics, physics, meteorology, and numerous other scientific disciplines, and is a huge asset to any community during disasters or emergencies if the standard communication infrastructure goes down,” he said.
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There are more than 725,000 licensed hams in the United States, as young as nine and as old as 100. Clubs, such the David Sarnoff Radio Club, make it easy for anybody to get involved right here in the Princeton area, says Mayor Uhrik.
"Anyone may become a licensed amateur radio operator," he says. "The Field Day event is designed to showcase amateur radio to the public. Stop by and try it out."
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 more than 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 a disaster or emergency, 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 and create an independent communications network. More than 35,000 people from thousands of locations in the USA participate each year in the national Field Day event.
For more information about Field Day or Amateur Radio, contact the David Sarnoff Radio Club Public Relations Officer, Bob Uhrik at WA2BSP@gmail.com. See additional information about Field Day and the David Sarnoff Radio Club at www.N2RE.org.