MIRA does Field Day 2025!
Once again, MIRA took advantage of the beautiful weather and an equally beautiful location to take part in the North American premier Emergency Communication Exercise — Field Day!
As in previous years, we set up our radios and antennae at the Labyrinth (formerly the hovercraft pad) at the end of the boardwalk in Parksville’s Community Park. Initial setup of the trailers was on the evening of Friday June 27th, with the antennae being erected and stations set up for ‘on the air’ operation starting in earnest the next morning. Thankfully, we were also able to utilize the Emergency Comms trailer from the Oceanside Emergency Communications Team and the Support trailer from the Emergency Support Services group.
We started officially at 11am Saturday morning and ran during the day until almost 9pm at night, thanks to the dedication of Dekaiah VA7DHR! Most of the operations were on HF, although we made a few local contacts on VHF as well. As usual, most of the contacts were made on CW and SSB, but as a first this year, we tried our hand at FT8, thanks to Jon VE7JFZ. We only made a few contacts on FT8 though, as band conditions were not that great.
All in all, we made just over 100 contacts from all over the US and a few of the provinces of Canada. Not our best score, but as mentioned before, band conditions were not all that favorable during most of Saturday day. They got better at night and were ‘pretty good’ Sunday morning.
The ‘best contacts’ however, were the connections made with the local community. Our location invites lots of interaction with passersby which gives us a great opportunity to explain about our hobby and how Emergency Communications supports the community in times of disaster.
At least the weather cooperated — being bright and sunny for the entire weekend. And thanks to David VA7QED and Al VA7MP we were well fed during the entire operation. All in all, it was a fun time and a great chance to connect with the community!
