29 Jun 05: Loudoun Times-Mirror Article.
The
Loudoun Times-Mirror published a very nice article on Field Day.
The Tentative Results (as of 28 Jun 05)
Dick, W2YE, writes:
Folks,
here's my first crack at FD scores for SPARC:
Contacts: 630 CW, 675
Phone, 49 Digital for a total of 1354 QSO's. This includes hand counts
from the RTTY, GOTA, and VHF logs, plus a few HF for K4NVA, so may be
adjusted a bit for final score.
Bonuses: Emergency
power (300), Media publicity (100), public place (100), Info booth
(100), W1AW message (100), Natural power QSO's (100), Site visit by
elected official (100), GOTA 100 QSO's (100), submit via applet (50),
Youth element (60), Non traditional mode (100) for 1210 points.
I do not believe we
qualified for bonuses for NTS message to ARRL SM, NTS messages handled,
Satellite QSO, visit by served agency official, and two possible
non-traditional mode demos (I'm assuming above Kevin did his SSTV demo).
With two points for CW and
digital contacts, one point for phone, we scored 2033 QSO points, with
a power multiplier of 2 (for 100 watts) for a total score of
5276. That's a bit better than last year, when according to
Gordon's little sheet, we ranked 262 of 2250 logs with 1236 QSO's and
5042 points.
Since I wasn't there all
the time please let me know of corrections needed, like youth QSO's - I
have two on VHF and one on the GOTA station - is that right?
I have the noted following
as participants:
K7CS, AF4MO, W2YE, W3RST,
K4LDT, KC4ATU, NQ4K, WB2SAI, N3QT, KF4PQL, KD4RSL, W4KLS, AI2P.
I probably won't be putting
this in for a week or so, so there is plenty of time to give me
corrections.
Great job by everyone -
particularly iron men Don and Jim for their long hours at key
(computer) and mike.
Dick, W2YE, writes:
Also,
here is a write up that I'm submitting to Auto Call magazine...
Once again, the practice
field at Park View High School in Sterling became the venue for the
Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club's Field Day activity for 2005.
This was the second year with the new light poles that we use as
supports for our wire antennas. Friday night's slingshot session
didn't go as well as last year, but by darkness we did have our ropes
hauled over the needed supports. On Saturday morning we erected
our seven antennas for our 3A station. Don, K7CS, provided a 350
foot vee beam, which was stretched across the field and really worked
well. Other HF antennas included our Carolina Windom, AF4MO's
Butternut vertical, and our trusty old two-element tribander on K7CS's
mast. For VHF, Ray, KD4RSL, provided the station, as usual.
Unfortunately, he discovered that a "push up mast" is just that, and it
is not a tilt up mast. We finally got his 6 and 2-meter beams up,
although the mast retained a bit of a bend, and no longer telescopes.
Our stations consisted of a
phone station, a CW station, and a RTTY station. The phone and CW
stations were networked with CT, so we could change bands and modes as
needed. The RTTY station stood alone, running MMTTY. The
VHF and GOTA stations used hand logging. We were arranged into
three tents - one for VHF, one for Phone and GOTA, and one for CW and
RTTY. The club invested in some bandpass filters, which
definitely helped reduce co-station interference. Subject to some
dupe checking of the hand logs, we made over 1350 QSO's, and wound up
with 5276 points, again subject to some revision as I don't have final
bonus point info at this time.
Fortunately, the weather
was about as good as one could expect in late June. No
thunderstorms to cause disaster with our tent setup. About 15
club members participated, and we were pleased to have a number of
guests, including some youth. Special thanks go to the two iron
men, Don, K7CS, and Jim, AF4MO, for their many hours of operation,
including the "overnights". Also thanks to Gordon, NQ4K, for his
coordination efforts to bring the event to a successful
conclusion. Field Day is like Christmas - it's a great event,
with a lot of preparation - but we're glad it only comes once a year.
Some Stories from Field Day:
Jim, KF4PQL, writes:
One of the exciting things about amateur
radio is getting involved with different facets of the hobby. This
field day I enjoyed sitting with Kevin Stewart and learning about RTTY.
He taught me how to tune across the band looking for those concentric
circles on the laptop indicating a RTTY QSO followed by a string of
characters calling CQ.CQ,CQ. Kevin had programmed the function keys to
send a macro containing our call sign and event informarion. Before I
left around midnight on Saturday we had made about 50 contacts, mostly
on 20 meters. Kevin and Peter also gave me a demonstration on PSK-31. I
am now hooked on the digital mode and can hardly wait to buy my own Rig
Blaster and get on the airwaves!
James, AF4MO, writes:
It
has often been said that the hobby of amateur radio offers something
for everyone. We have a hobby that has so many facets to hod ones
interest. There is contesting, dxing, restoring old equipment, and
antenna design and construction to name just a fe areas of focus. At
this time in my life I am concentrating on dxing, contesting, and
restroing old equipmenet. I look forward to participating in the yearly
major contest and over the years I have made modest showing in each of
the contests I entered. It is the goal of every contester to improve
with every new effort. There are three major areas to focus on for
improvement. They are: better equipment (to includ logging programs),
better antennas or increased operational skills. There are two
operation approaches to take when contesting. They are hunting and
pouncing and running strings. In the past I would use the hunt and
pounce method for all contests. Not being rare DX I have had little
experience with pile ups and runnign srings. I also felt uncomfortable
with the rapid fire number of stations calling you, handling the log
and the manual operation of the rug. Hunting and pouncing let me feel
in command and allowed me to set the pace operation. While hunting and
pouncing operation has its place, it is an inefficient and time
consuming method of operation and if one is to move up the contesting
ladder al change to running strings of QSO's must be made.
