Newsletter of the Framingham Amateur Radio Association August 1997, Vol. 64, No. 8

In This Issue

President's Message
Field Day 1997 - W1FY & N1LOO
Orgin of "Ham"

FARA Family Picnic

Field Day Results

and more...

President's Message

FARA Field Day 1997 was, to say the least, an absolute blast.  No doubt in my mind that Field Day is the biggest event that FARA has during the entire year.  Radio, socializing, food, and fun are the key ingredients.  The Field Day "Bosses" Martin, AA1ON,  and Dave, K1HT did a marvelous job once again with planning and coordinating the effort making sure we were all pulling in the same direction making sure it all came together  on time and in a safe manner.  Of course Field Day would not be Field Day if it were not for the food masterfully put together by our master chef Dick, K1KTK.  I don't remember who was in charge of the weather this year but that person should be appointed for life.  If you were not able to attend this year or you did and want to revisit the experience, I suggest you visit the FARA Web site at http://www.fara.org/~fara for a look at the Field Day photos. 
On another topic, if the 147.15 repeater is sounding better to you lately, it's not a coincidence.  If you remember, following last winter, the repeater sounded terrible.  This was due to a rapidly deteriorating Stationmaster repeater antenna which was taken down by Dennis, KE6DPL, with some help from a ground crew.  At the same time a newly purchased Cushcraft ARX-270 was put up as a temporary antenna while the Stationmaster was assessed to see if it could be repaired.  Well, on the Thursday night of our July monthly meeting a band of thunderstorms whipped through the area and our new ARX-270 got zapped by lightning.  Fortunately, the repeater survived but the antenna didn't.  It's currently on display at the club shack for anyone to see the nice hole in the radome and what's left of the antenna inside it.  Repairs to the Stationmaster by Dennis and its reinstallation by him and Danny, T93M, has gotten us back on the air and sounding good.  Much thanks to Dennis, Danny and the ground crew for getting us back on the air with minimal down time.
Finally, hope to see you all at the FARA Family Picnic on August 31 at the YMCA Harrington Outdoor Center in West Boylston.  See the July newsletter or give me a call for details.Have an enjoyable summer and see you at the meeting and at Field Day.  73

Jim, W1EQW
Field Day 1997 - W1FY & N1LOO

by Dave K1HT & Martin AA1ON

We can tell the story of a Field Day effort from several perspectives: the results achieved, the people involved, the targets set, the lessons learned, and the resolutions for next year.  This year's results brought yet another improvement in our total score, to 9,062 -- over 500 points above our 1996 score.  Some other groups seem to have done even better, but we may place 6th nationwide in class 3A this year.  In their second year in 3A the Billerica club (W1TQ) posted a fine score, 9,882, and bumped us out of first place in Massachusetts.  (We shouldn't feel bad, though -- in the past they've come in first nationwide in 5A.)  We had set ourselves a target of breaking the 10,000-point barrier, but that will have to wait until next year.
We made gains over 1996 on several bands: 20 SSB up more than 160 QSOs, 80 CW up 130, packet up 30, and VHF up over 50. Offsetting these advances, we were 80 QSOs down on 20 CW and 130 down on 80 SSB.  Overall, we had nearly 100 more QS0s on CW and 25 more on SSB.
The gains on VHF were achieved on flat bands, with just one 6M QSO outside the Northeast. The hard work of Robert N1UVA and Bob W1RH in assembling serious gain on all bands up to 432 MHz was instrumental in this result.

Thursday, August 5
This Month's Meeting

Marjie, KA1HIA

Something's spinning at www.fara.org/~fara.  Come to this month's meeting as Paul, N1DGT explains what's happening on the club Website.

Submitting Material to the Circuit


Material may be submitted for publication by sending it directly to the editor.  This can be done by phone, by US Mail, or via the Internet (preferred).  The deadline for each issue is the Thursday, one week before the monthly meeting.


by phone
(508) 435-2055 (before 9:00PM please!)


by mail

Robert Hess, N1UVA
1 Cold Spring Brook Road
Hopkinton, MA  01748


by internet

[email protected]

More on Field Day '97: Page 3...