AMATEUR RADIO

AMATEUR RADIO

A brief look

Members of the Mahoning Valley Amateur Radio Association are taking part in the annual Field Day gathering at Mahoning County Career & Technical Center in Canfield, which wraps up at 2 p.m. today. Some facts about the event and hobby:

Field Day sees more than 35,000 radio operators gathering throughout the U.S. and Canada during the last weekend of June to communicate with one another, in part by practicing emergency-response capabilities.

It provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate amateur-radio techniques to police and fire departments as well as other agencies and organizations that can benefit from vital information operators can provide.

Amateur-radio frequencies are the last remaining place on the usable radio spectrum for people to develop and experiment with wireless communications.

Many ham-radio operators use their skills also to assist with nonemergency activities and events such as parades, bike-a-thons, marathons and fundraisers.

Source: Mahoning Valley Amateur Radio Association