Historic Ensor Park and Museum in Olathe will once again provide the setting when members of the Santa Fe Trail Amateur Radio Club participate in Field Day, the annual emergency preparedness exercise sponsored by the American Radio Relay League, later this month. Check out the club calendar for Field Day details.
Preparations for Field Day will bring some club members to the 40-acre site at 18995 W. 183rd Street on Thursday, June 25 and again on Friday, June 26 (think morning when the weather should be cooler), with the event itself set for Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28. Licensed operators can begin to attempt making contact with other operators far and wide at 1 p.m. on the 27th, and keep going up until 1 p.m. on the 28th.
Using the club call sign of KS0KS, SFTARC hams will be operating a CW station, a single-sideband station and a digital station at the very least. You will find the digital station in the trailer the club owns, the single-sideband station on the front porch of the two-story house where amateur radio pioneers Marshall Ensor, W9BSP, and Loretta Ensor, W9UA, were raised, and the CW station somewhere relatively close to the house. In addition, other members of the club are planning to operate a solar-powered station and a satellite station on the grounds, and there is a chance a six-meter station also will be in operation.
Moreover, there will be a GOTA (Get On The Air) station on the side porch next to the Radio Room for non-hams and new hams with limited experience to check out if they are so inclined.
The Field Day experience wouldn't be complete without some tasty food that can be shared amid some pleasant conversation, so with that in mind, meal plans call for hot dogs and chips to be served for lunch on the 27th, hamburgers and various side dishes to be available for consumption that evening at dinner, eggs and such to be served for breakfast on the 28th, and leftovers to be set out for lunch that day.
Trig Morley, KC0RPY, and Jim Andera, K0NK, have agreed to be in charge of Field Day activities this year on behalf of the club.
The theme for Field Day 2026 is "Amateur Radio: A National Resource," a theme that certainly reinforces the fact that the skills and knowledge of amateur radio operators from coast to coast and beyond can be tapped into 24/7/365 to help meet the needs of many Americans in the aftermath of a disaster.
