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Field Day 2011

Photos

Click here to view photos of Field Day.  If you would like your photos included in the collection, email them to k4yjj@nfarl.org; if your collection of files is large (> 10mb), put them on a CD or USB drive and give them to Bill K4YJJ, Fred N4CLA, or Bill K4YJI at Hungry Hams.

Field Day Photo Contest

The winning photo, shown below, was taken by Bill W4OO SK.

Click on Bill's photo to see all finalists

2011 Field Day Wrap-Up (Part 1)

All,

Another Field Day came and went, and we had a few very nice firsts this weekend.  The first First was absolutely no stoppages for weather this year.  We actually operated 24 full hours, and hopefully that will be reflected in our QSO count and final score.  Another significant first was the participation of the NFARES and MARS groups.  Thank you to Tom Koch, MARS, and ARES for providing another demo of ham radio's capabilities to our served public.  We had a digital station this year.  Thank you to Neil Foster for pulling that together for us.  And, we had a successful satellite station this year.  Thanks Joe, Mike, John, and Roger for taking that station upon yourselves and pulling it together.

We had another very significant first this year as well.  For the first time, at least as long as I've been involved with ham radio and Field Day, we had over 260 people attend this year's event.  264 individuals signed in at our event this year.  The previous best was 259 attendees in 2009.  So we set a new club attendance record for Field Day.  Thank you to everyone who came for making that possible.

I don't have even the preliminary results on our score or QSO count yet, and won't for at least several days.  However, I estimate we worked over 3000 QSOs over the course of the weekend.  This bests the 2924 QSOs we worked last year.  As soon as I have more concrete numbers, I will get them to the membership.

Thank you to everyone on the team for your hard work and dedication that went into making this year's event successful.  Without you and your assistance, a Field Day like NFARL puts together would not be possible.  There are also a few very special thank you's I wish to extend.  To Joel and Camille Myer and Len and Pat Corley for the use of your mobile residential platforms.  Because you allowed us to use your trailer and mobile home for the weekend, the heat was much less of a factor for all of us involved in Field Day.  To Brian and Anna McCarthy for the use of your generator and portable crank-up tower trailer.  You provided the juice to keep things humming and the height to make the 20m station beam more functional.  And to the City of Milton Fire Department for allowing us the use of their mobile command center.  What better place to put ARES than in a served agency's facility.

I also want to take a moment and extend a personal thank you to NFARL, the executive committee and board, and all the membership.  As I mentioned at the last club meeting, you have allowed me the honor and privilege of serving as Field Day chairman since 2008.  But more than that, the entire club got behind everything the Field Day Team and I did.  This allowed us to make each year's event a little better and a little more successful.  Thank you all for putting your trust in me for so long and supporting what we did and accomplished with Field Day.  While I enjoyed each of the last four Field Days and learned a little bit more from each of them, I look forward to passing this mantle of leadership to Scott Straw and ask the club to support him and his group in the same way, or more, than you have supported me.  Thank you for four wonderful years as your Field Day chair.

Thanks and 73,

Ian, AK4IK

2011 Field Day Co-Chair

Preliminary Results

Here are the preliminary results from 2011 Field Day.  This does not include any bonus points and is very, very rough and preliminary.  Steve KS4KJ is working out our final score submission; we will post the final results when his work is complete.

Field Day 2011 Preparations

Once again, Field Day is rapidly approaching.  Field Day is the ARRL’s annual premier operating event for showcasing amateur radio’s capabilities during an emergency or disaster.  This year the event, which always takes place the last full weekend in June, takes place June 25 and 26.  Operating time runs from 2:00 PM EDT Saturday until 2:00 PM EDT Sunday, with setup and tear-down immediately before and after operations.  Please plan to join us for yet another successful NFARL Field Day Event.

John N4TOL and a few close friends meet with
Governor Nathan Deal to observe signing
of the governor's 2011 Field Day proclamation.
Pictured are Karen Prescott, KJ4VQI, ARC 100th
Anniversary Chairman and organizer of this event;
Kyle Albritton, W4KDA, President of GARS;
John Davis, WB4QDX, ARES EC for Gwinnett County
and GA and ARC member;
Georgia Governor, Nathan Deal,
as of June 20th, Honorary ARC member;
John Tramontanis, N4TOL, President of NFARL;
Bert Bruner, KE4FOV, President of ARC;
Steve Garrison, President of AMRC;
Jim Reed, N4BFR, Secretary and PIO of ARC.

Thanks to Bert KE4FOV for sharing the photo.

We have some exciting new features/plans for this year's event.  While we will have the traditional CW, 20m/75m phone, 40m/15m phone, and GOTA stations, we are adding a digital (RTTY/PSK31) station, captained by Neil Foster, N4FN.  This takes our operating category from our traditional 3A to 4A.  I think this will provide us with an excellent opportunity to demonstrate yet another capability we have as hams to get the word out during disasters/emergencies, as well as introduce fellow hams to digital operations and show the younger set that today's ham radio is not your grandfather's, or The Old Man's, ham radio and that we do grow and change with the times and technologies.

Also, as in the past, we plan to hold another Boy Scout radio merit badge class and have a delicious barbecue dinner Saturday evening.  Oh, and we’ll probably operate some radio during the 24 hours, as well.

The station captains are soliciting for operators.  Please respond to their requests and operate as much as you can.  The station captains for 2011 are:

If you have any questions about their stations or want to volunteer to operate (or help in other ways), please contact them directly.

Thank you everyone for your time and support.  Let's continue to make NFARL's Field Day one of the best in the country!

73,

Ian, AK4IK and Scott Straw, KB4KBS
2011 Field Day Co-Chairs

Radio Merit Badge Course

A Radio Merit Badge course will be put on by North Fulton Amateur Radio League starting at 8:00am on Saturday, June 25, 2011 at Waller Park Extension on Dobbs Road in Roswell.

Click here to download a PDF flyer describing the course.  You may also get information from course director Jon K4WIT by emailing him at k4wit@nfarl.org.

The course is available by pre-registration only; the class is full at this time.

Please visit us at Waller Park Extention on June 25 and 26 to see what Amateur radio and NFARL are all about.  We will be operating between 2:00pm Saturday and 2:00pm Sunday.

Location

Activities will take place at Waller Park Extension on Dobbs Road in Roswell from 2:00 PM on Saturday June 25 until 2:00 PM Sunday the 26th.

Talk-in to the site will be on 147.06 + (600k) with 100 Hz tone.

Here is a map showing the park's location:

View Larger Map