Field Day 2004

On June 26 & 27, 2004, Amateur Radio Operators (Hams) all over the World participated in an annual exercise called FIELD DAY.

What is FIELD DAY?

According to the Amateur Radio Relay League, the object is, "To work as many stations as possible and in doing so, to learn to operate in abnormal situations in less than optimal conditions."

That’s the official reason for having FIELD DAY, but another reason is for Amateur Radio Operators and their families to get together to have LOTS OF FUN and show Visitors many of the things that can be done with Amateur Radio – from the old Morse code to the new satellite communications and latest digital modes.

Five of the area ham clubs/groups held Field Day events in June 2004.

For photos and stories from the 2003 Field Day event, click here.

The webmaster racked up over 200 miles visiting four of the five sites on Saturday. The fifth site (Comal) was shut down due to nasty storms with lightening that caused the risk factor to be too high for safe operations prior to his arrival. The following photos from each site were taken by the webmaster unless otherwise specified. We'll be adding some more photos later if supplied by the various clubs, and possibly splitting each club / group off to their own linked page due to the large size of this page with the embedded photos.

AARO (callsign AA5RO) held their event at the pavilion along side the running track behind University Hospital, 4502 Medical Drive, near corner of Louis Pasteur. While you can see the site from Babcock Road, you need to drive around behind the hospital and enter guard gate off Floyd Curl & Medical (same as used for their meetings). Below are some of the photos taken by the webmaster during his whirlwind tour in 2004.

SARC (Callsign W5SC) held their event at the Shavano Park Police Department, near the corner of DeZavala and NW Military. Here are some photos without comment from the 2004 event. Photo of banner & Bill AA5HI (last) provided by webmaster, other photos provided by Bob W2IK.

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ROOST (Callsign W5ROS) held their event in their usual place, behind Harmony VFD 11125 Foster Rd. off Hwy 181 South (Click on map to location for larger view) Below are some of the photos taken by the webmaster during his whirlwind tour in 2004.

Kendall County Amateur Radio (KARS) held their event up in Boene at the Kendall County Fair Grounds. This site is on the edge of the East side of Boerne. Below are some of the photos taken by the webmaster during his whirlwind tour in 2004.

Comal County REACT (call sign NB5R) held their first event of this nature in 2004. Location was the picnic overlook area on FM 3159, just south of Startzville, Texas (south of Canyon Lake). To get there, go north from Hwy 46, or come south from FM2673. The map below shows Starzville, but the picnic overlook area is just about at where FM3159 runs off the left side of the map. The location sits way up on a hill and the driveway goes up the hill at an angle. If you are coming south from Startzville you will see it clearly on your left, but coming north you have to watch carefully for the picnic highway sign on the curve. Great scenic viewpoint from up there, about 1200 feet above sea level. Not much in the way of conveniences however, so bring your spare marine deep cycle battery or generator.

Sorry no photos from webmaster re this location. We're hoping they took some and will post if made available.

Contact Brian Williams, NB5R, via email or call 830-832-1260 for details.

www.comalcountyreact.org