Radio Fun for All
The High Appalachian Mountain Amateur Radio Society, or HAMARS for short, has perhaps as its highest priority to help amateur radio operators improve their preparedness for disasters and enhance their operational abilities. And club members see Field Days as the organization’s primary crucible for accomplishing this goal.
January 25-26, 2025 will be the sixth consecutive year that the HAMARS club will be participating in Winter Field Day, and the third consecutive year at the Smith Creek Road location. We will be fielding multiple stations at the site, each with its own transceiver, antenna and logging computer, and the communications equipment will be run 100% on alternative power. There are several sites within a few hundred feet of each other where these stations will be based.
The headquarters site–on loan to us from a wonderful neighbor–is an unheated single wide trailer which is used in the warmer months for processing honey from nearby hives, and for canning produce grown in local gardens. This building, which we have named “The Honey House” is near the peak elevation of Smith Creek Road, approximate street number 1845, easily seen just off the south side of Smith Creek Road.
This particular area is known to be cold and snowy in wintertime. There’s six inches of snow on the ground right now, and there’s a commercial ski resort just a mile away. For the early part of the week preceding Winter Field Day, the forecast temperatures for that location are daily highs in the single digits to low teens (Fahrenheit), with nighttime lows in the single digits to below zero. So if you come and visit–and all are welcome–be sure to dress warmly!
If you want to stop by, the best time would be on Saturday, January 25, between 12 Noon and 4 pm Eastern Time. While we’ll be setting up before this time segment and operating into Sunday morning, our availability to be able to talk with you will be hit or miss.