Photo courtesy of San Benito County Amateur Radio Association.

Information provided by San Benito County Amateur Radio Association. Lea este artículo en español aquí.

On June 27 and 28 San Benito Amateur Radio Association hosted 15 local amateur radio operators who took their equipment to the Cienega Elementary School in a remote part of San Benito County to set up and contact as many other operators as they could in 27 hours. The San Benito County Amateur Radio Association put in over 220 hours and contacted people in almost all 50 United States, several Canadian provinces, Puerto Rico, and even Spain.

During the annual Field Day event, amateur radio operators across North America establish temporary amateur radio stations in outdoor locations to simulate disaster situations. By practicing every year, operators ensure that they are ready to serve their communities and establish emergency communications in the event of a disaster.

Photo courtesy of San Benito County Amateur Radio Association.

For over 100 years, Amateur Radio — sometimes called ham radio — has allowed people from all walks of life to experiment with electronics and communications techniques, as well as provide a free public service to their communities during a disaster, all without needing a cell phone or the Internet. Field Day demonstrates ham radio’s ability to work reliably under any conditions from almost any location and create an independent communications network. Over 32,000 people from thousands of locations throughout the United States and Canada participated in Field Day in 2025.

“Hams have a long history of serving our communities when natural disasters such as earthquakes damage critical communication infrastructure, including cell towers,” said Tim Takeuchi, the ARRL District Emergency Coordinator for San Benito County. “Ham radio functions completely independently of the internet and phone systems, and a station can be set up almost anywhere in minutes. Hams can quickly raise a wire antenna in a tree or on a mast, connect it to a radio and power source, and communicate effectively with others,” Takeuchi added.

Anyone may become a licensed Amateur Radio operator. For more information about Amateur Radio, visit https://sbcara.org/ or www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio. Questions may also be sent to info26@sbcara.org.