DES MOINES, Iowa – Central Iowa “hams” will join with thousands of amateur radio operators who will be demonstrating their emergency capabilities on June 23 and 24, capping off National Amateur Radio Week.

At the event – a 24-hour exhibition called Field Day – 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, radio operators from across the nation will be holding public demonstrations of their emergency communications abilities. The public will even have opportunities to make contacts over the air.

Last year’s Des Moines Field Day effort netted almost 1,500 worldwide contacts. At the peak of last year’s event, Des Moines operators were working at a rate of making at least one worldwide contact every 15 seconds.

Radio amateurs are known for their resiliency, technical know-how and ability to go “off the grid,” providing critical communication capabilities when traditional means fail, like cell phones, internet, and public safety radio systems. This was proved most recently following the Creston tornado, when officials discovered that the local school district lost the 80 foot tower that is used for the school bus radio repeater. The Creston Amateur Radio Club offered up their antenna, coax and tower space to the school.

“The fastest way to turn a crisis into a total disaster is to lose communications,” said Allen Pitts of the American Radio Relay League, the national association for amateur radio. “From the earthquake and tsunami in Japan to tornadoes in Missouri, ham radio provided the most reliable communication networks in the first critical hours of the events. Because ham radios are not dependent on the Internet, cell towers or other infrastructure, they work when nothing else is available. We need nothing between us but air.”

Field Day is a 24-hour publicly-held training exercise that helps radio amateurs prepare for emergencies. Skilled work and planning is required to select radio equipment, frequencies, and antennas to facilitate operating under less-than-ideal conditions. During Field Day, operators set up in remote areas, at shopping malls, or even in their own backyards, and get on the air using generators or battery power. Radio operators then try to contact as many other Field Day stations as possible. This year’s Des Moines Field Day is a joint effort between two of Des Moines’ amateur radio clubs: the Des Moines Radio Amateurs Association (DMRAA) and the Amateur Radio Technical Society (ARTS).

Amateur radio activity is growing in the United States. There are more than 700,000 amateur radio operators in the United States, 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.

In the Des Moines area, the DMRAA and ARTS organizations will be demonstrating amateur radio at Fort Des Moines Park, 7200 SE 5th Street in Des Moines. Setup and antenna-raising will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 23 with official activities beginning at 1 p.m. and continuing non-stop for 24 hours until 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 24. They invite the public to come and see amateur radio’s modern capabilities.

Visit the DMRAA Field Day website at https://dmraa.com/fieldday/ for maps and more information.