ARRL, the American Radio Relay League, Field Day is the single most popular on-the-air event held annually in the U.S. and Canada.

On the fourth weekend of June of each year, thousands of radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups or simply friends to operate from remote locations.

Field Day is a picnic, a camp out, practice for emergencies, an informal contest and most of all, fun!

It is a time where many aspects of Amateur Radio come together to highlight our many roles. While some will treat it as a contest, other groups use the opportunity to practice their emergency response capabilities. It is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how Amateur Radio could be of service in an emergency to the general public.

The contest part is simply to contact as many other stations as possible and to learn to operate our radio gear in abnormal situations and less than optimal conditions.

We use these skills when we help with events such as marathons, bike-a-thons and so on. These are large, preplanned non-emergency activities.

Despite the development of very complex, modern communication systems, or maybe because they ARE so complex, ham radio has been called into action time and time again to provide communications in crises when it really matters. Amateur Radio people (also known as “hams”) are well known for their communication support in real disaster and post-disaster situations.

The Lincoln County Amateur Radio Club will be participating in Field Day at the Pemaquid Lighthouse in New Harbor.

The Lincoln County EMA office will have an ambulance that has been converted to an emergency communications vehicle which has been nicknamed a “Hambulance” on site as one of the operating stations.

The public is invited to join us not only to see us in action but also are welcome to get on the air as we have a special “Get On The Air” or GOTA” station for that purpose with a mentor at hand for guidance, children as well as adults are welcome to participate.

All stations are operated on “emergency power” consisting of solar/battery as well as generator power.

We start setting up at 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 25 and are on the air at 2 p.m. for 24 hours.

We will have refreshments and coffee available for our guests.

For further information please visit our website, K1LX.org, send us an e-mail at k1lxarc@gmail.com or call Jose Douglas, the club president, at 207-677-0008.

Hope to see you there, this is a rain or shine event though we prefer the sunshine.