The Klub regularly participates in the ARRL Field Day and Winter Field Day activities, the flagship Emergency Preparedness exercise for Radio Amateurs. Field Day is a 24 hour exercise designed to test the group’s ability to respond to emergency conditions by conducting a sustained operation in the field and under non-commercial power.
Winter Field Day started in 2007 by a non-ARRL group with the purpose of preparing for and practicing Emergency Communications across North America and beyond.Similar to Summer Field Day, offering additional challenges of wintertime operations, but with a more streamlined scoring system. In 2019, K5RWK operated as an outdoors station, placing 7th Nationally, and 1st in our Section.
Officially both Field Day and Winter Field Day are Emergency Communications Exercises, with points awarded for various types of operational proficiency in adverse conditions. We witnessed how important Amateur Radio operations were during the 2019 tornadoes in Richardson. While these events are unusual, we know they will occur again, and being prepared at a moment’s notice for these and other disasters can be invaluable. That’s why setup is limited to 12 hours total, and only during the previous 24 hours. If you are interested in honing your emergency preparedness skills, in adverse, unfamiliar conditions, you will find these events a rewarding challenge.
And unofficially, it’s a great opportunity for some good ole amateur radio camaraderie, showing off your gear, learning, and an excuse to help your RWK to earn bragging rights.
You can read more about ARRL Field Day here and Winter Field Day (not affiliated with ARRL) here.
Field Day Photo Gallery
Photos from some of our previous Field Day & Winter Field Day exercises. Click on a picture for more or click the slide show link below.
Field day galleries
We also have a full selection of RWK pictures from Field Day and Winter Field Day from previous years that are available here.
Field Day Posts
Field Day 2023 Wrap Up
June 30, 2023
By Chip Coker KD4C Thanks to everyone that came out for RWK’s 2023 Field Day. We had a record crowd (at least in recent years) of 55 members and 15 guests. We had three stations (plus the free VHF station), lots of QSOs, lots of pizza, and lots of fun – what more is there to Field Day? Once again, the Richardson EOC was a great backdrop to our Field Day. It’s ...Read Full Post...RWK Field Day 2023
June 1, 2023By Chip Coker KD4C Plans are coming together for Field Day 2023 on Sat June 24. We’re going to make it fun for RWK. Although Field Day is not a traditional “contest”, many clubs treat it as such. with a “get points at all costs” approach. I’m hoping that our Field Day prioritizes fun over points. To that end, here’s what we’re planning: Field Day will again be at ...Read Full Post...The Chawed Rag – February 2023
February 27, 2023
Here's The Chawed Rag for February 2023. We've got February updates, a Spring POTA event and an antenna made for it, Straight Key Century Club, 4th Annual Go-Kit Challenge, another lost ham radio balloon(?), Winter Field Day wrap-up, Dual-booting a "Pi-Beater", upcoming events and so much more. Hope you enjoy! - KD4CRead Full Post...Winter Field Day 2023
February 1, 2023
By Chip Coker KD4C RWK had a POTA-style Winter Field Day 2023 at our POTA Park-of-choice – Spring Creek Forest Preserve (in Garland – about 6 miles east of Richardson City Hall). We had just under 20 participants and 4-5 stations on the air at various times. The weather cooperated for the hours that we were there and I think 50-60 QSOs were made. None of us were shooting for a ...Read Full Post...RWK Field Day 2022 Wrap Up
June 28, 2022
By Chip Coker KD4C Field Day 2022 is a wrap! RWK had a great event this year. Almost 60 members and guests came to the Richardson EOC to help set up, raise the tower, operate, log, eat really good pizza, build dual-band antennas, roll up coax and help put stuff away. Jon is still tallying the final score but we completed somewhere around 450 QSOs over the 8 hours of operating. ...Read Full Post...
RWK Field Day History
RWK has been participating in Field Day since the late 1950s. In the 1960s and 1970s, when Field Day was much more of a contest, RWK often scored in the Top 10 of the entered class and was #1 several years.
Tim Bratton K5RA has researched the RWK’s Field Day results and has an excellent summary and results over the years. You can read his piece here.
We came across a brief movie from Field Day in the late 60s showing a tower setup in a field in Richardson.
RWK Field Day Results
| Year | Category | Result |
| 1959 | 4A | 59 |
| 1969 | 2A | 6 |
| 1970 | 2A | 3 |
| 1971 | 2A | 1(!) |
| 1972 | 2A | 3 |
| 1973 | 3A | 2 |
| 1974 | 1A | 3 |
| 1975 | 2A | 2 |
| 1976 | 3A | 1 |
| 1977 | 3A | 2 |
| 1978 | 3A | 2 |
| 1979 | 3A | 2 |
| 1982 | 2A | 1 |
| 1983 | 2A | 4 |
| 1984 | 1A | 13 |
| 1985 | 2A | 9 |