New digital radio appeared at Annual Field Day-hydxradio.com

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New digital radio appeared at Annual Field Day Jul 06, 2022

Last weekend, Weaver and Michael, headed to Fairmont from the Bluegrass State where they took part in Annual Field Day Exercises sponsored by the Fairmont-based Mountaineer Amateur Radio Association in concert with the American Radio Relay League. About 24 ham operators camped out from Friday through Sunday for the event.

It's a fun event in which ham radio operators throughout the U.S. and Canada try to see how many long-distance contacts they can make with other hams from 2 p.m. Saturday to 2 p.m. Sunday Eastern Time during the last weekend in June.

Wilson became interested in ham radio when he was a freshman at East Fairmont High. While he was in high school, he met Weaver via ham radio, who was growing up in Buckhannon. The two became friends and continued working in ham radio while they attended West Virginia University.

"I started in 1970," Wilson said. "I got my basic license then, it was called a novice license, and I've only missed a few years since the late 70s."

This year's goal was to make 800 contacts using Morse Code. One year, the club made just over 1,000 contacts.

"Back when I was a kid, I loved picking up long distance stations — AM, shortwave, FM," Roberts said. "I've just been fascinated by it ever since. There's a magic to radio that just fascinates me. It never gets boring."

Roberts tried his hand at communicating with other hams using the club's new digital radio. One laptop was setup on the left of a table hooked up to an analog transmitter. On the right of the table is a second laptop where Roberts logged in contacts he made into a special tracking software. He types in specific codes.