Before field day, Eric, AJ4LN, gathered club members at his QTH for a radio/computer check. The purpose was to test the logging computers and the computer to radio interfaces to ensure they worked. Eric, AJ4LN, on right, is hooking up computer with Kevin, W4KLS.
Kevin, W4KLS, and Amit, WY2Z. Apparently discussing matters of incredible importance.
Amit, WY2Z; John, KK4AHY; Evan, KM4SK; and Daniel, W5DJV. Gathered around the table. Maybe looking at Kevin just to the left. Joke number 25 of the day.
Gathered around the kitchen table with all the computers and most of the radios.
The group. Kevin, W4KLS; Eric, AJ4LN, Amit, WY2Z, Evan, KM4SK (seated); Gordon, NQ4K, and Daniel (W5DJV.
Steve, KN4BGW, with Paul, K4PDF, in red shirt. It was unclear who arrived first.
Paul, K4PDF.
Paul, KK4AIA. Without a slingshot. However, Paul became the primary user of an air cannon and successfully hung two antenna ropes. Making him "Dead Eye" for the 2022 Field Day.
John, W3XWT.
Mike, WB8RDN. He worked with the winning "Hanging the Antenna Rope" team with Paul, KK4AHY.
Gordon, NQ4K.
Duane, K4UW.
Evan, KM4SK.
Daniel, W5DJV.
Richard, a visitor.
Daniel, W5DJV, standing on bleachers overlook the baseball field. CW station is in dugout on the left. SSB and Digital stations in the dugout on the right.
Mike, WB8RDN, and Evan, KM4SK, looking up to see if a tennis ball shot from an air cannon has gone over the top of the light pole.
Paul, Dead Eye, KK4AIA, loading the air cannon.
John, KK4AIA, in red shirt attempting to hang a rope at the CW station light pole.
Evan, KM4SK, tying off an antenna rope.
John, KK4AHY, and Evan, KM4SK, working on untangling some light cord. Apparently took 2-1/2 hours to get it untangled. John likes nicknames. Had proposed "Johnny D." Another suggestion was "Guitar Johnny. The winning nickname is "Tangled-Up John."
Paul, KK4AHY, and Paul, K4PDF, arrive.
Evan, KM4SK, arriving.
John, W3XWT, arriving in his hat.
Gordon, NQ4K. In his hat with a neck scarf to keep the sun off of his neck.
Larry, W8ANT. Another one with a big hat.
Mike, WB8RDN; Paul, K4PDF, and Larry, W8ANT; taking advantage of the QRM tent
Adrienne, K3MAF, arriving with desserts.
The desserts.
Our BIG-Vee antenna did not work so we put up a fan dipole. Larry, W8ANT, in blue, is erecting a mast to support one end of the antenna.
Larry, W8ANT.
Standing around waiting. Duane, K4UW; Daniel, W5DJV; John, W3XWT, and Gordon, NQ4K.
Solar panel charging a battery.
Larry, W8ANT, putting stake in the ground to hold up an antenna.
Russ, W3RST, hand cranking the club generator. It started and remained running for the entire field day.
Eric, AJ4LN, installing the computers and networking equipment. We us N1MM on all computers connected to the radios. Computers are all connected and the N1MM database synced. Eric had it all figured out.
John, W3XWT, seated; Daniel, W5DJV; and Richard, a visitor. Daniel is setting up his digital station.
Larry, W8ANT, providing some instruction on using the "bucket" filters.
The group at the end of the setup just before we started operations. From the left, John, KK4AHY; Evan, KM4SK; Eric, AJ4LN; John, W3XWT; Daniel, W5DJV; a visitor; Mike, WB8RDN; John, W8ANT; Duane, K4UW; Russ, W3RST; Gordon, NQ4K, Richard, a visitor; Paul, K4PDF; and Angel, NR3N.
Once again, all are making use of the QRM area.
Richard, a visitor, helping to move things around.
Angel, NR3N, an unexpected visitor and an excellent CW operator. Heard about us and stopped by the help.
Daniel, W5DJV, at the digital station. Two laptops and a Flex. Good setup.
John, W3XWT, entertaining visitors at the SSB station. The grand kids each made a QSO.
A visitor.
Angel, NR3N, and John, W3XWT.
Duane, K4UW.
Eric, AJ4LN.
Mike, WB8RDN. What frequency are we operating on?
A visitor.
Paul, KK4AIA.
Duane, K4UW, awaiting a turn at one of the radios. Looks like he is in the CW dugout.
Chris, KO4OZJ, arrives.
John, W3XWT, is learning about FT8 and FT4 from Daniel, W5DJV.
The QRM area. Grill in on the left. Two shelters and two tables provide seating for dinner, and talking.
John, W3XWT, at the SSB station.
