The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Field Day will begin Saturday, June 24, in Orange. The ARRL Field Day is held annually on the fourth weekend of June when thousands of radio amateurs gather worldwide to operate their radios from remote locations.

The ARRL is the national association for Amateur Radio in the United States representing over 170,000 FCC-licensed Amateur radio operators. The Orange Amateur Radio Club is such a club that will be operating radios on June 24 from the American Red Cross building off of Interstate 10 in Orange.

The Amateur Radio Service often called "ham radio" has been around for a century. During that time Amateur Radio has grown into a worldwide community of licensed operators using the airwaves with every conceivable means of communications technology and includes people ranging from youngsters to grandparents.

Local Orange County businessman Mike Manshack is an amateur radio operator and serves as the Public Information Coordinator of the South Texas section. Manshack said the last winter field day was held at Claiborne West Park in Orange County. The Orange Amateur Radio Club made between nine hundred to a thousand contacts during that twenty-four field day.

The members of the Orange Radio Club are all officially licensed to operate their radios, but they invite the public to attend the ARRL Field Day. Anyone interested in Amateur Radio is welcomed to attend the free event with the opportunity to see how the radios work and hear contacts with other radio operators from around the state and throughout the nation.

Manshack encourages visitors to attend the field day this Saturday. "We have different means and ways of introducing the amateur radio to the novice that wants to get into it but does not know how to start. We can sit down and talk to them and give them some information how they can do it online for free and the books they can buy to study, and we also do the testing to get their license," Manshack informed.

The ARRL Field Day officially starts on Saturday, June 24, at 1:00 PM at the American Red Cross building in Orange located at 3901 Interstate 10 and continues until 1:00 PM on Sunday. The Orange Radio Club will be installing antennas and radios at that location Friday night and early Saturday to test the equipment in preparation for the field day. Manshack reminded anyone interested in radio to come out and listen to all the contacts made that day.