Field Day

Field Day is held each year during the 4th full weekend in June and gives amateur radio clubs around the country a chance to demonstrate their emergency operating skills. During a 24 hour marathon (Saturday 2 p.m. EDT to Sunday 2 p.m. EDT), radios all over the U.S. and Canada are operated without using commercial electrical power. Generally only power derived from batteries, generators, or other alternative energy sources, such as solar power, are used to power the radios. People may use commercial power at their home stations or at an Emergency Operation Center (EOC) after demonstrating that they have a backup power source that is not on the commercial power grid. Finally, there is a small group using commercial power without any backup power generating capability who can only contact stations that have backup power.

Field Day 2018 will be held on Saturday June 23 and Sunday June 24. Links to historical results and photos from past Field Days are available below.

2011 Field Day visitors: Summit Council Members Tom Getzendanner and Ellen Dickson visit with Al, K2AL, and Paul, NPARC President, N2KDK. (Photo Courtesy of Barry, K2JV).

Complete rules for 2018 are now available at:  http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Field-Day/2018/2018-Field-Day-Rules.pdf

We have been running our main station from one of the many fields located at Governor Livingston High School in Berkeley Heights, NJ for many years. For several years we also ran a second station at the American Red Cross in Summit, NJ. Since 2011, we have only run the single station at the field directly behind Governor Livingston. Information on the Governor Livingston High School site is as follows:

Governor Livingston High School

The main operating station is, and has been for some time, at the Governor Livingston High School atop the second Watchung Mountain in Berkeley Heights. For the past several years we have been operating the station on the field directly behind the school overlooking Interstate 78. 

We operate this site as a class '2A' station meaning that we are using gasoline powered generators with 2 main HF radios, an extra VHF station and a GOTA (Get-On-The-Air) station. Antennas for main HF radios have been ladder-line fed 80 meter dipoles, while we have used a 40/20/15 ladder-line skeleton dipole for the GOTA station. For the VHF stations we have used a 30 to 40 foot tower with both 6-meter and 2-meter yagis and an appropriate rotator on the top.

Directions to Main Station:

• From Downtown New Providence (Springfield Ave and South St): Take South St. south up Murray Hill and through the traffic light at Mountain Ave. At this point, South St. becomes Glenside Road.  Continue on Glenside to the second left, Hunterdon Blvd.  Turn at the first right onto Somerset Place. The High School is at the end of Somerset. We will be operating from the lower parking lot which is downhill and not immediately in view.
• From Route 78 Westbound: Take exit 43 onto Diamond Hill Rd north to the second light and turn right onto Mountain Ave. Turn right at the light on Glenside Road and then at the second left, Hunterdon Blvd.  Turn at the first right onto Somerset Place. The High School is at the end of Somerset. We will be operating from the lower parking lot which is downhill and not immediately in view.
• From Route 78 Eastbound:  Take exit 43 and turn left onto Glenside Ave.  Take the first available left, Glenside Road, under Rt. 78 and up the hill to the first right, Hunterdon Blvd.  Turn at the first right onto Somerset Place. The High School is at the end of Somerset. We will be operating from the lower parking lot which is behind the school to the right and not immediately visible.

Map of Main Station (Governor Livingston H.S.) Location
See Google maps for more information and other map views:

Each year at the Governor Livingston H. S. location NPARC sets up a number of club-owned gazebos.  Instructions are easy to lose so we have stored them in the gazebo boxes and here on the website: parts inventory, assembly instructions and additional hints and kinks.

Historical Field Day Results