Larry, W8ANT, at the radio, and Duane, K4UW, at the CW station. The tarp in front of the station keeps the afternoon and evening sun off the station.
Chris, KO4OZJ
Carol and Gordon, NQ4K
Mike, WB8RDN.
Eric, AJ4LN.
Larry, W8ANT, giving a class on rope knots.
The class.
Paul, K4PDF, has arrived with his XYL, Sussane, to start dinner. Paul is setting up the fancy grill.
Suzanne arrives with food.
Working the hamburgers to perfection.
Suzanne
Amit, WY2Z arrives just in time for dinner.
Paul, K4PDF still working at the grill. The buffet table is in operation.
Folks sitting down in the QRM tent eating. Mike WA8AHZ, the Virginia Section PIO , is seated on the right.
Folks sitting down in the QRM tent eating.
We had smashed burgers, mac and cheese, chips, with all the condiments. In our humble opinion, these were the best hamburgers we have ever had. Don know know what Paul did, but it was good.
Daniel, W5DJV; Amit, WY2Z, Larry, W8ANT; Mike, WA8AHZ, and Gordon, NQ4K.
Carol, XYL, visited us during the dinner hour.
Christine, KI4CTP, also visited us for dinner.
Still eating.
Mike, WA8AHZ, is overlooking the the SSB station. Gordon, NQ4K, in white shirt is explaining the setup.
The SPARC Field Day publicity table. We had a lot of magazines out and some visitors took them. Only four left. That is good. Less to take home.
The publicity table is still up.
Daniel, W5DJV, is still working the digital station in the dark.
Richard, a visitor, is watching the digital station.
Evan, KM4SK, is at the SSB station.
Larry, W8ANT, is at the CW station.
At midnight, Larry, W8ANT, took time out from the CW station to send the formal message traffic to the Northern Virginia Traffic Net. He transmitted the formal message to the section manager and a book of 10 message.
Evan KM4SK.
Paul, K4PDF, stayed around to visit.
The Christmas tree lights previously were used by Don, K7CS, a prior member of SPARC, at the CW station. Now are being used to light the QRM tent.
Rich, KB8MIS, working the radio.
The CW dugout at night.
It is getting light.
Daniel, W5DJV, left during the night to get some sleep.
John, W3XWT, is still at the SSB station.
The tent to the left of the dugout, is Larry's, W8ANT, sleeping quarters.
At the CW station. Mike, WB8RDN, at the radio and Larry, W8ANT.
At the CW station. Mike, WB8RDN, at the radio and Larry, W8ANT.
Gordon, NQ4K, taking another selfie.
The sun is behind some clouds in the morning.
The generator is still running.
Marty, NV3H, shows up for a session on the SSB radio.
Paul, K4PDF, is firing up the grill form preparing breakfast.
Carol, XYL, arrives for breakfast.
Paul, K4PDF, cooking the eggs.
Waiting for Breakfast.
Duane, K4UW, and Larry, W8ANT, waiting for breakfast.
Paul, KK4AIA, and Evan, KM4SK, at the QRM table.
Breakfast.
Daniel, W5DJV, looking a little sleepy but ready to go.
Duane, K4UW, at the SSB station.
Larry, W8ANT, at the QRM table.
Amit, WY2Z, at the CW station.
John, W3XWT, continuing to work SSB.
Angel, NR3N, working CW. He is fast and accurate. Probably the best CW operator we had at the event.
Daniel, W5DJV, brought out his buddy pole. He used it on 20M and it worked well.
Eric, W4AVT, and his daughter Gabby visited.
Kevin, W4KLS, also stopped by for a visit.
A little more QRM before tearing down.
Russ, W3RST, arrives to take care of the generator.
A friend of Russ, W3RST, who helps with the generator.
Paul, K4PDF, locking the gate.
The group just after cleanup and just before we leave. A smaller crew. From the left, Duane, K4UW; Paul, KK4AIA; Eric, AJ4LN; Gordon, NQ4K; Larry, W8ANT; Paul, K4PDF; Evan, KM4SK; and John, KK4AHY.
Operator 3.5 7 14 21 Tot Accum
AJ4LN 0 16 0 0 16 16
K4UW 0 2 0 0 2 18
KB8MIS 0 2 0 0 2 20
KK4AIA 0 46 0 0 46 66
KM4SK 0 77 0 0 77 143
KO4OZJ 0 1 0 0 1 144
NQ4K 0 1 0 0 1 145
NR3N 0 0 149 0 149 294
NV3H 10 0 0 0 10 304
W3XWT 16 30 0 0 46 350
W3XXWT 0 3 0 0 3 353
W5DJV 61 135 33 8 237 590
W8ANT 0 52 4 0 56 646
WB8RDN 0 15 58 0 73 719
WY2Z 0 34 1 0 35 754
Total 87 414 245 8 754 754
Looking forward to next year.