2005 ARRL Field Day
09/07/2005 |
K1R
This past year, your PCARC Field Day team put a strategy together to pursue a win in the 5A category. Although I think we came up short, we did have fun, learned a lot more, tapped into a whole new set of resources from our fabulous club membership and now, the team looks forward to another attempt to win the top spot in 5A in 2006. But before we address the future, lets look at the incredible effort the club put forward in having one of the best Field Day events ever. Mounting a 5A setup is no small undertaking but with really no surprise, the club really came together to make it successful. Here are the band/mode breakdown for your reading pleasure:
K1R (Special call celebrating our 50 years of PCARC existence!)
Band SSB CW
10 M 0 0
15 M 185 153
20 M 677 1051
40 M 546 928
80 M 361 241
6 M 73 8
2 M 13 1
W1WQM GOTA
Band SSB CW
10 M 27 0
15 M 12 2
20 M 80 21
40 M 0 0
80 M 0 0
20 M PSK 31 had 24 QSO's
Totals: 1855 QSO's on SSB (K1R)
119 QSO's on SSB (W1WQM)
2370 QSO's on CW (K1R)
23 QSO's on CW (W1WQM)
Grand total: 4392 QSO's
Bonus Points:
I won't bother listing the ones we got but rather the one's we missed:
Message Origination to SCM (-100)
Traffic Handling (10 Messages) (-100)
Satellite (-100) This one appears to be the PCARC nemesis!
CONGRATULATIONS to all that helped the PCARC have such a tremendous score! The results have not been published as of this writing but expect to hear the final details at the September 7 meeting.
What did we do and what did we learn?
First, let me congratulate the CW team that produced the best number of QSOs ever for the PCARC in any Field Day. Is it the big wire beam on 40 or the nice, newly designed 3 el. 20-M yagi at 45 ft. that made the difference? It certainly helped! Was it the nice radio setup? 40-M CW position in W8LMs new trailer and a comfortable setting (heat not included), and the GJU setup on Shady Lane on 20 M CW certainly helped! NO, it was the operators that came together to produce such a great score on these bands! K1FOO signed up for that big first hour on 40 CW and quickly found himself a bit overwhelmed with Sections instead of Zones coming at him at a break neck speed! But he quickly recovered and got into the groove. Other notables that we had in our CW ranks included WV4I, AA1QD, KF1V, and AA1CA. Leading the charge with Bug in hand, was Alex, AI2Q pushing the 20-M band in that nice GJU Travel Trailer (in the shade at the north end of the site). This band really produced and actually stayed open well into the night. (Because we recently lost our web site and the Field Day sign-up sheet, I am unable to give you the complete list of ops, but be advised your help and skills really paid off Thanks!)
Having setup the control center with the large dry erase board made it fun to take a break from operating to see how the entire group effort was doing, hour by hour. It was the nerve center and tactical planning area, complimented by great food cooking nearby (Thanks Kriss and his able crew for a fantastic food extravaganza) which added to the fun too!
What was learned fairly quickly is that we need a reliable inter-station communications system on the hill and have dedicated staff to answer the call at the respect stations to report the hourly scores. The FRS radios are useful but batteries go flat quickly so we need something different. An open switch for our 2006 effort for sure.
The shelters provided by members of the PCARC were fantastic. Larry, N1ZGI supporting our 75/15 M SSB location, KA1GJU for 20 M CW, the small, hot trailer from Deuce, KB1KBC that supported the VHF/UHF and 40 M SSB setup and Tom, AA1CL providing our shelter on 20 M SSB. And the probably the hottest spot (and meant in every way imaginable - temperature, action, etc.) was Larry, W8LMs newly acquired motorcycle trailer that housed 40, 80, 15 CW and the GOTA setup. A very special thanks to goes out each one of you, for providing such wonderful shelters for our 2005 Field Day operation.
This year the plan was to use the full expanse of the top of the hill and we did. The park personnel did a great job clearing the north end of the site, leaving some nice trees for us to use to hang ropes and wire beams for 40 and 80 Meters. It was a little tricky shooting lines over trees after the towers and yagis were up, so next year the first order of business should be getting the wire beams up and out of the way first. That super sling shot system worked like a champ!
It appears we were challenged at the phone radio positions. The QSO totals are low compared to past years but nevertheless, nice totals were generated with many of our newest operators! Nice effort and now you are ready to really have more fun next year! Thanks to the experienced ops for assisting and offering tips to be more successful on this mode!