This year I set a goal to
employ the running method for Field Day 2005. I started out my radio
shift using the hunt and pounce method. This allowed me to get
acquinted with the logging system and to get into a field
day/contesting mode. While I brought my station mike (an Electro Voice
664), ear phones and used the VOX mode this was not a comfortable
setup. It wasn't until Dick, W2YE, let me use his Heil Pro boom
mike/headset that we really warmed up to the running mode. While shaky
at first I soon got use to the pile-ups and found myseld making contact
aafter contact. My contact per hour rate greatly improved. I am sure I
made over 400 QSO's. I thoroughly got use to performing the required
multi-tasking actions needed for running strings. I was still
uncomfortable with finding an unused frequency as I changed bands, but
I soon learned to slide in between stations. As I look back over Field
Day 2005 I can truly say that I had some of the best fun ever with
amateur radio and that I added another skill to my operational bag. Boy
will I forever remember Field Day 2005.
Linda, K4LDT, writes:
His
name is Adam and he is eight years old. I was still trying to get
settled, hone in and listen to the multitudes of people trying to make
contacts when he came. He was very eager. I was hoping I'd be able to
help him make a contact and sound knowledgeable to him. We
started moving across the dial when a single voice came through
clearly, "CQ, CQ, his call sign, Field Day". Adam easily repeated the
call sign I was using. You should have seen his eyes light up when the
man on the other end gave his contact information as West Africa.
His eyes lit up even more when the man on the other end asked for
Adam's name and told him "Good Luck"....There were high fives amongst
us!!!! Adam was catching the radio bug. Had circumstances
allowed it, I think he would have gladly stayed with me for hours!
Adam,
I will look for you next year!
John
de N3QT writes:
Mowed
the lawn, had a kitchen pass (which is a lot with two kids under 4 years old), didn't have to
attend my wife's baby shower (...last year), my wife was not pregnant
(..shoot me now, if that happened...), my wife made SPARC brownies (and was
planning to attend the club party at six o'clock with the family...), and I
had all my stuff ready to go ahead of time. ...got sick Thursday night
spending the dramatic, Saturday morning conclusion of the aliment
in the bathroom having a lovely time.
Yes indeed, ALL things
shall PASS.
Sunday at noon, visited the
site, made 10 contacts from a battery, and helped pack stuff away.
Done. Call it Field
Day 2005. My memory; however, 'not a cherished memory.
TKS ES 73,
Don, K7CS, writes:
FD
was great as always, and like always, a lot of work. Bill KC4ATC and I
talked about building a gain antenna for 40 meters last year. The idea
stuck in my mind and I eventually found the materials to build it. Bill
and I put it up and tried it out on 40 meters before FD started. We got
good reports in the Midwest area. The apex was at 70’ and the ends,
350’ from the apex, were about 10’ high. The high point was working
KH6JS early Sunday morning on 40 meters. He had a good signal in here
and I got him on my first call. Sunday morning later during a lull I
pulled out my antenna coax switch and compared signals between the
2-element beam and Vee on 20 meters. Both were about same except when
beam was stronger.
I had a good run going on 15 meters Saturday afternoon. Almost one
contact per CQ. The Vee performed well on 80 meters, but I never worked
the west coast like last year. Probably because I slept from 2 to 5 AM
so missed a lot of airtime and another 100 QSO's. As I dozed in the car
I could hear Jim, AF4MO, logging in the contacts. All in all, the
operating was great. The only downfall was I had a cold coming on since
Friday night that finally hit full bloom Sunday night, and…. I got into
some poison ivy while clearing brush from the fence to tie one end of
the Vee. I’m not enjoying that right now.
Thanks to everyone for making it another great FD and to Dick for
helping with the CW score and getting that awesome computer logging
system operational. Using complete computer control on CW for the first
time makes me want to get my rig at home working like this. We need to
get more CW operators for next year. It was good to have the digital
guys so active. Next year we'll have to make them share the bottom end
of 20 meters with us CW guys.
Gordon, NQ4K, writes:
My special remembrances.
Remembering
too late that I am not used to being out in the sun and getting
sunburned.
Forgetting how to set up the tents. Kevin, W4KLS, finally came by and
figured ti out.
Sipping a really cold soda from Ray's stash and learning that the back
of Ray's car is the ultimate trash can.
Don, K7CS, putting up his Vee antenna. Homebrew, stretched across
the entire width of the field and apparently a very good antenna. Made
me wish my surburan lot was bigger.
Ray, KD4RSL, trying to put
up his 30 foot antenna mask and seeing it bend almost to 90 degrees and
as we tried to raise it. I have not personally seen that before and it
was amusing.
Linda, K4LDT, operating the GOTA station
and helping a young visitor make his first HF phone contact with West
Africa - really exciting for the boy.
Jim, KF4PQL, learning to
operate RTTY from Kevin, W4KLS, and Pieter, AI2P..
Jim, AF4MO, bringing his own
microphone to opeate the HF phone station comfortably all night.
My biggest surprise was
visiting the site at about 9 PM on Saturday - hoping to get a little
air time in. And seeing the most folks I have ever seen at at Field Day
clustered around. I think we had 3 folks for every station. I am not
sure what brought all out, but it sure was a peaceful time.
Before Field Day
A
revised plan
and is
available for your review and comment. This version includes comments
from the 20 Jun SPARC meeting.
I found the numbers for our past performance on the ARRL web site:
2002 overall ranking was 367
of 2100 entries
2003 overall ranking was 589
of 2085 entries
2004 overall ranking was 262
of 2250 entries with 5042
points
In order to move up in the rankings based upon last year's log
entries:
Another 1000 points moves us to No. 180
Another 2000 points moves us to No. 127
Another 3000 points moves us to No. 82
Into the top 100 -
double digits
Doubling our score moves us to No. 34