Winter Field Day 2026 Reflections: Is Ham Radio Relevant For Emergency Communications And Prepping?

I say yes.

There is a lot of debate amongst amateur radio operators as to whether or not ham radio can be an effective component of an emergency communication plan for a municiple or other governmental jurisdiction. The national organization for ham radio promotes the hobby as a way to “serve” agencies who purportedly need auxillary communications in the event that primary modes of communication (cell phones, satellites, commercial radio) fail. They have even trademarked “When All Else Fails”, eluding to the fact that amateur radio is the last line of EmComm defense. It seems it would be hard to defend this trademark to be honest given what a common idiom it is, but so be it.

Critics say the national organization is at best dreaming and at worst misleading people into becoming ham radio operators by promising they can be insta-heroes when the grid goes down. They argue modern comms technology is hardened, robust, and not likely to catastrophically fail. And that amateur operators who show up uninvited to an actual incident command post insisting they take over the airwaves — complete with DIY flashing yellow lights on their decommissioned police car, ham radio license plates, adorned with a yellow vest, radio “go-box”, and several repurposed commercial handi-talkies — are a disgrace. AI provided me with the following imagery of what they are talking about. My apologies to all if this resembles your neighbor or significant other, as he kinda looks a bit like everyone I know.

Even EmComm Guy is a bit of a fantasy though, isn’t he? Just like an AI hallucination. The opposite side of the coin from the survivalist prepper who is stockpiling provisions for nuclear fallout. In a way they are the same person. One wants to be on the collective team, helping the community. The other is a rugged individualist dedicated to living through any possible calamity they can think up, helping themself. But in the end, what they both have in common is they enjoy massaging their apocalyptical imaginations.

I believe there is a middle ground. Professional emergency communications should largely be left up to the professionals. The Baofeng-in-the-Bugout-Bag doomsdayers will likely be left with a paperweight after the Big One hits the proverbial fan. But for the average, everyday citizen, immersed in the wireless hobby, amateur radio is a phenomenal emergency tool in the tool chest. Or at least it could be if more people realized the power the hobby holds. Winter Field Day (WFD) is actually a perfect example of this.

My first WFD was with a radio club in 2020 before I started this blog. I have had incredible and challenging experiences each event, which you can read about here: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025. Last year KX1Q (AA1F and my club call), achieved our personal best, winning our class and section (two mobile, Eastern New York). You will notice that I did not blog about 2024, nor does it look as though I even submitted our results. We were at our off-grid farm, freezing, and lost our only heating source when a propane heater caught on fire. No joke, we were very lucky to put it out without incident, but it did take the wind out of our sails for the contest. We turned around, frustrated and defeated, and drove the three hours back to Boston.

This year we were facing Winter Storm “Fern” which threatened to drop two feet of snow across most of the United States. It was accompanying a cold snap that would have temperatures into the single digits. In fact, the reported temperature at the farm would register -8°F overnight WFD weekend. Quite frankly, I was not all that interested in participating this year. As the predominant planner, provider of equipment, and radio station builder/disassembler for KX1Q Field Days, it is a LOT of work. And freezing on top of it all did not strike me as a particularly fun time. As the threats of a Snowmageddon became increasingly realistic, AA1F and I for a variety of reasons knew we could not leave Southie. Instead we decided to once again operate from our QTH backyard. And this is also the point where I think the testing of emergency preps becomes decidedly realistic…

While I tend to be in charge of all things radio, AA1F takes care of a lot of the other infrastructure. By Friday night, our tried-and-true Clam C360 Thermal ice-fishing tent was erected on our patio. I cannot speak highly enough about this structure. Combined with a Mister Heater Portable Buddy, and you would be comfortable wearing shorts in it. Even in single digit ambient temperatures we managed to register 73°F inside! (This is not an affiliate link. My blog is not in any way monetized. Just chatting about a great bit of kit. I will say, this tent is not waterproof and it does not stand up to wind very well. And the roof will collapse in heavy snowfall, so make sure to clear it. But if the power ever went out, and I needed to set up a warm microenvironment inside my house, I would pop this up in my living room and move into it. Just be careful to ventilate a propane heater properly whenever you use one – they can be dangerous!)

I spent the rest of Friday night remembering how to network our computers via an ethernet cable so that we could share the logging software N1MM+. That link is to detailed instructions so that others can replicate it; I have to reference that post every single multi-op contest.

Late Saturday morning, I started setting up the stations. Keep in mind, we live amongst the triple-deckers of South Boston to get an idea of the terrain we are dealing with. The stations consisted of two HF transceivers (Yaesu FT-991A, Yaesu FT-891) with networked computers, a 40M off-center fed dipole (OCFD), and an 80M OCFD. Now if you are wondering how I managed to deploy these in a postage stamp- sized city plot, well, I have to say you need to open your mind to creative antenna deployment! I “borrowed” the overhanging branches of my neighbor’s oak tree to suspend the 40M OCFD with one leg secured to the back fence and the other, uh, to the desk leg in my second floor hobby room. (I ran paracord through a slightly cracked open window to make this work). Below you can see a photograph looking up from underneath the antenna balun (probably close to 20 feet up). You can see the paracord (orange) wrapped around the branch, each of the two bare copper wire legs, a plastic ziplock bag taped around the balun as a weatherproofing skirt (this works very well!), and the RG8X coax heading down the center of the photograph. Those orbs are the reflections off of snowflakes that are being produced by my camera’s speedlight. Pretty wild and unedited imagery!

