It is only 24 days to Winter Field Day. A new tab, to the right of the “news” tab, has been added to the website that describes WFD 2019. In addition to the details, it has a signup form that you can fill in to volunteer for the event.
NCRC has done very well (1st or 2nd place nationally) for the past several years. This is an excellent opportunity to test your skills.
W1SYE Winter Field Day is off and running. Things were delayed a bit by black ice and closed bridges, but everything was ready when the event began at 2 PM. There are two stations: A Fone Station that will be on the air for the full 24 hours, and a CW or Digital mode station that will swap in/out depending on activity. We had a satellite station on-air for a single contact (all that is allowed) in the afternoon.
Things are still going on tomorrow through 2 PM.
Willy W1LY used his pneumatic cannon to get two dipole antennas up in the trees for WFD 2018
Conditions were warm for winter (about 50 degrees) but very windy — Even so, it’s going to be cold at night!
Conditions were great — This is a map of the coverage of our 20 meter signals
Great 40 meter coverage into Europe
Satellite Station (used for a single contact) — antenna visible out the side window
Good Signal Levels on 80 meters tonight!
Winter Field Day 2017 has come and gone. Members of the Portsmouth Emergency Management Agency and NCRC fielded two stations in Glen Park; a phone station that was on 24 hours, and a CW/Digital station that was on as activity permitted. Thanks to the large number of folks that showed up to help with set-up/take-down.
Although far less ambitious in terms of the antennas and number of stations than Field Day in June (it IS winter, after all), last year was the first effort, and the team turned in 15,624 points to take 2nd place nationally, for a multi-operator station outdoors. Early indications are that this year’s score will be substantially higher!
Besides the obvious benefit that such events have for emergency communication training (emergencies don’t just happen in the summer), it provides good publicity for our club. In fact we have a new member applicant as a result!
Lots of folks were involved. A partial list is: Paul N1PSX, Pete W1LAB, Willy W1LY, Dave KC1GPA, Dave W2DAN, John WA1ABI, Mike AA1XQ, Howie K1TZQ, Dave W1DEC, Paul K1YBE, Paul, KC1DJO, Chuck N1CKT, Steve KC1AQQ, James K1SD, Rob KB1ZZU, Bob WB4SON
Mast for CW/Digital Station antenna raised by Willy W1LY, Paul N1PSX, Mike AA1XQ, and Dave KC1GPA (left to right)
CW/Digital Antenna is a 135 foot dipole fed with ladder line, 25 feet in the air.
Howie K1TZQ, at the key of the CW tent
The Satellite Station operated from WB4SON’s truck. IC9100 with a Toughbook running SatPC32
The Satellite Antenna was a crossed 2m/70cm beam held by a photo tripod and set to the Az/El of mid-pass