09/27/2007 | K8EP Field Day 2007 activities for the Eastern Panhandle Amateur Radio Club (EPARC) were held again this year at the 200-acre farm of Dan LeFevre (K8GUN). The club operated class 2A again this year thanks to emergency power from a 30 KVA generator supplied by Fred KB8SVT. On each band, two dipoles at right angles at about 70 feet in height provided great directivity on our primary bands of 20 and 40 meters. We also operated on 6 meters, 440 MHz ATV, SSTV, packet, and satellite. Murphy possessed our wireless network at the start of operations but some manual logging during the troubleshooting and recovery prevented us from losing any contacts. The GOTA station was a big hit with several new people getting behind the microphone for their first experience with ham radio. Two of those on the GOTA station are now progressing toward getting their license. Bill N3JDR spent a considerable amount of time coaching the potential hams as they tried the GOTA station. One person showing an interest in ham radio was Berkeley County Emergency Services Director Steve Allen. Steve visited the Field Day site on both Saturday and Sunday and provided a tent from the local Office of Emergency Services to house our GOTA and VHF stations. We had a visit from WV Delegate John Overington and NBC25 TV reporter Jennifer Von Reuter did a nice story on our Field Day efforts, which aired on several newscasts throughout the weekend. Incidentally, Jennifers father stopped by with plans to also get his ticket. Pat (K3MQP) spent a considerable amount of time making CW contacts on 20 and 40 while Adam (KB8UUE) successfully pulled off a few satellite and SSTV contacts. The weather was extremely comfortable while we enjoyed several tasty meals and cooled our palate with drinks from the frozen drink machine provided courtesy of Dale K3DD. Taking turns operating at various times throughout the weekend included Stu W3STU; Rod N8RAT; Chuck W4LFO; Marv W8AEC; Gary WB8EKG; Steve KB8UCS; and Mark W8CMK. -- W8CMK