Below you can see my built station, including the 991A, LDG-Z100+ tuner, Bioenno 12V 15Ah LiFePo battery, Heil Pro 7 headset and foot pedal, Vibroplex Code Warrior Junior paddle, and a variety of band pass filters (which did not help stop RFI between the stations given the close proximity of the antennas, and we generally stopped using them).

AA1F is working his FT-891.

I did not even mention that the 80M OCFD was wrapped around our property’s perimeter fence, including being squeezed down a small alleyway for half of its length. Despite the incredibly challenging antenna conditions, we made over 200 QSOs via SSB (phone) and CW. In fact, AA1F was able to run a 60+ QSO pile-up on 20M! I made CW contacts from California to Puerto Rico to Colorado, while AA1F (who is SSB only) had mostly midwest and southern Atlantic QSOs. We made 10M, 15M, 20M, and 40M contacts, with no luck on 80M. We were able to hear ragchewers on 80M, but could not find WFD operators. I think this is because most people seemed to give up on the event on the first day around 9:30pm. In the Northeast, the threat of “Fern” had people in a bit of a panic, and I doubt they were spending a lot of time on the air. By 10:30pm Saturday night we packed up the electronics and brought them into the house. All to set it up again come morning.

By late Sunday morning it was starting to snow, and we were back on the air. We made about two-thirds of our QSOs on Sunday. In total, Boston got 20.2″ of snow. Here we are early on in the storm…

And a poor attempt to show the snow accumulation from inside the tent as I dismantled the stations… I did not want to risk damaging my camera.

So there you have it. Winter Field Day 2026 from the backyard in South Boston. This year’s experience is quite reminiscent of our 2021 WFD from the QTH. Except we made less than 40 contacts back then. It is striking how far AA1F and I have come as a radio team in the last five years.

Back to Winter Field Day and emergency communications…

As I started off by saying, I believe ham radio is indeed relevant for EmComm and emergency prepping. Not for the purposes of “serving” some agency who is not particularly interested in what hams have to offer. Or to survive Night of the Living Dead zombies. But as a way for average, everyday citizens to have a method of communication that is not dependent on commercial infrastructure.

I asked AI: “Is communication important in an emergency?” It responded: “Yes, communication is critically important in emergencies, as it is the foundation for saving lives, reducing panic, and ensuring a coordinated response.” This answer is excellent and points directly to where I think ham radio fits it best although admittedly I never really thought of it exactly this way: Reducing panic.

We hear them called “health and welfare nets”, where people talk to one another over the air in a roundtable format and everyone gets a chance to discuss how they are doing. Consider being hunkered down in an emergency situation, waiting an event (such as a snowstorm) out. And think of how isolating that can feel. Even if you are able to make phone calls or get on to the internet, you are still disconnected from the greater sense of community that helps quelch the nerves. Phone calls are generally one-on-one conversations without many others listening in. However when you have a discussion over the open airwaves, many people have the potential to hear you. And respond to you.

And why exactly would this be important? I think a lot of people are unnerved when they sense they have no control over a situation. Being unnerved leads to panic. Which then can lead to unwise decision making and its consequences. Those consequences may spread far beyond a single panicky individual. Acquiring knowledge can increase one’s sense of control, calm the nerves, and prevent poor decisions. Just knowing that an emergency is a shared community event with others in similar positions can be comforting. Ham radio operators huddling together via RF until the storm passes.

This amateur radio EmComm system need not serve an agency, rather be a parallel, free-standing, inclusive and accessible, publicly available, ham-led service meant to disseminate information, provide comfort and support, and overall reduce panic. A calmer public is a safer public. I then believe that by building a successful amateur radio EmComm service of this type, the coveted “served agencies” would take notice and then they would probably become more inclined to partner with hams in future emergencies. Maybe consider this the “if you built it, they will come” approach.

Let’s circle back to Winter Field Day. With this new ham “reduce public panic” EmComm service, it will be necessary to develop structure and practice technique. This service will have to be deployable in every condition imaginable. According to their website, “[t]he Winter Field Day event aims to help participants improve their preparedness for disasters and enhance their operational abilities in adverse conditions.” Portable radio operation requires technical skill, flexibility, and creativity, and operating events like WFD, SOTA/POTA, and ARRL Field Day test these qualities. Portable operation in general also challenges your abilities to exist with reduced or improvised access to modern conveniences. Figuring out how to operate comfortably for an extended period of time outdoors in 0°F weather is a prime example of this. Finally, these operating events provide you with people in a variety of locations on many different bands to attempt to contact. On any random day, the pickings for a QSO can be slim. Not so for a popular Field Day event. And keep in mind, you can always operate any contest portably for the same type of experience.

In short, hams can develop our own free-standing public emergency communication system parallel to governmental agencies for the purposes of reducing public panic. And we can practice our ability to deploy this “reduce panic” system by participating in portable events that test our preparedness skills, like Winter Field Day.

It’s late and these are my thoughts. So I will just leave it here.

Goodnight.

KM1NDY