{"id":207366,"date":"2026-06-28T21:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T02:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=207366"},"modified":"2026-06-29T00:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T05:12:09","slug":"local-amateur-radio-club-participates-in-field-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/06\/28\/local-amateur-radio-club-participates-in-field-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Amateur Radio Club participates in Field Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Amateur radio enthusiast Jack Snyder established hundreds of contacts during this weekend’s Field Day event. Snyder said he has been involved with amateur radio, commonly referrred to as “ham” radio for nearly 50 years. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have plans for Jack Snyder for the final weekend of June, don\u2019t expect him to be there \u2013 he\u2019s been busy that weekend for nearly 50 years, and that was the case again this past weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snyder and other members of the Van Wert Amateur Radio Club took part in the annual emergency preparedness exercise known as Field Day. As has been the case for a number of years, it was held on the grounds of the Van Wert County Emergency Management Agency on Lincoln Highway. It ran for 24 straight hours, from 2 p.m. Saturday to 2 p.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snyder described Field Day as a simulated emergency, but it\u2019s not only a local event. According to the American Radio Relay League\u2019s (ARRL) website, the \u201cRadio Connects\u201d Field Day is the most popular on-the-air event held annually in the U.S. and Canada. On the fourth weekend of June, more than 30,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs and groups to operate from remote locations. Each year, a competition is held and points are earned and awarded for the number of contacts that are established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe come out to the field and erect temporary antennas and try to make as many contacts as we can \u2013 we say it\u2019s not a contest, but yeah it is \u2013 why keep score if it\u2019s not a contest?\u201d he quipped. \u201cIt tests our ability and ourselves with stamina. We\u2019re not young anymore \u2013 we used to go all night but we have to get some sleep nowadays, but the idea is to get on the air in less than ideal conditions, make contact with another station and exchange information accurately.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said, as of Sunday morning, he and his partner, Jerry Ryan, had established approximately 800 contacts with other amateur radio operators, along with more than 100 others via a digital station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Combined with a couple of other stations inside EMA headquarters, the VWARC had established well over 1,000 contacts since 2 p.m. on Saturday. One of contacts was from Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSnyder noted that he\u2019s been a \u201cham\u201d since 1977 and has participated in each one, except for one, since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got into ham radio because the local radio club works very closely with the emergency management (EMA) with weather spotting, heaven forbid any emergencies that come up and just helping out is a great feeling, pitching in and helping out when needed\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s the heart of ham radio. Other than that, it\u2019s just fun to talk to folks all around; and if you like to talk to people, it\u2019s the greatest hobby on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost ham radio operators have emergency power capabilities like a generator, batteries, or solar power so if the power goes out, we can maintain it,\u201d he explained. \u201cBack when the tornado hit Van Wert years ago (November 2002), cell phones were still relatively new and, with power outages, a lot of those towers were down, but ham radio kept going. We had a repeater going on emergency power so we were able to help emergency management with communications because we were prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Snyder and other members of the club have been at it for years, the search is always on for new members, including those who are interested in getting into the hobby. As he noted, ham radio does not have to be an expensive hobby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe idea that you have to spend thousands of dollars \u2013 you can spend thousands of dollars on equipment, but certainly you don\u2019t have to,\u201d he explained. \u201cYou can build certain equipment, low power equipment that\u2019s easy to operate that doesn\u2019t cost very much. There\u2019s a lot of used equipment on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I had to get a really good, nice station that you can have a lot of fun with, if I had a couple of hundred dollars I\u2019d be set \u2013 you can spend more and certainly you can spend less,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While amateur radio seems to have men as the primary \u201chams,\u201d Snyder noted he heard more ladies, girls and boys on the air this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe encourage that participation,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have what\u2019s called a \u2018get on the air\u2019 station \u2013 it\u2019s a bonus for our Field Day score but it allows unlicensed operators to work side-by-side with an older ham that\u2019s experienced to get on the air.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about amateur or ham radio, the Van Wert Amateur Radio Club or the American Radio Relay League, go to the VWARC club\u2019s website, w8fy.org<\/a> or the AARL\u2019s website, aarl.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Shown above (top left) are Jack Snyder (WD8MLV) and Jerry Ryan (K8VGL). Top right is Justin Brandt (KF8CXF) operating Win Link (a digital mode) from W8FY station. Shown on the bottom is a temporary emergency antenna and operating facility. Bob Barnes photos<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor If you have plans for Jack Snyder for the final weekend of June, don\u2019t expect him to be there \u2013 he\u2019s been busy that weekend for nearly 50 years, and that was the case again this past weekend. Snyder and other members of the Van Wert Amateur Radio Club took part in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-topstory"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-06 14:06:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207366"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207406,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207366\/revisions\/207406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}