07/23/2002 | W1NVT This year, we had new opportunities with the newly created "Get-On-The-Air (GOTA) Station. We obtained one of those popular 10x20 Vehicle Canopy Tents and put the GOTA, VHF, Satellite and Demonstration Stations in it. We were able to amass a sizeable amount of equipment and computers and many operators in one dry place! It wasn't an easy marriage at first as some computers interfered with some radios. One of the biggest problems was that the GOTA radio was too complicated for beginners (and some of their experienced coaches!) to figure out. Selecting a simple radio for this station is key. Several beginners and inactive oldtimers had a lot of fun making contacts. Some are becoming avid contesters already!

Our main stations, phone and cw, were in other tents and were essentially unchanged. However, during setup, Murphy came a-knocking and we found that our CW Tribander would not function on 20 meters. Why an antenna used for 15+ years and meticulously cared for should fail at this key junction is unknown. We raced against the clock to locate another tribander and get it delivered to the site and installed before the 1800 UTC start. We made it with 5 minutes to spare! What fun! What excitement! NOT!

The phone station wasn't spared problems, as its generator stopped generating only 45 minutes into Field Day. Fortunately, we bring lots of backup!

It was an good year, otherwise, as the propagation Gods smiled on us and 3800+ QSO's were logged. After a good night's rest, all admitted that they had a great time!

Full details on our Field Day operation can be found at http://www.ranv.org/fdrpt.html. -- W1SJ