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In June 2022 our Club members again participated in ARRL Field Day, from Listowel Park (SW corner of 71st Street & Quivira) in Shawnee, under the Club call sign K0ANT. We operated as a Class 3A station.
Our Club will be participating in 2023 Field Day, from June 24-25. Our operating location is still being determined.
We try to keep things very simple and stress-free for our Class 3A site. The weather again was perfect, and everyone had a great time.
Antennae we have utilized include an 80m loop, a Comet vertical, a wire dipole, and a 30' end-fed wire UNUN (see our Projects page).
We also had solar panels on site for alternative power and used solar power for a fair portion of our contacts.
The ARRL has continued its special rules adopted in 2020 to permit COVID-19 precautions that clubs wanted to take. Accordingly, Club members also had the option to participate in Field Day from their home location, using their own personal call sign under Class 1D or 1E. When submitting their Field Day report to the ARRL, they can identify their participation as being affiliated with K0ANT. The ARRL will then link such personal call sign reports with the Club's report.
As expected under the ARRL's current rules, we observed from our time "on the air" that there were a lot of "D" class stations operating in the event than in typical years. This meant that our remote Field Day site, and those of other clubs across the country, were competing to be heard in pile-ups full of stations operating from their home locations with permanent antennae. We heard fewer "A" class stations (clubs operating from the field with emergency power) than normal. We also heard a few "B" class stations (club stations operating on commercial power), something that we normally don't see.
One of the most rewarding things about our Club's Field Day
event is always when younger operators have the opportunity to
practice HF operating skills, and assist with
logging.
It is always a great learning experience for them. And we find it exciting to see the next generation of HAM enthusiasts having a great time doing some "hands on" Field Day activity.
One of the highlights of the 2022 Field Day was the contact made though the repeater aboard the International Space Station on one of its orbital passes overhead. We had a QSO with K4BFT, the Huntsville Amateur Radio Club, operating in the shadow of the Saturn V rocket at the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center just off I-565. How appropriate that our QSO through the ISS would be with that Club.
A highlight from the prior year's operation in 2021 was a Field Day QSO with Scott, N3FJP, the designer of the Field Day log software used by our Club (and most other clubs), and the designer of the Amateur Contact Log software that many of us use for our home stations. As we listened to his "pile-up" before getting our own turn to talk to him, he was very gracious in talking with everyone making a Field Day QSO with him, and accepting everyone’s “thanks” for his great software. Who would have imagined seeing a log entry with Scott’s call sign in it! Years ago, Don, KC0WTT actually had a phone conversation with Scott, while licensing of all his software products for Don's home use. Others in our club have had similar conversations with Scott. Truly a nice guy. By the way, when we entered Scott's call sign into the Field Day log as a contact, his software popped up a message that said something to the effect that “You’ve reached Scott, N3FJP, who wrote this program. Please say hi!” Cute.
All in all, it was an interesting Field Day, under somewhat unusual circumstances in this COVID-19 environment.
Thanks to everyone who always helps out at Field Day. We all had a great time, and it was really nice visiting and spending time with everyone who came out.
In addition to our Field Day site operations, we had several members contribute by operating from their own location, including a lot of digital mode contacts.
Special thanks to the following for investing all the help and efforts toward this year's event:
Tyler, KE0CIW (our Field Day Coordinator),
Jim KB0MZF,
Ruth KB0USC,
Tim KC0FEZ,
Bob W0CC,
Bill WA0MIF,
Steve, KE0CXK
Glenna, KD0EWF,
John, WB0KSL,
John, K4JNB,
Don, KC0WTT,
and others!
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