Winter Field Day 2026

Winter Field Day 2026 A Success!
Prior ot the event, N7LRG-Terry, NJ7K-Jason and KK7NQW-Jonathan came over to assemble and test some of our antennas. A big “Thank You” goes out to them! The days of the event were bright and frigid, but a hardy band of club members came out to help set up towers, beams, wire antennas, and 4 shelters. This year the SCARC operated as 4 Oscar: 4 simultaneous transmitters operating outdoors, on 80 thru 10 meters, VHF and UHF frequencies, using modes such as SSB, CW, Digital, and Satellite! In a great improvement over past years, we had a food tent, with Lee-WH6B furnishing lunch during Saturday set-up, and organizing a delicious potluck on Saturday. Katya - KK7ORY operated 2 hrs and 50 min of a 3 hour shift, deftly handling the not-too-surprising but very exhausting pile up she attracted. A BIG thank you to all who helped set up or tear down, provided equipment, food, or operated! s/Fred - N7KRN

Some comments:

W0FLZ-Paige: Thanks to everyone for helping out the Winter Field Day event in all aspects. Also to those who couldn’t come out, but contacted us on the air!
K7VA-Doug: Had good time at WFD and appreciated the wide participation by our club members. Especially liked the Potluck
KJ7FGG-Joe: Looking forward to the ARRL’s Field Day in June!
AG7BG-Bob: Thanking N7KRN for organizing our WFD this year. Prayers were answered with no precipitation and beautiful, sunny days. It was good to hear and make contact with W1AW, the operating station for the ARRL.
W6BQD-Joel: Great time at WFD. Enjoy doing things with this great club.
KK7NQW-Jonathan: Enjoyed working with KM6KRB-Brian and KV7EXJ-Bob on wire antennas. Great operating digital with AC7SG-Steve’s great station setup!

This year was a 30 hour event where the club operated several stations completely independent from commercial power sources. In essence, we simulated a winter emergency situation providing both short range and long range communications using voice and various digital modes.

Summer Field Day

SCARC participated in the ARRL Field Day at Arrowhead Ranch again. The weather was almost perfect, and much better than expected this past weekend. Friday started out cool but dry, allowing SCARC members to operate 3A class with 2 digital stations, a SSB station, plus bonus GOTA and VHF stations. Thanks to the new tents we bought this year we had 3 identical dark-room operating tents, a brand new 20x20 two-room easy-up food tent, along with the VHF station and welcome tent canopies.

Every Field Day has its hiccups, but, as usual, we got through them. We’re awaiting even preliminary results, though we can say we were pretty lucky in the visitors category. The ARRL NW Vice Director Michael Sterba-- KG7HQ visited, bringing additional bonus points and gifts of an ARRL Handbook and Operating Manual. Island County District 3 Commissioner Janet St. Claire also visited again this year (twice in one day!), giving us bonus points. We signed up a new member, with the hope of a few more as well.

Field Day always shines with a wide range of club members, old and new, pitching in with work to set-up and tear-down, operating, dealing with more esoteric ham radio modes (satellite, Winlink) as well as the ever popular SSB and Digital modes. It also provides us with a chance to join with family members at the potluck and share the gift of gab with each other. In short, it is an important day in creating and maintaining our local amateur community while developing important skills and showing them off to the wider Stanwood/Camano area population. See everyone next year! [Thanks to Fred N7KRN for this report]

Some comments after the event:

W0FLZ – Paige: Thanks to all who helped and participated with Field Day radio programming, Setup, Operating, Pot Luck and Tear down.
K7VA – Doug: Hope everyone participating in Field Day had a good time – I did! It was great to see everyone working together there.
KJ7FGG – Joe: Confirming what everyone else said – thanks for coming out for the Fun.
AG7BG – Bob: Sorry to miss FD this year, but had miles of travel and plenty of work to do anyway. Glad to be participating in the last night for our Net on this frequency!
W6BQD – Joel: Field Day was wonderful and enjoyed seeing the visitors. Very good time and enjoyed working together toward a common goal and solving problems.
KM6KRB – Brian: Enjoyed Field Day – all went smoothly...