07/15/2026
Great that Amateur Radio is promoted by the media.
Jason Bleau
Members of the Quaboag Valley Amateur Radio Club man their posts for the annual Field Day on June 27.
Amateur Radio Club participates in annual Field Day
BY JASON BLEAU
CORRESPONDENT
WEST BROOKFIELD — While technology has certainly come a long way since the days of analog radio, the art of this form of traditional radio communication remains alive through clubs across the country, including locally with the Quaboag Valley Amateur Radio Club.
On June 27, members of the club came together for the biggest annual ham and amateur radio on-air event in the country, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Field Day. But this wasn’t the radio many use every day that they tune into in their cars. This involved radio operators literally going into the field to simulate an emergency radio scenario and communicating with each other from states and even countries away.
Operators set up camp on the West Brookfield Common including generators, antennas and radio stations and spent a full day and night, communicating with fellow operators from other clubs not only brushing up on their skills but also simulating how they would work to maintain communication if an emergency were to strike.
Howard Ser, a member of the Quaboag Valley Amateur Radio Club, explained that while many might believe radio communication is unnecessary thanks to modern technology like cell phones, it’s the only type of long-range communication that could survive a major weather or emergency event that impacts power systems and cell towers making it essential for national safety and security.
“Without emergency communications lives can be lost, property can be lost, there’s a lot of danger out there. You can’t get first responders to respond unless they find out where they’re needed and that’s where we step in,” said Ser.
Club President Ken Miller echoed this reality noting how all the radios at the Field Day were not powered by traditional sources of electricity, but rather portable ones. He also stressed the importance of this annual day of practice to prove to officials in Washington, D.C. that their radio bands should remain reserved for any emergency.
“The practice is getting here, setting up antennas, and doing all this out in the field. It’s not in your house or garage, it’s using trees or whatever is available to you to deploy antennas and use batteries and generators. We have redundancies,” Miller said. “If we’re not active and we're not using the spectrum we have allotted to us there’s a good chance they look at that and they redesignate it for some other service so it’s important to keep the bands active and things like this help to make that possible.”
Overall, the Field Day proved to be another big success as well as an opportunity to educate those who wanted to learn more about radio communication and possibly take up the hobby themselves. Those who want to learn more about the Quaboag Valley Amateur Radio Club can visit qvarc.com.
