07/19/2007 | KC0AHN Field Day has become a very popular time for the Boeing Employee Amateur Radio Society (BEARS) of Wichita, KS members and friends. It has become a family social event that begins on Friday at 1:00 PM. Although many of our stations are outside housed in screen tents and kept physically separate to minimize transceiver interaction we have located the two digital stations, the 10m station, and the GOTA station inside air conditioning. This makes it a lot easier for those with physical conditions to enjoy Field Day, too. This also has improved interaction between the GOTA and long time BEARS members.

Charles Rasico, KC0WQY, architected a wired/wireless logging solution for our 7A Field Day entry including the GOTA station. Introduced at our April meeting and not without some initial resistance it has proven wildly popular to our Field Day participants. Using the N3FJP Field Day software (http://www.n3fjp.com/), a mix of older computers, laptops, a lot of Ethernet cable and a wireless router the BEARS Field Day team was able to keep abreast of contact progress and to know when station X needed relief. For friends, relatives, and GOTA members with mike-fright the ease of use of the N3FJP software allowed them to contribute without having to talk on the radio immediately.

Over half of the Field Day participants arrived late Friday afternoon to pitch tents, begin setup, and share in a picnic. This event was hosted to introduce participants before they were all rushing to prepare for the first few minutes of Field Day. 54 people total participated in some aspect of the BEARS Field Day.

Terry Gattis (K9TAG) took on the safety officer position this year. Noticeable improvements safety tape on all guys, power checks before hooking up expensive radios and power supplies, detection of a floating ground in our Honda generator (made that way intentionally). Thank you, Terry, for taking this position on you made a positive difference.

Sedgwick County 5th District Commissioner Gwen Welshimer (http://www.sedgwickcounty.org/commissioners/5th_district.htm) visited our Field Day site. Gwen learned of the youthful enthusiasm of our newly licensed members and their assistants and the importance of amateur radio in emergency relief situations. A first time visitor to an amateur radio event she left with a good understanding of the potential benefits of an active ham radio group.

Thank you to James and Mary Whitfield for a wonderfully coordinated barbeque meal Saturday evening. Thank you to Lisa Wing for providing ice cream and cake for Randy Wings birthday.

Boy Scout Troop 736 provided a Scout Breakfast, on Sunday for those hard core operators that survived the night. The Scouts provided mountain man casseroles, pancakes and sausage. Six Scouts then joined in on the field day activities.

GOTA Station KC0WQY

Charles Rasico (KC0WQY) was our GOTA chairman and dedicated mentor. Relatively new to amateur radio, Charles enthusiasm has buoyed our 2007 Field Day preparations. GOTA members include: Logan Nispel (KC0VUH), Matt Rasico (KC0VUG), Samantha Wing (KC0MTM), Brent Nispel, Benjamin Wing (KC0YJI), Ivy Lovendahl, Andrew Farlow, Becky Farlow, Matt Feltrop, Robyn Madsen, Rachel Enix, and Jacob Enix. Some memorable moments: Matt Rasico slugging it out on 40m, Logan making contacts Ivy cheering every one of them!, Brent Nispel making his first field day amateur radio contact, Samantha working the Virgin Islands (her first non-US contact) in the wee hours of Sunday morning, Drew diligently helping Samantha log, Robyn spraining her ankle - and NOT wanting to leave because of her new-found excitement in amateur radio, all of the wonderful help the GOTA members provided during setup and takedown of ALL the stations!

10m Voice Station

We re-used the Ringo 10m antenna at 40 ft. that snagged so many contacts last year it worked well this year just not as many 10m contacts to be had at the bottom of the solar cycle. The 10m station included a Yaesu FT-840 and an automatic tuner. The 10m station was manned by Loyd Williams (KC0HZR), Haley Canfield, and team captain Steve Canfield (KC0GAA).

15m Voice Station

This year the 15M station took the tallest antenna bragging rights from the 10M station, with a bit of an odd twist. It started with a challenge from N0LD to build a 15M antenna with good radiation 15 degree above the horizon. It was an interesting story that I don't have space to tell as to how that resulted in a quarter wave vertical made from 127.5 inches of aluminum downspout over four 125 inch radials of # 12 insulated stranded copper wire. Resonance was about 20.95 MHz, but the SWR remained under 1.5 at 21.45, which leaves room for improvement next year. The station was an ICOM 745, old but reliable.

