Field Day

Eliot Mayer, W1MJ, writes on the Waltham ARA mailing list:

In preparation for “[Waltham Amateur Radio Association] Field Day 2020 – Alone Together”, the club will hold two online training sessions.

Wednesday, June 17, 2020, 7:30 – 830 PM: N1MM Logger
Wednesday, June 24, 2020, 7:30 – 8:30 PM: FD 2020 Q&A

The Algonquin Amateur Radio Club will operate Field Day from Crow Island in Stow on June 27 or the evening of June 26. 

“Please email the activities chair for more information,” writes Joe Reynolds, KA1GDQ.  (ka1gdq -at- arrl -dot- net.) “We will have to social distance and can’t have any more than ten people at a time at the location.”

Joe requests those wishing to help out with set up/break down or operating to provide him with the following information:

• Name:
• Call:
• Position:   Operate  / Setup  / Breakdown
• Days and times  you would like to be there
• Friday night setup
• Saturday 
• Sunday  (end operating no later than 2 PM, out by 3-3:30 PM)

Bruce Blain, K1BG, will present, “Field Day Single Operator – What can you do when social  distancing prevents traditional Field Day operations” at the June 18 meeting of the Falmouth Amateur Radio Association online meeting via Zoom.  For meeting details, contact Henry Brown, K1WCC, at k1wcc -at- comcast -dot- net.  

This presentation by Eliot Mayer, W1MJ, will include contesting basics, the age-old question about whether ARRL Field Day is a contest, some training for popular logging program N1MM Logger Plus, and some thoughts on goals for FD 2020.

Monthly meeting are now being held online. In order to receive emails with the meeting links, do one of the following:

1. If you are not already signed up on the WARA Yahoo Group, you may do so by sending an email request to wara64-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
2. If you only want the meeting link emails and not any other email that might be distributed to the Yahoo Group, send a request to Ron, KG1T, with this form: http://walthamara.org/contact/contactform-president.

ARRL division and section officials hit the road this past weekend to visit numerous clubs participating in the annual ARRL Field Day on June 22-23, 2019.

New England Vice Director Mike Raisbeck, K1TWF, reports he visited a total of twelve sites in New Hampshire and Eastern Massachusetts:

• Cape Ann ARA, Gloucester
• North Shore Radio Association, Topsfield
• Philips ARC/Pentucket RA, West Newbury
• Nashua Area RC, Hudson, NH
• Nashoba Valley ARC, Pepperell
• Algonquin ARC, Marlboro
• Framingham ARA, Framingahm
• New England Sci-Tech/Sci-Tech ARS, Natick
• Wellesley ARS, Needham
• Waltham ARA, Waltham
• PART of Westford, Concord
• Billerica ARS, Billerica

Jim Wilber,  AB1WQ, writes:

Tomorrow morning we’ll be doing it!  LOOK AT THE ATTACHED WEEKEND WEATHER FORECAST– IT’S GREAT!

SATURDAY, JUNE 22

7:00 AM – Breakfast at Breen’s Diner, 170 Main Street in Pepperell.  If you’re gung-ho to start the day strong, come out and join us here as we assemble for a quick breakfast before heading to the Field Day site.

WHERE TO GO:  The usual location:  Heald Orchard in Pepperell.  Two ways to find it:

1)  Enter “110A Heald Street, Pepperell MA” into Google Maps and follow the driving directions. The final part of the route is 0.1 mile on a gravel road right up to our site. The orchard has been mowed, so you’ll find room to park there. Try to leave room at the end for cars to turn around, though.

2)  If you know where the flashing yellow light is on Rte. 113 in front of Pepperell Town Hall (Enter “1 Main Street, Pepperell MA” in Google Maps), drive there and leave that intersection on Park Street heading north. BUT, take an IMMEDIATE left onto Heald Street, now heading west. (It is clearly marked.)  Follow Heald Street for exactly 1.6 miles to an open metal gate on your left. A sign there marks, “Heald Orchard, West Entrance.” Go through the gate for 0.1 mile and you’ll see our cars and antenna tower trailer up a low hill.

8:00 AM – Setup will be underway and many hands will make light work. Seriously, this is not heavy lifting but there are a lot of little tasks that are cut down to size by having more helpers. Please plan to come out early if at all possible and pitch in. When the setup is done, you could even go home, take a break and come back.

12:00 Noon – By this time, setup will be complete and we’ll have time to relax under the cool shade of the 10’x20′ canopy tent. Sip some lemonade and meet some of the hams you don’t yet know, but maybe have read about in the Signal. Come and introduce yourself if you rarely get a chance to join us for other activities.  Field Day is about Socializin’ as much as Eatin’, Operatin’, and Educatin’.  But it’s really a contest, isn’t it? Sort of– It can be almost the most relaxed contest ever, if that’s what you want. Spend a few minutes Operatin’ (but no one will force you to do that), and stick around for some Eatin’ and Educatin’. It will be hard not to learn something if you hang around the other hams long enough. And you can do some Educatin’ of them!

