Amateur Radios

From Office of Emergency Management

N2FLO, the radio club of the Franklin Lakes Office of Emergency Management, participated in the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) Field Day exercise conducted over a 24-hour period on the weekend of June 26. This annual event allows amateur radio operators to set up transmitters and antennas, usually ‘in the field’, and test their ability to communicate with other operators throughout North America. This capability could be critical in case of a national or regional disaster - such as occurred in 2017 in Puerto Rico, where amateur radio was the only communication link to many isolated communities.

The exercise used existing Emergency Operations Center (EOC) radio equipment as well as improvised field antennas. Operators at the EOC were able to make contacts, called ‘QSOs’, with 180 stations distributed throughout the United States and Canada. Half of these contacts used analog (voice) communication and half used digital communications.

Visitors and elected officials from several surrounding communities dropped in to observe operations or to pick up a microphone and participate in the Field Day event.

Any community members interested in learning about amateur radio are encouraged to contact the OEM at oem@franklinlakes.org. Photos of event are available on Facebook.