07/24/2005 | W2GSB Great South Bay ARC Field Day was again held on the east lawn of Babylon Town Hall. We had many club members participate this year and many people stopped by as we operated because of the location at Town Hall. Throughout the day, baseball games were going on at the ball fields, many people came down to the pond for exercise and to enjoy the gardens around the pond. On Sunday there was a Cancer Motorcycle Tour that ended its run at Town Hall right next to our Field Day operations. Many of the supporters came by to what was going on.

The weather was very warm (90s) and no rain. Bands were a bit strict and not as good as a few years ago but we had fun with the demos on ATV and Satellite. The solar panels were a big hit and sparked lots of interest. We also had a crankup tower mounted on a trailer that worked well with a tri band beam on it. We also had separate dipoles for 80/40/20/15/10. To complete the 9F operation we had a DX-77, and an outbacker on a tripod. 6m, 2m and 70cm were also in operation. We finished with a claimed score of 1552 and 1770 bonus points.

Our operation was in conjunction with Babylon Town's Office of Emergency Management and our annual operation is part of their annual testing of their emergency plans.

GSBARC has been operating Field Day from Babylon Town Hall since 1976 with the local RACES and ARES operators.

We had a few new operators this year at Field Day. A few of them received their licenses in the past year and this was their first time at a Field Day. It was a good experience for all.

GSBARC Field Day Co-Chairpersons were:
Walter Wenzel, KA2RGI (RACES RO/ARES EC and GSBARC Corr. Sec.)
Joe Mielko, N2IMF (ARES AEC and GSBARC Vice-President)
Frank Cannata, K2LI (ARES AEC and GSBARC Director) -- KA2RGI