The Elk County Amateur Radio Association will be participating in the national Amateur Radio Field Day exercise, held from 2 p.m. June 22 to 2 p.m. on June 23 at the Lewis Camp on Bingham Road in Ridgway. Operators will begin setting up on Friday evening.This event is open to the public and all are encouraged to attend.

A club picnic will follow the Field Days events at 3 p.m. on June 23. Members and their families are welcome and everyone is asked to bring a dish to pass.

Since 1933, amateur (or ham) radio operators across North America have established temporary radio stations in public locations during Field Day to showcase the science and skill of amateur radio.

For more than 100 years, amateur radio has allowed people from all walks of life to experiment with electronics and communications techniques, as well as provide a free public service to their communities during a disaster or emergency, all without needing a cell phone or the Internet.

Field Day demonstrates ham radio’s ability to work reliably under any conditions from almost any location and create an independent communications network. More than 35,000 people from thousands of locations participated last year in Field Day activities.

“It’s easy for anyone to pick up a computer or smartphone, connect to the Internet and communicate, with no knowledge of how the devices function or connect to each other,” said David Isgur, communications manager for the American Radio Relay League, the national association for Amateur Radio.

“But if there’s an interruption of service or you’re out of range of a cell tower, you have no way to communicate. Ham radio functions completely independent of the Internet or cell phone infrastructure, can interface with tablets and smartphones and can be set up almost anywhere in minutes. That’s the beauty of amateur radio during a communications outage.

“Hams can literally throw a wire in a tree for an antenna, connect it to a battery-powered transmitter, and communicate halfway around the world,” Isgur said.

Hams do this by using a layer of Earth’s atmosphere as a sort of mirror for radio waves.

“In today’s electronic do-it-yourself environment, ham radio remains one of the best ways for people to learn about electronics, physics, meteorology, and numerous other scientific disciplines,” Isgur said.

“In addition, amateur radio is a huge asset to any community during disasters or emergencies if the standard infrastructure goes down.”

Anyone may become a licensed amateur radio operator. There are more than 725,000 licensed hams in the United States, from ages 9 to 100 years old. And with clubs such as the Elk County Amateur Radio Association, it is easy for anybody to get involved locally.

For more information about Field Day or amateur radio in general, contact Shari Lewis at kb3ewt@gmail.com