06/30/2003 | WC4AR The Wilson Amateur Radio Club -WC4AR operated Field Day once again from the Wilson County Fairgrounds in Lebanon, Tennessee. Keith Harris -K4MHK served as our Field Day Chairman this year and he, along with XYL Julie -KG4SCU, daughter Jenny -KI4BEI and son Stephen did a fantastic job organizing the event. Despite less than desirable band conditions in the early hours of FD, members of the WARC and visitors had great fun. Nice weather, good friends and Amateur Radio make for a great weekend.

When the dust settled, the WC4AR Field Day event had over 50 operators and visitors. Moreover, our Field Day operation was pleased to welcome two special visitors, Tennessee's 17th District Senator Mae Beavers and her husband Jerry. Senator Beavers toured the entire Field Day grounds and met with many of our operators. It should be noted that Sen. Beavers was among those TN Legislators who early on supported our antenna legislation, which became law in April of this year.

Another special visitor to our Field Day site was newly licensed Amateur Radio operator Paul Chapman -KI4AYK and his mother Sherri. At age 12, Paul is already a very good radio operator who made numerous contacts on our GOTA station -WB4CSG. When he wasn't logging QSOs, it was fun to hear and watch Paul translate everything he read (license plates, dog tags, candy bar wrappers, you name it) into Morse code. He is going to be a CW op in no time and a good one too. As an added bonus, Paul's mother Sherri entertained many of our guests and off-duty ops late Saturday night playing her fiddle. Wow! What a treat after hours of listening to the sizzle and static of a dead band. I wish every Field Day operator in Region 2 and around the world could have been here... it was a beautiful night in Tennessee.

In a weekend filled with fun and excitement, one of the highlights for many of us was watching some of the younger non-hams making contacts on the GOTA station. Among others, Ken and Jay Brown, harmonics of Allen -WB4ECR and Nancy -N5ZUP, and James Kimbro, harmonic of Kevin -KI4ANR, each made contacts on the HF bands Saturday night under the supervision of control operator Sam Shields -WB4CSG. Sam sets up and maintains the GOTA station, and the Novice/Tech station in years past, every year during Field Day. He has a gift for making electronics and ham radio fun for kids of all ages, and he is good at making young ham want-to-bes feel at ease at the microphone. Sam is a wonderful elmer to many hams in middle Tennessee, and the Wilson Amateur Radio Club is lucky to have him.

All in all, Field Day 2003 at WC4AR was a great success. We did not set any records logging QSOs this weekend, but we put stations on the air under simulated emergency conditions for 24 consecutive hours without serious injury. Also, we learned many things and improved our communication skills, we promoted amateur radio, we made some new friends and got reacquainted with some old ones, and we had a world of fun. I can't wait for next year!

73, Greg Tomerlin -WN4M

Wilson Amateur Radio Club -WC4AR
info@wilsonarc.org
www.wilsonarc.org -- WN4M