Please join us for Field Day 2024 at James G. Gilleran Park in Mission Viejo June 22nd – June 24th. PUBLIC IS WELCOME !!
Field Day is ham radio’s open house. Every June, more than 40,000 hams throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio’s science, skill and service to our communities and our nation. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. Field Day has been an annual event since 1933, and remains the most popular event in ham radio.
What is Field Day? Read all about it here: ARRL Field Day
Official operating time of the Field Day contest for us in the Pacific Time Zone is 11 am Saturday to 11 am Sunday. We are allowed to begin staging and setting up of tents, tables, antennas and such at 3 pm Friday the 21st. We will have quite a bit set up on Friday, but still need labor for a completed set up early Saturday morning so we can be ready to start operation at 11 am. There will be a Friday evening dinner and a Saturday morning breakfast for our set up crews. Lunch is planned for the afternoon to all that are present. We need volunteers to help set up and tear down.
The GOTA (Get On The Air) station will be back this year. This is for anyone that would like to get on the air an opportunity to do so. A HAM license is not needed.
We will have testing in the afternoon for those who would like to get their Technician license or upgrade to General or Extra. Time is TBD.
For those that are new (or tested that day and passed) or seasoned HAMS and would like to join South Orange Amateur Radio Association; we will waive the initiation fee if you apply for membership at Field Day on June 24th. You can find more information about membership on the website at https://www.soara.org/membership/
Field Day Rules can be found at the ARRL website. We recommend EVERYONE look at the rules before operating: Field Day Rules (arrl.org)
Please send us an email to board@soara.org if you would like to set up a booth that demonstrates an aspect of HAM radio and how it is used; i.e. ARES(Amateur Radio Emergency Service)/RACES(Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service) SOTA(Summits On The Air)/POTA(Parks On The Air), Satellite Amateur Radio, EME (Earth – Moon – Earth), Emergency Go Bags, Portable Battery Boxes, Arduino, Raspberry Pi…..etc. If you think it could be interesting to the public, ask us.
If you have any questions about Field Day that were not addressed here, please email your questions to board@soara.org
WHEN: Fourth Full Weekend in June (June 22-23, 2024)
TIME: 11:00am Saturday – 11:00am Sunday (Friday Setup Starts at 3pm)
WHERE: James G. Gilleran Park, 24960 Felipe Road, Mission Viejo, CA
TALK IN: 147.645- PL 110.9
2024 Schedule:
Volunteers Needed!
Fri 6/21 3pm: Setup begins (towers, antennas, tents, radios, etc)
Sat 6/22 9am: Field day site opens (set up crew can arrive earlier)
Sat 6/22 11am: Field day operations begins
Sat 6/22 ?? pm: ARRL-VEC Testing Session
Sun 6/23 11am: Field day operations cease
Page Last Updated: PT