2005 ARRL Field Day
07/10/2005 |
K4NVA
Once again, the practice field at Park View High School in Sterling became the venue for the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club's Field Day activity for 2005. This was the second year that we had the new light poles which we use as supports for our wire antennas. Friday night's slingshot session didn't go as well as last year, but by darkness we did have our ropes hauled over the needed supports. On Saturday morning we erected our seven antennas for our 3A station. Don, K7CS, provided a 350 foot vee beam which was stretched across the field and really worked well. Other HF antennas included our Carolina Windom, AF4MO's Butternut vertical, and our trusty old two element tribander on K7CS's mast. For VHF, Ray, KD4RSL, provided the station, as usual. Unfortunately, he discovered that a "push up mast" is just that, and it is not a tilt up mast. We finally got his 6 and 2 meter beams up, although the mast retained a bit of a bend, and no longer telescopes.
Our stations consisted of a phone station, a CW station, and a RTTY station. The phone and CW stations were networked with CT, so we could change bands and modes as needed. The RTTY station stood alone, running MMTTY. The VHF and GOTA stations used hand logging. We were arranged into three tents - one for VHF, one for Phone and GOTA, and one for CW and RTTY. The club had invested in some bandpass filters which definitely helped reduce co-station interference. After eliminating a few dupes, our final QSO count was 1330, for 4016 points (with a power multiplier of 2) and with 1210 bonus points, our final score should be 5226, if all claimed bonuses are approved.
Fortunately, the weather was about as good as one could expect in late June. No thunderstorms were there to cause disaster with our tent setup. About 15 club members participated, and we were pleased to have a number of guests, including some youth, thanks to AF4MO and several club members. Special thanks go to the two iron men, Don, K7CS, and Jim, AF4MO, for their many hours of operation, including the "overnights", and to Russ, W3RST, Mr. Generator. Also thanks to Gordon, NQ4K, for his coordination efforts to bring the event to a successful conclusion. My list of participants includes K7CS, AF4MO, W2YE, W3RST, K4LDT, KC4ATU, NQ4K, WB2SAI, N3QT, KF4PQL, KD4RSL, W4KLS, and AI2P. Sorry if I left anyone out. Field Day is like Christmas - it's a great event, with a lot of preparation - but we're glad it only comes once a year.
73, Dick, W2YE -- W2YE
Our stations consisted of a phone station, a CW station, and a RTTY station. The phone and CW stations were networked with CT, so we could change bands and modes as needed. The RTTY station stood alone, running MMTTY. The VHF and GOTA stations used hand logging. We were arranged into three tents - one for VHF, one for Phone and GOTA, and one for CW and RTTY. The club had invested in some bandpass filters which definitely helped reduce co-station interference. After eliminating a few dupes, our final QSO count was 1330, for 4016 points (with a power multiplier of 2) and with 1210 bonus points, our final score should be 5226, if all claimed bonuses are approved.
Fortunately, the weather was about as good as one could expect in late June. No thunderstorms were there to cause disaster with our tent setup. About 15 club members participated, and we were pleased to have a number of guests, including some youth, thanks to AF4MO and several club members. Special thanks go to the two iron men, Don, K7CS, and Jim, AF4MO, for their many hours of operation, including the "overnights", and to Russ, W3RST, Mr. Generator. Also thanks to Gordon, NQ4K, for his coordination efforts to bring the event to a successful conclusion. My list of participants includes K7CS, AF4MO, W2YE, W3RST, K4LDT, KC4ATU, NQ4K, WB2SAI, N3QT, KF4PQL, KD4RSL, W4KLS, and AI2P. Sorry if I left anyone out. Field Day is like Christmas - it's a great event, with a lot of preparation - but we're glad it only comes once a year.
73, Dick, W2YE -- W2YE
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