Page last edited 13 June 2011

Amateur Radio Field Day 2011

LARC's annual Field Day 2011 event will be held at RIVERSIDE PARK in Lynchburg, VA again this year. The park is located off Rivermont Avenue, behind the Virginia School of the Arts. Our site is below the tennis courts. Parking is available in the tennis court lot or further into the park. Please DO NOT park on the street! You chance getting ticketed or towed!

Here's the schedule for the weekend"

FRIDAY, June 24 -- antenna setup begins around 2 pm at Riverside Park. Come out and watch the tennis ball launcher go 300 feet in the air, able to leap tall trees with a single shot.

SATURDAY, June 25: 0800 -- set up crews will begin placing stations, generator, tower, masts, network wiring, etc.
Bevin picks up doughnuts, keeps hidden from local PD until later in the evening...
1000 -- deadline for lunch sandwich order for workers from Yellow Sub
1230 -- Lunch picked up
1300 -- Lunch delivered, everyone take a break
1400 -- Field Day starts, feeding frenzy on launch time
1500 -- Chicken pick up at Mitchell's Store
1800 -- Picnic supper for participants and guests
Contesting continues through the night

SUNDAY June 26: Someone gets a breakfast biscuit order and heads for Hardees
1400 -- Operating ends, start tearing down
1600 -- we should be finished and GONE, another one in the logbook

The following folks are our committee and subcommittee chairpeople:

Field Day Chairman is yours truly

Public Relations Bill Wheaton K4DER
Safety Rick Brown NN4RB
Scoring and Rules Dick Hiner W4HMK
Planning Mark Sihlanick N2QTLogistics Henry Wyatt K4YCR ---------------------------------------------Stations Geep WA4RTS
Antennas Bill Perkins KC4D -------------------------------------------------CW Station & ops Bill KC4D
Tower Crew Jim Quattlebaum W4QQI -------------------------------------Phone/Digital Geep Howell WA4RTS
Food John and Suzanne Mann W4JAM & W0MAN------------------- VHF station & ops Dave Mears KD4EMU
Power Doug Harrington KG4DEZ -------------------------------------------GOTA station Bevin Alexander K4ALE

Click here for Field Day 2004 Pictures

Field Day 2003

Our first Field Day 2003 Satellite contact was the International Space Station.

It was a chance meeting that we were able to contact the International Space Station on Field Day.As we were just beginning to tune around for stations on the AO-40 Sat. by chance it was noted that the Space Station was above our horizon.

With N4QWF at the controls and WA1ZMS and N2AAM flying copilot the setup was changed to mode J FM voice from the AO-40 mode S setup. As the antennas were already pointing in somewhat the right direction the voice of Ed LU the American on the station at this time came over the speaker loud and clear.

Had one just been walking by the station you would have assumed it was a local repeater.

It was that good!

N4QWF began calling "CQ NA1SS" as ED was answering other stations.At first there was no luck but WA1ZMS suggested that we call 6 times really quick and sure enough the answer came back immediately.

A short QSO was passed and as you might expect a feeling of accomplishment was enjoyed by those at the field day station.It was not the fact that it was a hard contact to make but that it was unique to have our first satellite contact with such an interesting station that made it really special. We went on to enjoy another great time at field day this year thanks to all those that worked so hard to make it happen.Sorry if you missed it.

Maybe next time you can come along on a ride with the ISS with us.

John Price N4QWF

What is Field Day and what is it all about?

Every year Amateur Radio operators from all over the U.S. and now several other countries set up stations to operate once a year for a 24 hour period at the same time under simulated emergency conditions.The idea is to set up remote stations with antennas, equipment, emergency power and anything else that is needed to operate a station in an emergency situation.The goal is to test your equipment and get knowledge, practice and experience operating in emergency situations.The best part of all of the is that we have a lot of fun doing this.

We contact hundreds of stations not only all over the country but many times all over the world.We use many different modes of communication using HF or High Frequency which many people know as short wave.We also use some VHF, Very High Frequency and UHF Ultra High Frequency equipment at times along with some Satellite communications and several digital modes such as packet radio and PSK31.

Though we gain a lot of experience, the best thing we bring from all of this is is the fun and fellowship we get from being with other 'Hams"

.Come join us and experience the fun firsthand. June 24-26, 2011

Field Day Pictures