Field Day

The 11th Annual Eastern Massachusetts Field Day Directory contains some of the most comprehensive Field Day resource pages of its kind.

“We have rich data, such as local landmark directions, coordinates, site and club field day history, and links to multiple map sources and webpages for club and site,” says Bill Ricker, N1VUX, maintainer of the site.

Ricker would appreciate an email from new clubs in Class A or F, clubs with new sites, clubs whose details on their EMA directory need updating, or who are definitely not using the site they had last year. Email N1VUX at his arrl alias address.

Now is the time to plan for Field Day !!!!

What did you say???? Field Day is not till June and that is five months away. Yup, now is the time to start your planning. Sure…you don’t have to fill in the sign up sheets for the 20 meter CW station at this time but there are many things that should be started now, in the dead of winter, rather than wait till June. The best Field Days are the ones that are planned far in advance so that when the time comes there will be no surprises.

This will not be the first year that most clubs will have Field Day. It is often assumed that since Field Day worked well last year that it will work well again this year. This may not be the case! Good advanced planning can assure a smooth running Field Day.

What should your club be doing in January or February to prepare for Field Day in June? Well the first thing is to secure a Field Day Chairman. This person has overall charge of Field Day……….but should not have all the responsibilities! He/she should be a volunteer from the club or someone who is appointed by the President. He/she should have the full support of the President and the executive board for this is a high responsibility position. The Field Day chairman should be able to appoint a staff of club members who each have an individual portion of the Field day responsibility. It has been my experience that there should be one person “The Station Chief” who is responsible for each station that is on the air. He/she should be responsible to see that all the components for a station….antennas, shelter, rigs etc. will be available when Field Day rolls around. The Station Chief should only be responsible for one station but he/she has the complete responsibility for that station. Station Chiefs should report directly to the Field Day Chairman. Additional “Chiefs” can be appointed for specific duties at Field Day……such as “Food Chief ” or a “Generator Chief” with similar responsibilities. This way the Field Day Chairman can retain overall responsibility of Field Day without being distracted by all the details.

The other important component of Field Day……that should be dealt with at this time of the year…….is the Field Day site. Often a Field Day site is on public property which is used by other organizations throughout the year. Securing a Field Day site now may well eliminate a lot of grief right before Field Day takes place.

A healthy club will appoint a Field Day Chairman long before Field Day. The executive committee of the club should have the Field Day Chairman sit in on each of their monthly meetings. This way the Chairman can present his/her progress on a monthly basis. It can also be a time where the Chairman can discuss difficulties in assembling all the components of Field Day and enlist the members of the executive committee in securing these components.

Bo Budinger

WA1QYM

EMA Affiliated Club Coordinator

Roland Daignault, N1JOY writes on BCRA-Club list:

…I have confirmation that we will be having Boy Scout Troop 100 from Westport joining [the Bristol County Repeater Association/Fall River ARC] for a few hours on Saturday afternoon. They have a hike planned that morning and should be finishing up right around the same time the Field Day event begins, which is 2:00 PM. I hope we can have a couple of people available to be good ambassadors for Ham Radio. We have the GOTA station planned, so hopefully we can get a few kids on the air.

The League having published scores to the Members’ web, the EMA Field Day 2008 Results are now also posted to Club and Site listings and the History section of the 9th Annual ARRL EMA Section Field Day Directory. http://ema.arrl.org/fd/History.php

There were 29 clubs reporting A, F, and club E/D stations for EMA, the most since 2001 (31) and 1999 (30). While this double counts a few joint stations where multiple clubs were doubling up, MITRE and BARS ran two joint sites, and MIT had both an off campus Class A and their UHF Contest Station (a separate club technically) in Class E.

At the bottom of the Solar Cycle, both North Shore and Falmouth broke Falmouth’s 2005 EMA QSOs tally, amazing.
http://ema.arrl.org/fd/Scores.php?order=QSOs and, as a result, NSRA broke Falmouth’s 2005 score (best EMA all classes since at least 1999, when on-line records begin).

So congratulations to NSRA. http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox/index.html?con_id=155&call=NS1RA&bbycall=1

Cape Ann and Genesis also set decade club bests with their return to their old sites in 2008.

Sadly, not a lot of EMA clubs posted pictures or commentary on League Soapbox; but in addition to NSRA’s above, I saw a nice soapbox from an EMA Mobile http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox/index.html?con_id=155&call=K1UR&bbycall=1.

The Graphical analysis charts now include *all* Divisions, in addition to all reports, Eastern Mass Section, *and* now a zoom on just class F stations, 2005-2008. http://ema.arrl.org/fd/history/analysis.html (The box areas are in proportion to the total points of the whole chart for that year, and are NOT comparable from year to year or even page to page within year.)