Station operators included Dexter Schnebly, KB0YWM, and Sherry Weir, KB0SQQ, with Sherry's daughter helping and team captain James Whitfield (N5GUI). Band was open well into the night. It also picked up a lot of activity in the last three hours of the event. Sherry bagged Saskatchewan and Ontario in the last five minutes of Field Day.

20m Voice Station

George Pinnick (WA0GNC) team captain provided a very nice Ten-Tec Omni 6 for the 20m transceiver. An Armstrong rotor on the 3 element 20m beam provided a plethora of contacts. Team members included: Jay Lies (KZ0P), Nick Farlow (KB0YHT), Dave Powers (KA0KCI), Terry Gattis (K9TAG) and just about every active ham radio operator in the BEARS at one time or another during field day. This was a very fun station and it was outdoors, in the shade!

20m Digital Station

Harvey Jones (AC0EG) captained the 20m Digital Station. PSK-31 was the mode of choice using his FT-857 with autotuner and his 20m ground-mounted vertical antenna. 20m had so many PSK-31 stations that it was difficult to make contacts until later in the day as 20m propagation thinned out it was easier to complete a contact without QRM. Harveys station located in the air conditioning was a popular place for all of participants and visitors.

40m Voice Station

Dennis Gaskill (KC0IFQ) and Jim Kernan (KC0WHI) captained the 40m voice station. Team members included: Steve Heyroth (K5MNZ), Ron Wing (night shift), Jim Williams (K5NN), Randy Wing (N0LD), Sherry Weir (KB0SQQ), and David Power (KA0KCI). Steves ICOM 706 MK IIg served as the transceiver of choice a 40m dipole at 30 feet running NW to SE served as the antenna.

40m Digital and CW Station

Dennis Gaskill (KC0IFQ) also captained the 40m Digital and CW station. Transceiver was an ICOM-746. Antenna was an extremely tall 40m vertical station located as far away as we could get it from the 40m voice antenna. Both Jim Williams (K5NN) and Bill Benton (WA0MIF) operated CW on this station. Steve Schroeder (KA0YBN) and Dennis provided PSK-31 operations. Because the 40m Digital station was located with 10 ft of the GOTA station, there was at times noticeable interference between these two stations. Something to improve next year!

80m Station

The 80m station sported an Alpha Delta DXLB Plus 102 ft long antenna operated as an inverted V peaking at 40 ft. with ends about 15 feet of the ground running NW to SE. An ICOM 756 PRO III with an internal tuner completed our station. A lot of static, and lightning crashes courtesy of the storms to the south impeded early field day performance. Anyone who stopped by got to work this station this Field Day. We had help from the following members, Larry Macionski (W8LM), Steve Schroeder (KA0YBN), John Harford (KB0OPH), Loyd Williams (KC0HZR) and team captain Jim Enix (KC0QIE). Our best times of operation was after sunset when we worked stations across the United States until early Sunday morning. During our quiet times, many ideas were generated for improving 80m performance

VHF Station

A 6m dipole at 30 feet with a Yaesu FT-100 scanning the 6m voice band didnt catch one opening during field day However, the Amateur Television (ATV) demonstration did make a couple of RANDOM contacts on 70cm!

Demonstrations

Kerry (W0ON) and Wanda Steffens provided a well-received demonstration of Amateur Television (ATV) on Saturday afternoon. He even solicited his contacts to come down and join our amateur radio field day activities!

James Whitfield (N5GUI) demonstrated his voice encode/decode laser communications system. Look for his forthcoming QST article.

Steve Heyroth (K5MNZ) demonstrated his radio controlled airplane on Sunday morning. Most of the pieces have been found after an impressive flight.

Visitors (I can remember!)

Denys Fredrickson (W0BMW), Don Urban (KC0BVX), Don Schmidt (WA0JRZ), Bob Perdue (KC0HFL), Sam Patton (KC0SXY), Randy Wing's mother Marlene Schmitt, Laurie Farlow (KC0BFA), Ron Wing's wife - Ally Wing, Dave Powers friend, Don Low and friend, Charles Rasico's wife and two children, Larry Macionski friends - Rinda Mooney and daughter, Harvey Jones family - Kay Jones, Joey Jones, and Sarah Jones, James Whitfield's wife - Mary, and grandson Joey. -- N0LD