We ran four HF stations this year, including two CW and two SSB stations. Also shown in this photo are the GOTA station, the public information table, and the food tent. Photo: Larry Works, KD8MDM.

Well, Field Day 2019 has come and gone. We didn’t do quite as well as we did last year. This year, we made just short of 2,100 QSOs, compared to 2,245 in 2018. We also missed some bonus points that we scored last year, so our overall score is going to be lower this year.

The National Institute of Standards and Technologies has its fingers in many different pies. The electronics buffs among us know them for their work in electronics standards, such as voltage standards, and the WWVx time and frequency standards stations.

In addition to these activities, amateur radio operators should also know about their work with emergency communications. A recent blog post, “Mission Critical Voice Communications: Your Life May Depend on It!” discusses some of the latest work being done by the Public Safety Communications Research division (PSCR) in Boulder, Colorado.

As I’m sure most of you know, Field Day is this coming weekend. I often describe Field Day as a combination emergency preparedness exercise/club event/PR opportunity. Indeed, you score points by sending out a press release to local news outlets.

Increasingly, I find that many of these press releases are being picked up and reported on. Here’s a sampling of the stories I’ve found over the last week or so: