Tune-In To The World - Amateur Radio Gets People Talking
WIA National Field Day Saturday the 13th and Sunday the 14th of April 2013
On Saturday the 13th and Sunday the 14th of April 2013, Amateur radio enthusiasts from all over Australia will be showcasing amateur radio in prominent locations throughout their local area. This activity, now in it's fourth year, will be a good opportunity to break out your field day equipment, demonstrate emergency preparedness, but most importantly engage the public. Most people in the general public would give our hobby a second thought if they knew a little more about it. This is the opportunity to showcase our capabilities. Does your club have the capacity to run your station on solar or wind power for the day?
Can you borrow some space in the local shopping centre car park?
Does the local sports complex run hot on a Saturday or Sunday?
Does the date align with a local community festival or school fete?
The opportunities are endless. Are you up to the challenge?
Promoting Our Hobby
The Foundation Licence and a revamped WIA have done much to bolster our numbers, but it is time that we make a concerted effort to better publicise amateur radio and all of its benefits. This is your club's opportunity to recruit not only new applicants for your training courses, but also some new club members. We need to re-introduce the general public to amateur radio, let them know a little of what it is about, without scaring them with too much technical jargon. Our public face will be on display, as well as our professionalism. The common appearance of Club, WIA or special National Field Day branded clothing all helps with the presentation. Excellent operating procedures and tolerance will be on display. The event is not intended to be a traditional contest, with isolated groups of operators sitting on remote hilltops. We wish to generate as much positive public exposure (and traffic on the bands) as possible. Local repeaters can play an important part in keeping something happening. The safety of the operators and general public must be high on our priority list during station set-up, operation and close down. Cabling bird's nests should be well hidden, electrical safety must be beyond question.
Your Audience
Remember your audience, for young people, sound and visual activity is important. IRLP, EchoLink, Slow Scan TV, ATV, colour and movement will appeal to the younger audience. HF may be interesting, but the noise should not dominate the activity. Radio direction finding is very popular, if you have the room to run it safely. Get people involved without being intimidating. Over the next 10 years, most of the Baby Boomers will officially retire. They will be looking for new hobbies and challenging activities to keep their minds active. Add the following generation, "Gen X's" who are now facing empty nests with a few spare dollars and a spare room at home. What an opportunity for amateur radio. Whilst our WIA 100 Year Centenary will be interesting for some and may provide some initial attraction, our display should equally show the future. Are you up to the challenge?
Frequencies & Modes
Recommended Calling Frequencies will be advised and will be in accordance with current WIA Band plan. Clubs are invited to demonstrate technologies including SSB, Morse Code, various digital techniques (D-STAR, Slow Scan Television, RTTY, PSK31 and Winlink), IRLP, APRS, EchoLink and even amateur radio satellite.
Posters & Banners
The WIA's Calling CQ posters and Calling CQ brochures are being made available to clubs and groups participating in the national field day.
In addition to these existing WIA posters, we are releasing the "Tune Into The World" - "Amateur Radio Gets People Talking" artwork with the unique logo and catchphrase developed to help promote this public event. The artwork is available for download from the links at the bottom of this webpage, simply click your right hand mouse button on the link to save the print ready PDF file onto your computer. Then copy it to a memory stick and take it to your local Officeworks store where for a fee they will be able to print your banner or signage. You will find three print ready PDF files below prepared for three different types of Officeworks signage these being:
 Option 1 The first option is a highly visible self standing display banner called an "Xbanner". Pictured right, the Xbanner is 1800mm high and 800mm wide, the price from Officeworks is $88 which includes both the cost of the banner and the cost of printing. For the Xbanner, please download the file called X-Banner-artwork.pdf (note you can click the picture right for a larger view, use your browsers back button to return to this page)
Option 2 The second option is slightly more expensive aluminium framed self standing A Frame board which is better suited for outdoor use or in high wind or high traffic areas. It is a double sided display board and is available from Officeworks for $194. Once again, the price includes both the product and cost of printing. For the A Frame display board, please download the file called A-Frame-artwork.pdf
Option 3 The third option and the cheapest, is a basic A0 or A1 poster printed by Officeworks and suitable for pinning up on a wall or similar. Officeworks advertise printing A1 posters (594x841mm) on plain 160gsm paper for $19 each or printing on better quality and more durable 200gsm gloss paper for $26 each. For a larger A0 poster (841x1189mm) Officeworks advertise they can print these on plain paper for $28 or on gloss paper for $38 If you wish to print the A0 or A1 posters, please download the file called Poster-artwork.pdf
Registrations
The following people or groups have registered to participate in the event. Click each event to see further details.
| Group Name |
Site |
Suburb |
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Central Coast ARC |
Gosford Waterfront near boat ramp. |
Gosford NSW |
View Details
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Central Coast ARC |
woy woy lions park |
woy woy NSW |
View Details
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Central Coast ARC |
**CANCELLED ** Terrigal Haven |
Terrigal NSW |
View Details
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The Townsville Amateur Radio Club Inc |
Jaycar Townsville |
West End QLD |
View Details
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CQARA inc. |
Rockhampton Heritage Village |
North Rockhampton QLD |
View Details
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Eastern and Mountain District Radio Club |
Vermont South Oval |
Vermont South VIC |
View Details
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Amateur Radio Victoria |
Time Ball Tower, Point Gellibrand |
Williamstown VIC |
View Details
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Peter Parker |
Chelsea beach, Victoria |
Chelsea VIC |
View Details
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Paul Hoffmann |
Adelaide |
Adelaide SA |
View Details
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Register your group today
Registrations for the 2013 can be made by completing the form below. Consider getting your club or group to participate in the 2013 National Field Day.
If you have any questions, please contact the WIA office on (03) 9729 0400
Files For Download
Page Last Updated: Friday 22 March 2013 at 20:14 hours
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