Winter Field Day lived up to its name this year, at least in the DC area. Winter Field Day (WFD) is an annual nationwide emcomm exercise, always held on the last full weekend in January. Participants — individuals and organizations — are encouraged to set up emcomm stations outdoors and exchange information with other participating…

Winter Field Day (WFD) 2025 was conducted to test and improve the Montgomery County Auxiliary Communications Service’s (MCACS) readiness for deployment under challenging conditions. The event was under the overall leadership of Jim Alyanak (K3MRI). This exercise aimed to balance operational effectiveness, participant engagement, and the camaraderie amateur radio operators are known for. A detailed…

Eight MCACS members traveled to Assateague Island National Seashore on the last weekend in January to participate in Winter Field Day (WFD). We operated two portable HF stations that were set up in a tent on the beach, and camped for four days (three nights). We completed a total of 535 contacts during 22 hours…

Winter Field Day is a wrap. We had a great turnout, the site was fantastic, the weather was milder than we had any reason to expect in January, and there were smiles all around at the end. We set up two stations in tents under a lakeside pavilion near Seneca Creek in Germantown. Many thanks…

Our thanks to the Upper Montgomery Volunteer Fire Department in Beallsville, MD, for allowing us to set up in the large field behind their station. We set up W3TDH’s spacious tent inside a picnic pavilion, intending to use tarps around the pavilion as a wind break. Since the weather was mild, we didn’t need to…

MCACS had a good turnout for Winter Field Day (WFD) on January 26-27. This was the first time we participated as a group. For those who are not familiar with Winter Field Day, if is very much like the ARRL Field Day event that takes place in June, but is organized by a small not-for-profit…

Montgomery County participated in a Red Cross regional emcomm drill on February 17, 2024. We set up portable HF stations at two Red Cross facilities in Montgomery County and exchanged Winlink messages with volunteer communicators at other Red Cross facilities throughout the National Capital and Greater Chesapeake Region. Click on the following links to view…

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is a nationwide exercise in disaster response and emergency communication, administered by ARRL emergency coordinators and net managers at the local level, in which volunteer communicators respond to a mock emergency or disaster. Saturday, October 7 was the date for the SET in Maryland/DC. The…

2016 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test Montgomery County ARES® participated in the 2016 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test on the weekend on Oct. 1-2. We tested our ability to communicate between counties throughout Maryland and DC via HF Winlink in peer-to-peer (P2P) mode using NVIS methods. (Diagram below credited to Stephen C. Finch, AIØW.) NVIS stands for…

The National Cancer Institute held its annual Emergency Preparedness Fair on Wednesday, August 20. Montgomery County ARES members, along with members from the NIH Radio Amateur Club (NIHRAC) demonstrated amateur radio communications capabilities from HF to microwave frequencies. The MCACS van was on display with its complement of HF/VHF/UHF equipment. We set up a broadband…