2:00 PM – The on-air scoring of Field Day begins and we start logging contacts. Remember to “Op-ON” to N1MM+ (lots of people will be around to show you how and offer any other tips you need) and answer a CQ.  The exchange will take you seconds to learn and you’ll have your first QSO of the day. Watch another ham do it once or twice and you’ll have it down on your first attempt.  YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A CONTESTER!  

OPERATE, OPERATE, OPERATE:  As in past years, we’ll have a RAFFLE at our first fall general meeting in September. To get your name in the raffle, all you need to do is have your call sign appear in our QSO log (which will happen if you’ve Opped-ON to N1MM+).  Every 10 QSOs you make will earn you another chance to win in the raffle. Prizes?  Cool things like an HRO gift certificate, Field Day mug, or Field Day pin. You won’t have to be present to win, you just have to operate at Field Day!

6:00 PM – Means one thing: Dinner time. If you’ve pre-ordered your Field Day dinner, make your way to the canopy and find yourself a seat. We are working to have the food arrive hot as close to 6:00 PM as possible, for maximum enjoyment. There will be no such thing as fashionably late for this dinner. 

MORE OPERATIN’ AND SOCIALIZIN’:  Through the evening and into the night. Propagation will change and you can be there and take advantage of it. The radios will be humming as long as we have operators that know the tune!  “N1NC  November one November charlie two-alpha echo mike alpha…” There, you just completed a QSO. When you’re not in front of the mic or key, meet the other hams around you. The coffee pot will be on; good company will be all around. Okay, a few flying bugs, too. Just put on a little bug spray. They hate it.

DID I SAY MORE OPERATIN’?  There’s no one who will make you go home if you don’t want to.  Or go home, but then come back and watch the sun rise. Find the operators out west who thought all of us were in bed already, and make them happy.

SUNDAY, JUNE 23

8:00 AM – Wake up and smell the coffee!! Drop in at Jessica and Bob’s outdoor diner for a steaming mug of joe, some bacon and eggs, pancakes, or whatever suits your fancy. Sausages your thing? Will have them, too. NOTHING better then breakfast outside in the fresh morning air. Birds twittering, sun sparkling…Nature all around…

YEP, MORE OPERATING AND SOCIALIZIN’…

2:00 PM – You better have logged all your QSOs by now because this is when the logging stops.  In a matter of minutes you’ll hear the bands start to go silent, as everyone has had their fill of another 24 hours of Operatin’…  Ah, rest for the weary at last…  But it’s a satisfied weary, not an exhaustion. it’s up to you to make sure of that.  Time to get up and walk around…oh, and while you’re up, would you wind up this power cord onto this reel. Time to whistle while you work and get everything disassembled, picked up, and packed up, and loaded up for moving out. With enough helpers on hand we’ll roll back out the orchard gates by 4:00 PM, as usual. Yet another Field Day that went… How? HOW?  THE WAY YOU MADE IT GO!  

SEE YOU OUT THERE TOMORROW MORNING, MY FRIENDS!

The Quannapowitt Radio Association will conduct a Field Day operation on June 22, 2019,  in Topsfield.

According to Ron Draper, WA1QZK, the QTH is situated adjacent to the Topsfield water tank off Route  1 at the top of the hill. “It’s the home of the 147.285 Topsfield repeater, W1VYI. It’s 230 feet elevation, easy access, and there some trees to throw up a dipole.”

Ron adds, “Saturday operation only is planned, maybe until 8 PM.”

Those interested in joining in or visiting the site can ask for talk-in from WA1QZK on 147.285 PL 100, or by calling 978-335-2099.    

From the Barnstable ARC web site:

Public welcome! The best time is 3-5pm Saturday or 10-noon Sunday. The event will run for 24hrs. 

During this time you will have the opportunity to get on the air and make contacts with other Field Day stations throughout the country and Canada. All visitors must sign in.

ARRL Field Day is the single most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. On the fourth weekend of June each year more than 35,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups or simply with friends to operate from remote locations.

Field Day offers many things to many people, it is a contest, club cookout, emergency drill, social gathering and more. What ever aspect of Field Day you find the most appealing to you, you will definitely have a good time. The “official” goal of Field Day is to contact as many stations as you can in the twenty four hour operating window. This is also BARC’s largest yearly event and we like to have a good time. Saturday evening we all enjoy sitting down to a large pot luck dinner.

Not a contester? Not a problem! BARC operates field day to have a good time. If you have never operated during a contest or another Field Day come on down and we will guide you through all aspects and have you operating in no time. In fact we have a dedicated station for anyone new to Field Day or Amateur Radio. It is the Get On The Air station (GOTA) At this station you will have a dedicated coach to walk you through everything.

All operating is done from the large pavilion area in the center of the camp. We run as a 3A class (The three is the number of transmitters and “A” designates emergency power) this has kept us operating for the full 24hrs last year. Band pass filters are used to eliminate interference from radio to radio. Due to using the filters each radio is more or less assigned to one band at a time. If you want to switch bands you just change operating stations. The radio equipment used during Field day is all personal property of our members. (please respect it)