PCARS

HARC

Special Note of Thanks

Ginger Dominitis (N4LIX) and Margaret Weatherly
for making sure there was always plenty of good food and lots of cold drinks.

Thanks to the 40 plus Hams and visitors who came out and helped with setup, operation and take down. There was alot of work that went into this years Field Day and each year we learn more about what works and what doesn't. For those who got their first taste of what Field Day is like, here's your invitation to come back next time. Have already heard some of the old hands talking about "next time".

1997 Field Day was a joint venture between PCARS and HARC (Harris Amateur Radio Club) at Wickham Park. In the past, both clubs had placed high in their respective categories but since participation for both clubs had been light over the last couple of years and many of the PCARS/HARC members belong to both clubs, Jan/K4QD suggested that the two clubs do a joint Field Day. It was approved by both clubs,

Chairman - Don/AF4Z
Station Managers
Novice station Mike/NF4F
Packet station George/K4PX
VHF station Paul/KT4DI and Howard/N4MZ
HF CW Jan Heise/K4QD
HF Sideband Jim/KC4HW, Bruce/WT4I and Orrin/WA4HDS

We used the PCARS club call (W4MLB) for all stations except the Novice station which used KD4UHF.

  • We started putting the stations together on Friday a little after 2:00PM. HARC provided three towers which consisted of Rohn 25G and some pretty fancy engineered tiltover bases for the installations. Actually, after we got straightened out on which tower sections went where, the station installation went smoothly. Everyone pitched in and helped get all the stations installed.
  • The CW, SSB and Novice stations all had TA-33Jr tribanders, 40 Meter delta loops and dipoles for 80 Meters. The VHF station used a 5 elements beam on 6 Meters and 13 elements on 2 Meters and a 144/440 Omni.
  • The VHF and CW stations shared an Airstream trailer--pretty nice arrangements. The SSB station had the use of a pop-up trailer (provided by Dave/N4ESI that nestled underneath some shade trees and worked very nicely. The Novice and Packet stations had to rough it with a couple of tents! Everyone had generator power. There were solar panels and solar charged batteries for the Novice and Packet stations.
  • Each station had a computer for all the logging and station control requirements. Some of our vistors were surprised to go by the CW station and not see a key or keyer.

    With everything in place we were ready to go on the air at 2:00PM Saturday. Or, at least, we thought we were..hi The best laid plans...

    First of all the CW station experienced difficulty with the tribander, which caused much QRM for the SSB station. Added grounding for the CW station, but still the problem persisted. After some additional checking around, it turned out that the traps in the reflector and director elements of the tribander were in the wrong elements. Hey, those things all look the same to me!!!! Additionally, it was determined that one or more of the traps must have been loose or corroded on the elements, because the problem persisted. Don/AF4Z (FD Chairman) decided that the Novice station tribander would be moved to the CW station. Don came up with another antenna for the Novice station and it was installed some two hours later...

    Next the SSB station began to experience some trouble with varying SWR on their tribander. No! It wasn't the traps in the wrong place... After fighting with the problem for most of the morning Sunday, we finally concluded that one or more of the traps had some corrosion. It was strange, when the temperature got a little cool the antenna would play properly, but as soon as the sun would shine on it and heat it up the SWR would go sky crazy. Of course, this was one of the few FD that we have had where we had plenty of sunshine.. Normally, the rain overwelms us!!! We wound up utilitizing a 40 Meter delta loop for the balance of the contest. It worked great! We also had a dipole for 80 Meter, but half of it came down sometime during the night.

    The VHF station played marvelously. We just needed the 6 Meter propagation to shine on us a little more and everything would have been right in the world. As it was Paul and Howard did a great job. Congratulations!

    The Novice station also had their share of woes... The biggest being the lost of their antenna to the CW station which pre-empted their operation for about two hours before another antenna could be procured and installed. Nevertheless, the station was fully capable for the majority of the contest.


    Category 2A

    Bands CW Qs CW Pts SSB Qs SSB Pts Total
    80 64 256 38 76
    40 168 672 227 454
    20 208 832 176 352
    15 0 0 140 280
    10 0 0 40 80
    10N 0 0 30 60
    6 0 0 105 210
    2 0 0 31 62
    Pkt 1 4 0 0
    Subtotal Qs 441 787
    Subtotal Pts 1764 1574 3338
    Total Points 3338
    Bonus Points +1000
    Total Score 4338

    Bonus Points Claimed:
  • 100% Emergency Power
    		•
  • W1AW Field Day Message
    		•
  • Media Publicity
    		•
  • Located in Public Place
    		•
  • Information Booth
    		•
  • Message to Section Manager
    		•
  • Natural Power
    		•
  • Packet Radio
    		•
  • VHF/UHF
    		•

  • AF4Z: We had a great time with the combined efforts of our two local ham radio clubs. Our location at the Wickham Park Youth Area was very popular on Saturday and Sunday. For the first time in several years we were not hit with thunderstorms or torrential rains.
  • KC4HW: The performance of the Delta Loop was so good, makes you wonder why we go to all the trouble to put the tower and beams up!!
  • NF4F: OK, who took my antenna?!!