Field Day
June 27th & 28th, 2009



The HAMCOW was set up in the field at the Freetown
state forest ranger station picnic area.  Here you can see
the 5 element HF Hy-Gain & 6 Meter Yagi's on the main
tower, the satellite array ready for the next pass, and the
WiFi & EVDO array to capture our broadband Internet
off the cellular network.  Last year we had trouble holding
a solid signal, but with the new dual band EVDO amplifier
we were rock solid all weekend.



N1PMB set up camp with his family and used the big brown tent for the
GOTA station.  A G5RV was strung high in the trees.


KB1JBC set up camp under the 2nd tower, which carried a Cushcraft 4
element HF Yagi and a 2 Meter vertical which was used for APRS and
Winlink.  We also had a 160 Meter dipole fed at the center with an SGC
tuner that could tune all bands, and a full sized 80 Meter dipole that was
slung from the tops of the 2 tallest trees in the field.  The wire antennas
were expertly hung with N1JOY's air power antenna launcher.


We had our Public Information Table stocked with a fresh supply of
ARRL pamphlets.


We also hosted Boy Scout Troop #100 from Westport for several
hours on Saturday.  The kids took turns at the GOTA station and
really enjoyed watching N1JOY shoot tennis balls high into the sky
with his antenna launcher.


N1JOY did an educational demonstration with an Anritsu BTS Master, which
is a high end antenna and feed line analyzer he uses as his job in the cellular
industry.  The demo included comparisons of similar cables with PL-259
connectors vs. N connectors, hard line jumpers with small kinks to show
how a fault can be located high on a tower from the ground, and an antenna
to show how to identify the resonant frequency of an unknown antenna.  We
also took a moment to look at the Smith Chart feature and even after an hour of
demonstrating, we barely scratched the surface of the features in this unit.
L-R: KA1LH, KB1PNJ, & Mike, a prospective Ham.


WB1HGA getting our Alternative Power bonus.


The Alternate Power station consisted of an Elecraft K1 QRP rig that had
the internal AA battery pack charged up with a small solar panel.  The charging
took longer than expected because the lack of good sunny days
leading up to Field Day this year.


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