Bill Drury, president of the RACOON club (Radio Amateur Club of Oneida Neighbors), planned for a full 24 hours on site at this winter’s Field Day on Saturday.  As of Saturday night, his heater new equipment trailer’s heater was going full blast and his sleeping bag was ready for deployment but he was happy to note that things had gone well so far.  Everyone on hand, including his wife Tracy, Brenda and Don Daniels, Jim Mustos, and Bret Anderson were also happy to mention that the weather was much less of a problem than it had been during the very snowy winter of last year.  During the course of the 24 hour field day, many other member of the RACOONs spent time at the operations center in Malad’s City Park.

The main trailer was equipped with an array of communication devices and displays, as well as a very important heater.  A new addition for this year’s test was Drury’s mobile communication trailer, which operates on a generator and allows for easy mobile relocation to wherever a radio support setup might be needed.

“It snowed then thawed then iced over again, which wasn’t ideal.  This year, it’s been great though!” Bret Anderson said.  Anderson is a member of both the RACOONs and the Golden Spike Club who generally mans the main communication trailer.  The Winter Field day take place in Malad, and a field day later in the year is held in Utah.  “We’ve had a very productive afternoon so far,” RACOON member Don Daniels said, finishing a cup of soup cooked on site as Bret dialed in a short wave station broadcasting music and Jim Mustos and Manuel Mello listened in.  

The RACOONs currently have around 35 members, though not all of them were available during the field day.  “In this crazy art, there are all kinds of setups and equipment that different people use, from handhelds up to more elaborate setups.  Some people just use the handhelds and that’s just great.”  Drury refers to amateur radio communication as an art, because “everyone uses their equipment in different ways.  An individual setup is a lot like an artist putting together their material.”

While the club itself is relatively small compared to some of the larger network areas in population centers like Texas, Florida, California and elsewhere, the members of the club had already established almost 400 contacts by late Saturday afternoon after a 12:00 noon start.  The ARRL (The American Radio Relay League)  runs a contest to determine which club can contact the largest number of people.  The RACOONS aren’t likely to get that largest number of contacts, but given their size, their high number of contacts “give us bragging rights.  For a club of about 35, we can say ‘look, we got all these contacts with just this many of us—how many did you get?’”

The ARRL is an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) that essentially oversees a system whereby amateur radio clubs monitor and police its own membership.  There are not usually “bad actors,” so to speak, but there are actions that can result in violations.  “It’s usually not a club like us that gets into those issues.  It’s usually someone who just buys some equipment and jumps in.”  violations primarily involve using bands that the operator isn’t licensed to use.  In cases where a club can intervene, they make the operator aware of the violation, which means that the FCC doesn’t get involved.  “Most people would be happier to get a message from the radio club than a knock at the door from someone in the government.”

The RACOONs have recently been donated a hand-crafted bell by local artist Doug Adams, which they intend to raffle off to raise funds for the club.  The club is always in need of new equipment, as well as equipment upgrades and infrastructure.  Its existence is a huge help to the county, especially in the support of emergency communication services.  During times when the standard emergency communication networks are down due to weather, natural disaster, power outage, or unexpected events, the RACOONs can mobilize quickly to establish a communication network that will allow emergency and governmental agencies to communicate and coordinate responses throughout the county.  The club also helps provide support and communication during events such as the Gran Fondo bike race that makes its way through town during the summer.

“My wife and I got into this because we ride our horses out and a lot of times cell phones stop working.  But we can reach repeaters with our handheld radios.  There have been a lot of people who’ve said ‘that’s neat!  I never thought of doing that before.’  So, there’s a lot you can do with this technology,” Drury said.

As the evening drew on, the club continued to find contacts across the United States and Canada.  As the night progresses, the area in which contact points can be made will shift with the sun.  The event is scheduled to last a full twenty-four hours, which will put the contacts back in the same place as when the club started on Saturday.  

“This is mostly a chance for us to test out the equipment.  We can see what’s working and what isn’t, and know how things will run when we have an unplanned event,” Drury said.  Over the course of the full day, members will cycle in and out of the operation area, though Drury and Anderson planned to stay on site for the duration.  “It’s great,” Anderson said.  “You gotta love doing this!  And it’s very helpful that the city lets us commandeer this park for a day so that we can.  In a lot of places it isn’t this easy, so Malad is always great.”

Details about the bell raffle will be finalized at this week’s club meeting, and when those details are available, the Enterprise will provide them to the community so that it can support a valuable safety and emergency preparedness resource that benefits
everyone.