From an inter-station interference perspective, this year was the cleanest yet. It really does make a difference spreading out the stations and keeping them in a north/south line as all stations point west. I noticed that I could not even hear the usual white noise from the 20 M SSB position when I was operating CW. How cool is that! However, we did discover some problems with the GOTA station causing some interesting noise to some of the nearby CW stations. Another minor item to tweak for next year! But overall, the noise level was pretty acceptable. Alex and some of our other members brought to the site some old time radios that were put on the air for a while for the old timers to reflect on our humble beginnings! Thanks to all who took the time to share this history with the PCARC.
A very special thanks for Bill, KB1EOF, for the use of his VHF/UHF equipment and the big generator. This power source handled with ease the entire operation. Bill can we support air conditioners next year? And speaking of VHF/UHF, this writer had the unique opportunity to work some DX on 6 M SSB during Field Day. FM5JC from Martinque called us Sunday morning with a nice signal. Later, Bill EOF reported that the 6 M yagi got put together all wrong with a director in between the driven element and reflector but hey, it worked! Well have to watch those VHF guys next year as they assemble antennas!
So on behalf of the 2005 PCARC FD committee, thanks for coming, hope you enjoyed yourself and took away some good ideas and learned a bit more of diversity of our hobby! It is without a doubt, the single most exciting club event we happily offer to our membership and visitors. Our reputation remains intact as a great club with exciting programs and the best possible range of experience, skills and ability. Thanks!
73, Mark, K1RX & Scott, K1RTO
2005 PCARC FD Co-Chairmen
AND From The President:
From High atop the Stratham Hill, our group lead by Mark, K1RX once again attempted to high score in 5A. Bill, KB1EOF supplied enough emergency power to light up a small town. I want to thank all who participated. Personally, I provided the GOTA station, my FT100-D a modest radio by comparison, but I believe we made 440 contacts with a max GOTA allowable of 400. Propagation was down because of the sunspot cycle but... PCARC was contesting! Chris KB1GJU did pilot the BBQ grill with talent only he possesses. I happen to of snapped only a couple of pictures but will post my favorite, sunset and a 20 meter beam. It was the first field day I had participated in 5-6 years. I will be back next year. Offhand I can't name all who was there, but pleny of faces and calls come to mind. Thanks to everyone.
73's, Larry W8LM ARRL Lifetime Member PCARC President -- W8LM
-- K1RX
K1R (Special call celebrating our 50 years of PCARC existence!)
Band SSB CW
10 M 0 0
15 M 185 153
20 M 677 1051
40 M 546 928
80 M 361 241
6 M 73 8
2 M 13 1
W1WQM GOTA
Band SSB CW
10 M 27 0
15 M 12 2
20 M 80 21
40 M 0 0
80 M 0 0
20 M PSK 31 had 24 QSO's
Totals: 1855 QSO's on SSB (K1R)
119 QSO's on SSB (W1WQM)
2370 QSO's on CW (K1R)
23 QSO's on CW (W1WQM)
Grand total: 4392 QSO's
Bonus Points:
I won't bother listing the ones we got but rather the one's we missed:
Message Origination to SCM (-100)
Traffic Handling (10 Messages) (-100)
Satellite (-100) This one appears to be the PCARC nemesis!
CONGRATULATIONS to all that helped the PCARC have such a tremendous score! The results have not been published as of this writing but expect to hear the final details at the September 7 meeting.
What did we do and what did we learn?
First, let me congratulate the CW team that produced the best number of QSOs ever for the PCARC in any Field Day. Is it the big wire beam on 40 or the nice, newly designed 3 el. 20-M yagi at 45 ft. that made the difference? It certainly helped! Was it the nice radio setup? 40-M CW position in W8LMs new trailer and a comfortable setting (heat not included), and the GJU setup on Shady Lane on 20 M CW certainly helped! NO, it was the operators that came together to produce such a great score on these bands! K1FOO signed up for that big first hour on 40 CW and quickly found himself a bit overwhelmed with Sections instead of Zones coming at him at a break neck speed! But he quickly recovered and got into the groove. Other notables that we had in our CW ranks included WV4I, AA1QD, KF1V, and AA1CA. Leading the charge with Bug in hand, was Alex, AI2Q pushing the 20-M band in that nice GJU Travel Trailer (in the shade at the north end of the site). This band really produced and actually stayed open well into the night. (Because we recently lost our web site and the Field Day sign-up sheet, I am unable to give you the complete list of ops, but be advised your help and skills really paid off Thanks!)
