Field Day

The 2024 Des Moines Radio Amateurs’ Association WØAK Field Day will be held at THE FORT DES MOINES MUSEUM AND EDUCATION CENTER,  officially beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 22 and ending at 1 p.m. the next day, Sunday, June 23. WØAK will be operating as a 4E station — all stations will be running on emergency power, including three main HF stations, one VHF station.

Visitors from the public are welcome to join us at anytime throughout the event, where they can learn about amateur radio through hands-on operating… you do not need a license or prior experience to participate!

Videos: 2012 Field Day, 2010 Field Day, 2009 Field Day

Details

All Amateur’s are welcomed and encouraged to assist with this year’s event.  Field Day will be held at THE FORT DES MOINES MUSEUM AND EDUCATION CENTER, 75 East Army Post Road, Des Moines.

Schedule of events

Friday June 21st, 2024

1:00pm Set up portable tower, assemble and mount antennas.  Run coax and hang dipoles.  Setup a HF vertical and 6M dipole

Saturday June 22nd, 2024

8:00am Set up radios, logging equipment, and wire antennas.

1:00pm ON THE AIR: Operating begins

5:00pm Chow time! Menu: Brat patties, Hotdogs, & sides.

10:00pm (or earlier) move equipment inside and secure the Field Day Site for the night.

Sunday June 23rd, 2024

8:00am    Connect the equipment and resume operating.

1:00pm    Field Day ends. Take down antennas, disconnect radios, roll up coax, etc.

Location

Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center
75 East Army Post Road
Des Moines, IA

Post Field Day 2022

DMRAA would like to thank all of the volunteers that made Field Day possible.  Without the volunteers Field Day would not be possible.  Please consider participating in Field Day 2023.

Below are pictures from this year.

What is Field Day?
Field Day is the single most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. Each year over 35,000 amateurs gather with their clubs, friends or simply by themselves to operate.

At the event, the public will have a chance to meet and talk with area amateur radio operators and see for themselves what the amateur radio hobby is about. Showing the newest digital, satellite, high-frequency technologies and even historical Morse code, hams from across the nation will be holding public demonstrations of emergency communications abilities. Last year, the DMRAA Field Day operation netted over 1,000 contacts from around the world.

Field Day is not a fully adjudicated contest, which explains much of its popularity. 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, most groups use the opportunity to practice their emergency response capabilities. It is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate Amateur Radio to local elected community leaders, key individuals with the organizations that amateur radio might serve in an emergency, as well as the general public. For many clubs, Field Day is one of the highlights of their annual calendar.

The objective of Field Day is to work as many stations as possible on any and all amateur bands (excluding the 60, 30, 17, and 12-meter bands) and to learn to operate in abnormal situations in less than optimal conditions. Field Day is open to all amateurs in the areas covered by the ARRL/RAC Field Organizations and countries within IARU Region 2. DX stations residing in other regions may be contacted for credit, but are not eligible to submit entries.

Amateur radio activity is growing in the United States. There are more than 700,000 amateur radio operators in the US, and over 2.5 million around the world. The technical skills of hams also has improved as almost 50% of American amateur radio operators have gone beyond the entry-level licensing requirements and passed the more difficult testing to earn higher-class FCC licenses.

Click here for more information on Field Day from the ARRL.

Volunteers needed!

The key to a successful Field Day is its volunteers. In addition to operating between 1 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday (including overnight Saturday), we will need help setting up and tearing down. Setup will begin Friday at 1pm and resume 9 a.m. Saturday at the Field Day site. Tear down will begin immediately following the event at 1 p.m. Sunday. If you would like to help with setup or tear-down, just be there and willing to help make it a great Field Day! If you have specific skills or equipment you would like to assist with, it is preferred to contact the Field Day committee in advance.

Talk-in

A talk-in will be available on the DMRAA WØAK repeater throughout the event, 146.940-, PL 114.8.

Get On The Air (GOTA) station

This station is intended for use by operators who have been licensed in the past year or those operators that have generally been inactive on the HF bands. The station is also available for use by visitors under the supervision of a licensed operator of General class or higher.