* NNJ may be the only section with more total points in Class F than Class A.
* There are no DX stations in the published scores for 2008.
* 2A remains the Category responsible for the most total points overall and per division, with few exceptions (3A – Dakota 2008, Atlantic,Great Lakes, Hudson 2007+2008).

Eastern Mass doesn’t show too well in Class F, possibly because less than half (2 of 5 known) of our Emergency Management teams participating in Class F submitted reports to League Contest Office, compared with (5) the prior two years. Several other Emergency Management-equipped clubs appear in the Class A listings, which is a goodness.

73

Bill n1vux
Editor, ARRL EMA Section FD Directory
http://ema.arrl.org/fd/
n1vux@arrl.net

Video shot by members of the Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association at their recent Field Day operation will air this evening on local Cape Ann Channel 12 at 7:00 p.m. on August 5, 2008.

—Thanks, AB2NJ

The Whitman Amateur Radio Club has produced a special edition Field Day 2008 Newsletter available via its web site. The nine-page newsletter highlights the club’s activities during Field Day, listing the call signs of 39 club members and ten ham visitors. It also showcases their two youngest visitors: 6-year-old Patrick and 8-year-old Colben, who made contacts on 2-meter FM.

Congratulations to the Whitman ARC for a job well-done!

Attention all Field Day sites–please be alert to the possibility of severe weather this Field Day weekend, June 28-29, 2008.

We encourage you to take a moment and review this important document on lightning safety outdoors.

Also, we are including the Severe Weather and Amateur Radio Field Day Coordination Message #1, courtesy Rob Macedo, KD1CY below:Hello to all..

..Severe Weather Possible today as the weather pattern gets active once again starting today through early next week. In addition, we have now started the first in a series of weather coordination messages for Amateur Radio Field Day. For Non-Amateurs, a description of Amateur Radio Field Day is in the first paragraph of this coordination message..

..Extent of Thursday Severe Weather Threat will be contingent on area of showers and possibly embedded thunderstorms that will make its way through Southern New England this morning and amount of heating this afternoon into early evening. Damaging winds and large hail would be the primary threats..

..There is a threat of showers and thunderstorms over much of interior Southern New England for the Friday through Sunday timeframe and all thunderstorms will have the threat for heavy rainfall and lightning and the potential for at least isolated to scattered severe thunderstorms as well. It will not be a total washout this weekend and there will likely be some Field Day sites that experience little in the way of weather while others could see one or multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms with the possibility of severe weather..

..All Amateur Radio Field Day sites are strongly encouraged to have a NOAA All-Hazards Alert Radio with them and a Ham Radio monitoring their local Amateur Radio SKYWARN Frequency to be able to monitor the weather as they do their Field Day activities if they do not have Internet access to monitor radar and NWS warnings and statements. Be prepared to take cover even if a “garden-variety” thunderstorm approaches due to the risk of lightning..

..SKYWARN Activation with Ops at NWS Taunton is possible Thursday. Ops at NWS Could also be utilized anytime over Field Day weekend if a threat for severe weather develops. Amateur Radio SKYWARN Coordinators will monitor through the weekend to alert Field Day stations of any risk of thunderstorms in their area..

For the non-Amateur Radio Operators on the email list, Amateur Radio Field Day occurs on the 4th weekend of June every year and is a time where local Amateur Radio Clubs and individual Amateurs across the United States set up Amateur Radio stations across the region and work other Amateurs in a 24 hour contest that practices some radio operator skills, practices setup of Amateur Equipment in the field at various locations for the Amateurs who elect to setup equipment versus operating their home or pre-installed club stations and is an overall fun event that Amateurs enjoy. The field stations put on by Amateur Radio Clubs and other groups allows the public to see Amateur Radio Operators perform their duties in a fun atmosphere. Any non-Amateurs in Eastern Massachusetts and Connecticut that are interested in visiting the various Field Day sites can see a map of the sites that are open to the public via the following links:

http://ema.arrl.org/fd/fd_dir.php

http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/fd/locator.php

http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/fd/

At this time, I do not have links to Field Day sites in other parts of the NWS Taunton County Warning Area. Those that have links to their Field Day can pass them along to me and I can add them to the next coordination message. Now, we will focus on weather risks for the first 24-48 hours.

