CNHARC Field Day 2025
Last updated: 7-1-2025 7 PM
This page will be updated regularly and should be considered as your primary source of the latest information. It is safe to assume that this page will always be a work in progress.
What is Field Day?
The ability to provide emergency communications when everything else has failed has always been in the Ham Radio DNA. This is even more relevant when considering the our dependence on today’s super-sophisticated cellular systems and the internet. Since the 1930’s and held once a year in June, FCC-licensed Amateur Radio Operators in the US and Canada go off-grid and and intentionally operate under temporary and less than ideal conditions using zero existing infrastructure. This means building antennas on the fly, using generator and solar battery power and using equipment that we may not be familiar with. Compared to other parts of the country, New Hampshire has been blessed with fewer wild fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, ice storms and floods. But that doesn’t infer that they never happen… they do, just less often. Field Day is a competitive training session, a learning & social opportunity and a chance to build teamwork through interaction with 30,000 of your closest friends.
GOALS:
To be sure, CNHARC’s goal is not to come in first place in a competitive race as that has some trade-offs. Our Field Day goals are to learn & gain proficiencies in an unusual setting as well as enjoy the social company of both old and new friends.
You don’t need to be a CNHARC member to attend. In fact newbies, non-hams and non-members are encouraged to attend and have fun! We will also provide a GOTA station (Get On The Air) so you can try out long distance HF radio communications with a licensed ELMER to cover FCC regulations.
This is our communications trailer but we also use RV’s and tents. We live in the digital age so communications are not limited to voice. Hams can send and receive emails even when the cellular towers and local internet are totally down in our entire region. We require zero fixed infrastructure.
To add yourself to the planning list, please just send an email to FieldDay@cnharc.org and you will be added to the planning process to whatever degree that you are comfortable with. We all learn a lot at Field Day!
___________________________________________________________________
Location: Belknap County Sportsman’s Association, 182 Lily Pond Road, Gilford, NH 03249 More info
Setup only: Starting at Friday, June 27 12 noon
Setup day-2: Saturday June 28 until 2PM
Operating: 24 hours from 2PM Saturday to 2PM Sunday
Meals with a proposed $25 meal pass for all 4 meals:
- Saturday Lunch
- Saturday Dinner
- Sunday Breakfast
- Sunday Lunch
Interesting participant food contributions are also welcomed!
The 2025 Field Day Rules can be found in both PDF and web form here.
The club will provide many radios AND you can bring your own Bring Your Own Radio (BYOR) as long as we have a heads-up to plan for it. This is the line-up of rigs so far.
Inside pictures here.
NEW INFORMATION
We will be using emergency power and temporary antennas but holding a Field Day operation with the luxury of being indoors has some unexpected benefits. We may (may) be including an indoor mini-ham-flea market right at our Field Day site. This suggestion came in from the Belknap Sportsman’s Assoc President Rags Grenier who is also KC1AAO. More details and a discussion on Thursday.
.
Dave Merchant, K1dlm@cnharc.org is the Field Day Committee chair and this was his first introduction from back in February:
Our planning process for ARRL Field Day 2025 continues to make progress. The Belknap County Sportsman Association (BCSA) had contacted us in December indicating there was strong interest across their membership in partnering on a summer field day event for June 2025. To evidence this, the board of BCSA offered their facility in Gilford as a field day site at no charge to our club. The BCSA club president, Richard “Rags” Grenier, is also a ham, callsign KC1AAO.
The field day committee has considered a few sites this year with several considerations. First, we try to identify a site that has good public access and visibility and make it easy for members of the club to participate. We’ve historically setup at a remote location in a field. On Sunday, February 2nd, Jonathan Wixson (KB1COL), Rich Kumpf (WF1V) and David Merchant (K1DLM) conducted a site visit to the BCSA to evaluate its suitability. I’m pleased to report that we have decided to host field day at this location.
The one concern that came up was the elevation of the site. We have pushed for sites higher in elevation in the last to maximize our VHF and UHF contacts. However, historically these bands have made minimal contributions to our overall contact count. Perhaps we can add an AMSAT station this year to make up for it.
The BCSA facility has many advantages that will make field day a much more enjoyable experience this year. They building has an air-conditioned banquet hall that we will use for our operating positions. The banquet hall also comes with ample folding tables and chairs. In addition, there is a full kitchen and bathroom facilities. Finally, the building is located on a large piece of primarily flat land with a combination of open space and mature trees. This will make setup of the antenna field much simpler. There is also space for trailers, campers, and tents for those that may wish to spend the night.
Since summer field day is at the end of June, the weather in generally very hot and humid with storms possible. Having an air-conditioned space will no doubt be appreciated by all who attend. The kitchen will also allow us to provide a nice dinner Saturday evening, and breakfast on Sunday.
The BCSA also has some ham transceivers already on site. We can help them get on the air with an antenna system and some Elmering.
If you have interest in being part of the planning process, please reach out to me at K1DLM@cnharc.org .
====================================
Weekly Thursday planning sessions are below and you are invited but you must use your real name and not be anonymous.
Topic: CNHARC Field Day Planning Sessions
Time: Starting May 15, 2025 07:30 PM continuing every Thursday until Jun 27th, 2025 (7 occurrences).
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81649857162?pwd=BueTL1WVywUNZPmb6MbeRPDaQMwRNr.1
Meeting ID: 816 4985 7162
Passcode: 1213
.