Having setup the control center with the large dry erase board made it fun to take a break from operating to see how the entire group effort was doing, hour by hour. It was the nerve center and tactical planning area, complimented by great food cooking nearby (Thanks Kriss and his able crew for a fantastic food extravaganza) which added to the fun too!
What was learned fairly quickly is that we need a reliable inter-station communications system on the hill and have dedicated staff to answer the call at the respect stations to report the hourly scores. The FRS radios are useful but batteries go flat quickly so we need something different. An open switch for our 2006 effort for sure.
The shelters provided by members of the PCARC were fantastic. Larry, N1ZGI supporting our 75/15 M SSB location, KA1GJU for 20 M CW, the small, hot trailer from Deuce, KB1KBC that supported the VHF/UHF and 40 M SSB setup and Tom, AA1CL providing our shelter on 20 M SSB. And the probably the hottest spot (and meant in every way imaginable - temperature, action, etc.) was Larry, W8LMs newly acquired motorcycle trailer that housed 40, 80, 15 CW and the GOTA setup. A very special thanks to goes out each one of you, for providing such wonderful shelters for our 2005 Field Day operation.
This year the plan was to use the full expanse of the top of the hill and we did. The park personnel did a great job clearing the north end of the site, leaving some nice trees for us to use to hang ropes and wire beams for 40 and 80 Meters. It was a little tricky shooting lines over trees after the towers and yagis were up, so next year the first order of business should be getting the wire beams up and out of the way first. That super sling shot system worked like a champ!
It appears we were challenged at the phone radio positions. The QSO totals are low compared to past years but nevertheless, nice totals were generated with many of our newest operators! Nice effort and now you are ready to really have more fun next year! Thanks to the experienced ops for assisting and offering tips to be more successful on this mode!
From an inter-station interference perspective, this year was the cleanest yet. It really does make a difference spreading out the stations and keeping them in a north/south line as all stations point west. I noticed that I could not even hear the usual white noise from the 20 M SSB position when I was operating CW. How cool is that! However, we did discover some problems with the GOTA station causing some interesting noise to some of the nearby CW stations. Another minor item to tweak for next year! But overall, the noise level was pretty acceptable. Alex and some of our other members brought to the site some old time radios that were put on the air for a while for the old timers to reflect on our humble beginnings! Thanks to all who took the time to share this history with the PCARC.
A very special thanks for Bill, KB1EOF, for the use of his VHF/UHF equipment and the big generator. This power source handled with ease the entire operation. Bill can we support air conditioners next year? And speaking of VHF/UHF, this writer had the unique opportunity to work some DX on 6 M SSB during Field Day. FM5JC from Martinque called us Sunday morning with a nice signal. Later, Bill EOF reported that the 6 M yagi got put together all wrong with a director in between the driven element and reflector but hey, it worked! Well have to watch those VHF guys next year as they assemble antennas!
So on behalf of the 2005 PCARC FD committee, thanks for coming, hope you enjoyed yourself and took away some good ideas and learned a bit more of diversity of our hobby! It is without a doubt, the single most exciting club event we happily offer to our membership and visitors. Our reputation remains intact as a great club with exciting programs and the best possible range of experience, skills and ability. Thanks!
73, Mark, K1RX & Scott, K1RTO
2005 PCARC FD Co-Chairmen
AND From The President:
From High atop the Stratham Hill, our group lead by Mark, K1RX once again attempted to high score in 5A. Bill, KB1EOF supplied enough emergency power to light up a small town. I want to thank all who participated. Personally, I provided the GOTA station, my FT100-D a modest radio by comparison, but I believe we made 440 contacts with a max GOTA allowable of 400. Propagation was down because of the sunspot cycle but... PCARC was contesting! Chris KB1GJU did pilot the BBQ grill with talent only he possesses. I happen to of snapped only a couple of pictures but will post my favorite, sunset and a 20 meter beam. It was the first field day I had participated in 5-6 years. I will be back next year. Offhand I can't name all who was there, but pleny of faces and calls come to mind. Thanks to everyone.
73's, Larry W8LM ARRL Lifetime Member PCARC President -- W8LM
-- K1RX
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