Logan County Public Library hosted the S.K.A.T.S Club this year for Field Day 2024. A GOTA (Get On The Air) Station was created by Bob Harris & John McCubbin. This station hosted a few visitors, younger and older, and they were able to make several contacts and spark interest in the local community. This station was operated by several club members including John McCubbin, Scott Smith, and Corey Page to aid unlicensed operators in making contacts and learning about the hobby. The club also had three other stations along with an information table. Rodney Adler, Bob Harris, Corey Page, Tony Bivens, Matthew Rainey, Scott Smith, Danny Williams, Lemmie Gower, and many other members of the local club aided in setup to get the QSO’s started! S.K.A.T.S had a generator and battery powered stations used to contact other clubs and hams across the world. The club made several contacts with CW, digital, and phone across bands including 160m, 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m, 6m, and 2m.
While making contacts and sharing information with the local community, several club members were able to work through some learning opportunities including logging software usage, troubleshooting power supplies, and tuning and adjusting several portable antennas. Field Day was created for ham radio operators to be able to learn how to and practice quickly and efficiently setting up communications during emergency situations. Each year the club is able to learn and improve on their skills regarding setup and operations in less-than-ideal conditions.
Along with learning each year, the club members are able to participate in community competition between other clubs across the country. Although placement in competition will not be revealed until a later date, S.K.A.T.S. was able to make many contacts across North America, Europe, Asia, & South America. A youth club member, KQ4POX, was able to make several digital contacts via FT8 & tied for second place within the club! Bob Harris, WB2UBW, placed first in the club, primarily making contacts via CW! The club had a great weekend and enjoyed comradery, friendly competition, and helping to spread awareness of the hobby within the local area. John & Rachel McCubbin also provided our club with fantastic photography, shown below, and we are thankful for their talent and time they shared with us! We are looking forward to Field Day 2025!
If you or someone you know is interested in joining the hobby or testing for licensing in the near future, please reach out to Rodney Adler at club@skats.org
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