Field Day

 Field Day is our Annual celebration of amateur radio. It is meant to be an emergency drill to demonstrate how ham radio teams can quickly provide communication in the event of an emergency. We try to connect with the other 3500 stations around the U.S. and receive points for performing certain tasks, like setting up tents in a public park, using generators and inviting officials. It is always the 4th weekend of June.

NSRC Field Day Activities 2025

The preparations for the 2025 Field Day are starting. It will take place the weekend of June 27th, 28th and 29th. Mark your calendar and check back often here for updates.

It is a major event for the North Shore Radio Club, and we hope to have another successful event. However, such events don’t just happen, we need the support of volunteers who could set aside a couple of hours for set-up on Friday, operating Saturday and Sunday and for teardown on Sunday afternoon. Check back here for signup sheets for operating and other tasks.

We will be again at the same location, Clarkson Park in Northfield.

We will start transporting equipment from our storage locker to the site on Friday morning, organize our gear and then hang antennas as soon as the official set-up time comes. We normally are done around 3pm.

The Saturday morning, we will setup the three radio operating stations, one for SSB/digital and two for CW. One of the CW stations can also be used for Digital.

The official start for operating is Saturday June 28th 18:00UTC and operating ends Sunday June 29th 20:59UTC. Swiftly there after we will begin teardown and pack everything up for next year.

There will be a couple Zoom meetings for the preparation of the event.

  • 03/19 - 7:15pm to 8pm

  • 04/16 - 7:15pm to 8pm

  • 05/21 - 7:15pm to 8pm

  • 06/18 - 7:15pm to 8pm

  • 07/02 - 7:15pm to 8pm (debriefing)

The information for the Zoom meeting is:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/5392163778?pwd=pNuDf3Z2K5iuMZbQZBdDcZ1KeIORxF.1&omn=85262844878
Meeting ID: 539 216 3778
Passcode: 9FzNuQ

Winter Field Day 2025

In 2024 we had a very successful field day. Even some thunderstorms in the night, which forced us to shut down operations temporarily, we had top tier rankings.

We achieved a result of 12189 points. In detail we had:

  • 2055 CW contacts (2 points each)

  • 283 Digital contacts (2 points each)

  • 446 SSB contacts (1 point each)

  • 1945 bonus points (mostly from GOTA station)

 This gave us the following ranking:

  • #22 of 4,319 ARRL submitted entries

  • #1 of all Illinois (133 entries)

  • #4 in class 3A of 1,254 entries

A big applause to all participants. We always look for operators, especially for the night hours. Stay tuned for announcements here and in the eMitter when recruiting starts.

The 415 ARC hosted its 3rd winter field day at their club headquarters located at 308 Bay Rd in Crystal Lake, IL. The whole intent of WFD is to get out of the house, play radio, meet other hams, and to have a good time. That said, everyone was invited to participate. I believe we succeeded in all categories.  Radio operation was accomplished in two heated temporary buildings - our "comms" trailer which is a converted construction trailer, and a shed on a pond which we kindly refer to as “the little house on the prairie”.  Being were located on a farm, the barn was converted into a gathering place which was loaded with lunch and dinner options. please visit our website at The415arc.org for additional pictures and information.

Several NSRC members were quick to sign up for operating times, several of which participated last year. Also, several NSRC members just showed up to check it out and to see what was going on. I want to personally thank everyone who participated in one way or another to help make our WFD a success.  We'll be doing it again next year so consider this an early invitation for next year!

73 - John Cankar W9JM