The Wichita Amateur Radio Society has been active in community service projects for the past forty years. More than 50 active members participate in the organization. The American Radio Relay League sponsors the yearly event dubbed Field Day.

"It shows what we can do and what type of contacts we can make world wide just by sitting here with a five watt radio," said W.A.R.S. Vice President Mike Byrne.

The organization has wire antennas mounted in the trees and standing pole antennas around the pavillion where they're set up, making it possible to talk to people from around the world.

"We bounce the signals from the clouds or the atmosphere or whatever the signal wants to bounce off of. We're talking to people wherever we can get a signal to," Byrne said. 

Byrne said last year he talked to people in Hawaii and the Dominincan Republic. He says one of the biggest benefits of ham radio is they're powered by their own generator. Allowing operators to be one of the first to respond in a natural or man made disaster.

"We can make contacts when telephone providers are down or electricity is down. We are completely independent. We can make contacts anywhere we need to," he said.

Byrne encourages anyone to come check out the equipment, even if you don't have a licence.

"Come out and we'll help you get on the air and talk to someone," Byrne said.

There are 650,000 licensed amateur radio operators in the US and 2.5 million worldwide. By mid-afternoon some operators at the park had already made contact with people in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Wyoming.