For Thursday’s weather, at 725 AM, Doppler radar showed showers and possibly embedded thunderstorms across Eastern Pennsylvania, South-Central and Eastern New York and into Western Connecticut. This activity will make its way through Southern New England this morning into early afternoon. Skies will clear to some extent after this activity moves through New England. If enough heating and destabilization can occur during the afternoon, there would be the threat for isolated to scattered severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and large hail being the primary threats as there would be sufficient winds aloft and if the destabilization is sufficient, severe thunderstorms would be able to organize into short lines or clusters. If there is not enough heating, the severe threat would be muted.

As we get into Friday, this day should be free of shower and thunderstorm activity but this is contingent on impulses that will rotate around an approaching trough. If this approaches the area sooner, there would be some threat for shower and thunderstorm activity. At this time, Friday, where some Amateur Radio groups may be doing Field Day setup should be a decent day but this will be updated in the next coordination message.

As we get into this weekend, this is where the shower and thunderstorm threat with the safety risks of lightning along with the potential for flash flooding, large hail and damaging winds increases. Exact timeframes and threat regions are tough to determine at this time and will be fine-tuned in future coordination messages but anywhere in interior Southern New England could see activity. Again, Field Day weekend is not expected to be a washout at the present time and there is a definite possibility some Field Day sites may see no significant weather activity while other sites have the potential to be significantly impacted. We strongly encourage all Field Day sites to have a NOAA All-Hazards Alert Radio with them and a Ham Radio monitoring their local Amateur Radio SKYWARN frequency to be able to monitor the weather as they do their Field Day activities. This is particularly important if the site does not have Internet access to monitor radar and NWS Warnings and statements.

Remember even non-severe thunderstorms pose a risk for Field Day stations due to lightning. Take cover even if a non-severe thunderstorm approaches your area.

The next several Severe Weather and Field Day Coordination Messages will be issued as a series of messages through Sunday. The next coordination message will be sent by 1130 PM this evening.

Below is the NWS Taunton Hazardous Weather Outlook:

NWS Taunton Hazardous Weather Outlook: http://kamala.cod.edu/ma/latest.flus41.KBOX.html

The following is a link to SKYWARN Frequencies that we will be roving at NWS Taunton and formal SKYWARN Nets established where required.

http://www.wx1box.org and click on Southern New England SKYWARN Frequency List.

In addition, the New England Gateway/Reflector system will be utilized so those with Internet access or access to an EchoLink/IRLP node via a repeater or other system may also be able to gain access to NWS Taunton when we are active via this means by connecting to IRLP Reflector 9123/EchoLink Node #:9123 which is the *NEW-ENG* conference server.

As has happened in year’s past, Field Day is occurring near the time of the National Weather Service’s Lightning Safety Awareness Week but this year it falls after Field Day weekend. A link to the NWS web site dedicated to the hazards of lightning as well as links to Lightning Safety Awareness Week Statements issued by NWS Taunton is listed below:

http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/

http://www.wx1box.org/local/lgt_safety_part_1_PNS.txt

http://www.wx1box.org/local/lgt_safety_part_2_PNS.txt

http://www.wx1box.org/local/lgt_safety_part_3_PNS.txt

In addition, Eastern Massachusetts ARRL has posted some of the safety messages from Field Day from last year to the web and that information can be seen at the following link and will probably be updated with new information from this email. See link below:

http://ema.arrl.org/fd/safety/Safety.html

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Pager #: (508) 354-3142
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org

The Eastern Massachusetts ARRL section web site contains some of the most comprehensive Field Day resource pages of its kind! Maintained by Bill Ricker, N1VUX, the Field Day pages offer detailed information on individual field day club operations, and much more:

* Hints and suggestions for Safety Officers
* Weather safety
* ICS/FD discussion
* 2008 Logo
* Rules changes
* Previous year’s scores
* Latitude and longitude coordinates
* Links to Google Maps for street maps
* Section staff tour plans
* Past site maps and tour-maps linked and preserved, with old logos

Please check your club’s listings. If you have new information, or can confirm last year’s information as current, please email N1VUX at bill.n1vux at gmail dot com. Also, if you have scores (or pictures) from previous years that are not shown (or linked) for your organization, please send that, too.

Preliminary data concerning Eastern MA activities for the 2007 Field Day effort have been posted on the Eastern MA Field Day pages: travel summaries by the Section Manager, section staff, ARES staff, and Division Director.

Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI visited nine sites in Eastern MA and covered 450 miles, while EMA Section Manager Art Greenberg, K1GBX visited six sites over the 24-hour event.

For the details, visit http://ema.arrl.org/fd/tour.php.

The Braintree Emergency Management Agency and K1USN Radio Club scored publicity for Field Day with a press release in the Braintree Forum Online.