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Field Day planning is in the final stages. Since band conditions have significantly improved of late, I made the decision, based on the input of the other Band Captains, to run 6A this year.
As of this time, we'll be running with the following stations:
80/10 Phone captained by Ivan, KB6ATT
15 Phone captained by Duane, W6ADC
20 Phone captained by Bill, KB6WKT
20 CW captained by Steve, K6NT, and Ray, N6HE
40 Phone captained by Sam, K1SL
A "roving" CW station, all bands EXCEPT 20, captain is "up for grabs".
The 6th CW-only station was added at the suggestion of Steve, K6NT.
Operation will be coordinated by and between the two CW-only stations.
There's a possibility we'll try to network the PC's of these two stations, either wirelessly, or with a long Ethernet cable and a network switch in the middle.
The 20 CW station is planned to use the "Big Red" tower trailer, courtesy of Mark Abrams, WA6DPB, and the 4-element Hy-Gain beam owned by the club.
The 15 Phone station will be using the club's tower trailer and a small tri-band beam courtesy of Martin, N6UB.
Our two "free" stations will be the satellite station captained by myself, KQ6EA, and the VHF/UHF station captained by Glen, KE6HPZ.
The FINAL Field Day meeting will be held the day after our regular club meeting, Saturday, June 18th, at 1PM in the break room at the Maritime Museum.
We'll do our best to hammer out the final details of station positioning and crewing, and all band captains are requested to attend, if at all possible.
As presented in last month's Short Circuit, here are a few reminders of things past, and some of the things we've implemented this year:
All stations should be "self contained and self sufficient", with their own generators, equipment, antennas, and any other ancillary equipment they might need. If you need something, let me know, and we'll try our best to accommodate you.
The Band Captain for each station has final say on the operation of their station. If any issues arise, then the Field Day Chairman (that's me) will listen to all sides, and make a final decision. We've never had any real problems before, but we decided having this in writing "up front" is a good policy.
The club will provide Saturday lunch, Saturday evening dinner, and Sunday breakfast. The food will be ordered from a local restaurant, and picked up by a designated club member.
The club will provide soft drinks and water.
The club will provide fuel for your generator.
"NON-OPERATORS" WILL BE CHARGED $10 PER PERSON IF THEY WISH TO EAT!
Sorry, but this has been a sore point in the past, and it doesn't need to be.
If you help setup/tear down, and/or operate, you "eat free", otherwise crack open that wallet.
Band Captains will be REQUIRED to have a separate, operational 2 Meter FM radio at their operating position, and have it operating during the time their station is manned. This will allow rapid communication between station locations in the event of unforeseen situations or emergencies.
The frequency to be monitored will be the "Club Frequency" of 145.510. Having 2 Meter capability in your "Run Radio" does NOT exempt you! We need all stations to have an independent radio for local communication. A 2 Meter HT tuned to 145.510 is plenty good enough.
If you're a Band Captain and don't have a 2 Meter FM radio, let me know, and we can arrange a "loaner" HT, or a radio and antenna for you.
We will NOT be running a "GOTA" station this year. Although it appears to be good "PR", the Field Day committee decided that it's a drain on our limited manpower resources. We really gave it a shot last year, and Duane, W6ADC, did an excellent job, and had a excellent location on the grounds of the Fort MacArthur Military Museum. Unfortunately, very few of the visitors who stopped by the GOTA station came "up the hill" to see the rest of our operation, and we felt the resources could be better used elsewhere.
We plan on having a full VE Team available this year, so if you know anybody who'd like to take the test for their Amateur Radio license, be sure to tell them about our Field Day activities!
And be sure and tell your friends about Field Day. It's always fun to have people come out and ask questions, and we all know hams love to talk.
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