Page last edited 20 June 2009
Amateur Radio Field Day
LARC's annual Field Day 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!
Antenna setup will begin on FRIDAY afternoon, June 26, after 4 pm. The wire antennas will go up then, courtesy of KC4D's tennis ball launcher. Worth a trip to the park just to see it in action. The main setup activity will begin around 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 27, when the tower trailer and stations arrive. We will be operating in the 2A category this year, with a Get On The Air station (GOTA), a satellite station and a VHF/UHF station. KC4D is providing the CW station, probably an Orion II, and WA4RTS is bringing a FLEX 5000A software defined radio for the phone/digital station.
The actual operating event begins at 2 pm, and continues for 24 hours. Operators are needed for the whole period, so please come and join us. A covered dish supper will be served around 6 pm, bring a dessert or something to share, LARC will provide the main course. The coffeepot will run for the full period.
We will need help at the end of the event on Sunday to take it all down once again, after the 2 pm finish time.
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 27-28,
2009
Field Day Pictures