FIELD DAY: 2001
Field day activities for the Kentucky Mountains Amateur Radio Club
and the Leslie County ARS was held this year at the Civil Air Patrol Hangar
at the Wendell Ford Airport near Hazard on Highway 14, near the Breathitt
Co. Line. Twenty Seven amateurs participated in the event, including the
following:
KE4YLQ, W4GLW, KF4SKS, AF4YJ, KA4NIH, KG4MTF, K4TDO, WD8IMG, KA4BYW, KD4ZAO, WB4NZS, KF4GQR, KU4YY, AK4U, K4ITF, KR4WI, KG4JPB, K4SJA, KN4M, KD4MWH, KE4WWW, WB4IEA, KF4TLP, AE4XZ, KG4HRN, K4AVX.
It was good to have all the new hands, old hands, and to meet some of the hams who were there for the first time. Everyone had a good time, with the operation under the 3A category. The score was down a little from last year, but several new operating kinks made it interesting. Steve, K4SJA, brought his VHF Rover trailer setup with a 30 foot tower and 6 and 2 meter all-mode rigs to make it interesting. Unfortunately, the VHF openings of the previous year didn't happen as much, but it was still fun.
Morris, WB4NZS, and Reda, KF4GQR, brought their Digital Station, and operated PSK-31 on 20 meters during the contest. It was interesting to watch the monitor to see what activity was going on in that segment of the band. It was also a challenge to jump on a signal before it moved frequency or faded.
I would suspect that Bob, WB4IEA, got the QSO award again this year, with his CW effort, mostly on 15 meters. As you can see from the summary, more contacts were made on 15 CW than anywhere. The overall effort probably suffered from a concentration on 40 meter CW, the usual high QSO band.
1648 points were scored over the period with the band spread as shown:
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You can easily see from the chart where improvements in the score could be made, but a shortage of operators for some shifts is always the problem in making more contacts.
Many thanks to Tim Osborne, K4TDO; Tim Calhoun, KU4YY; and Sid Adams, WI4M, who were responsible for the overall planning of Field Day, getting the site, and needed supplies and equipment, cutting the grass, etc., and to Sid for the plane rides in his Cessna, which added to the fun.
We also thank Bob Spurlock, WB4IEA; Morris Caudill, WB4NZS; Tim Calhoun, KU4YY; and Steve Addison, K4SJA, for bringing and submitting their rigs to the rigors of Field Day. Special thanks go to Steve for bringing his VHF Rover setup and to Morris for bring all the digital equipment needed to run that setup.
A special event at Field Day was the visit by Don
McNamara , KN4M, who has been the main organizer of Field
Day the past couple of years, and a valued club member. Don had been
in an automobile wreck and had been in the hospital for many months.
He had just gotten home the day before, and was able to visit the site
for an hour or so. It was also good to see Paul
Burcham at field day for the first time in several years because of
prior illness. Paul said he enjoyed it very much and it was the best
thing for Don in several months, besides getting out of the hospital.
The different parts of the operation can be seen in the following links:
The VHF setup with K4SJO's rover:
The phone setup, with Tim, KU4YY at the rig:
The Digital Operation, WB4NZS:
Look at Jack's great collection of FD Photos