Field Day 2013 will be held June 22 and 23 at Glen Park, off Gilbert Barker Lane, in Portsmouth, RI.

Setup for Field Day will begin with the delivery of large antenna parts on Thursday Evening.  Actual setup begins Friday Morning, at which point the antennas will be erected, coax run, tents setup.  Volunteers for setup and take down are not only desired, but will be lavishly rewarded with praise.  Radio setup will begin Saturday morning, and all station will be on the air trying to establish their frequency prior to the official start 2PM Saturday.   Operations will continue for the next 24 hours.  Takedown will begin at 2 PM on Sunday.  Did we mention that volunteers are desperately needed for setup and takedown?

In addition to the two primary stations (one on HF Phone and the other on HF CW), there will be a Get On The Air (GOTA) station which is open to any member of the public, all hams licensed less than a year, and those who have been inactive during the past year.  There is also a 6-meter multi-mode station.  John King reports that 6-meters has been open to some part of the world every day since May 1st.  Finally there will be a 2-meter multi-mode station as well, and this equipment will also be used to attempt a satellite contact.

During Field Day, there may be invited members of the press and local government and agency officials joining us.   Members of the public will be there to operate the GOTA station.  We will be holding a training class for our new Technician licensees that covers the proper operation of their HT radios, and we hope all of them will operate the GOTA station as well.

A picnic will take place at 6 PM Saturday June 22.  We will be serving steak, hamburgers, hot dogs, corn-on-the-cob, salad, and various soft drinks.  Club members and their family are invited to attend.  Please contact John Mills to let him know if you will attend the picnic and your headcount.

Some useful documents/links:

• Official Rules can be found here
• The Press Release can be found here
• Local Official Invitation can be found here
• GOTA Coach/Operator Schedule
• A copy of the GOTA log can be found here
• A copy of the GOTA Script (training) can be found here
  
• A copy of the NATO Phonetic Alphabet can be found here
  
• GOTA Exchange Sign
• A link to the Portsmouth Patch announcement can be found here
• Usable Satellite Passes (Summary)
  
• AO07 Passes (CW/SSB) During FD 2013
• FO29 Passes (CW/SSB) During FD 2013
• VO52 Passes (CW/SSB) During FD 2013
• SO50 Passes (FM) During FD 2013
• BaoFeng UV5R CHIRP Repeater File
• BaoFeng Operation Class
• Rule 7.3.5 NTS Section Manager Message