[CTSARA] SARA FIELD DAY 2017 RESULTS

[ranceiii at aol.com]

Hello everyone,

 
OK, I admit it, I am an old man now, and my sleep cycle hastaken two weeks to recover from Field Day. As a result, after doing multiple cross-checks with Andy, I am finallyready to report on Field Day 2017.
 
We didn’t have our best of Field Days this year.
 
We didn’t score quite as high as we had hoped, but I amstill satisfied with the results, and hope you will be too.
 
Before disclosing our results, I would like to start by thankingour Friday setup crew that slaved through an afternoon of funky weather withoutcomplaint.
 
The crew consisted of :
Chet Piorkowski  
Terry Papazidis
Andy Siegel  
Steve Urso
Stan Rothman
Fred Cunningham
 
Chet cheerfully accepted his assignment of chasing tennisballs into the swamp on both Friday and Saturday.  One of the funniest moments we spent togetherwas on Saturday, when we put up a sloper antenna for the CW station.  We must have spent a good 15 minutestraversing the swamp to find the tennis ball that we had shot off over one ofthe tall oak trees in the upper parking lot.
 
All of a sudden, one of our guests, Eve Allen, casuallypointed to our tennis ball, hanging tethered from the shark line about 5 feetoff the ground by the edge of the parking lot and plain as day to see, andasked us if that was the tennis ball we were looking for.  Chet and I got a good laugh out of that one,once our embarrassment faded.
 
Terry P. demonstrated his ingenuity again once again thisyear, by working with Andy to figure out a way to spontaneously mate my 2 “ indiameter mast to the 1.5” mast coupling on the TA33JR.  As a result, I am giving him the SARA FieldDay Macgyver award for 2017, an award he has won many times over the years.  I would like to offer additional thanks tohim for working full blast during both our setup and take-down efforts, despitethe fact that he was unable to operate with us during Field Day because of afamily commitment.
 
Stan showed up in the mid-afternoon of our setup effort, andchased away the rain that had just started to fall on us.  So, I would like to thank him for bringing usgood weather, and for delivering an inspirational speech on the true spirit ofField Day and ham radio to those assembled.
 
Fred came by and accomplished the most intellectuallychallenging task of the afternoon, which involved setting up his big red dome tentthat we use for the GOTA station.   Let’sjust say getting it assembled is a little like doing Rubik’s Cube blindfolded,but it’s a great tent.  We alsodiscovered on Field Day eve that if it is not tied down, a stiff wind can turnit into a great kite!   
 
Speaking of our GOTA operation, when we began operating onSaturday, I worked as the GOTA station mentor, with Steve Urso as myrelief.  We worked hard on improving ourdiminished showing from last year,  and weare both very happy with the results we achieved.
 
The GOTA station made 214 SSB contacts, 180 of whichqualified for extra bonus points, for a total of 788 points scored.  That is the equivalent to making 394 SSBcontacts, which is about what you would expect an average SSB operator to makeworking a 12 hour shift in the SSB station, so that’s quite a point total rackedup by the GOTA station.
 
In recognition of that accomplishment, I would like to thankthe following lady operators, aka “the Sirens of SARA”, for their effortsoperating from the GOTA station.


Each of them completed at least 20 QSOs, thus qualifying toreceive the extra GOTA bonus points associated with working increments of 20calls while being guided by a GOTA mentor.
 
Melissa Martin
Erica Eng Martin
Brittney Todaro
Eve Allen
Sherrill Stover
 
Additional congratulations go to Jason Laug for picking upbonus points for making 20 QSOs and also for being an under-18 operator.
 
I would also like to recognize the efforts of our new clubmember Marco Lopes, who took to making 20 GOTA contacts like a duck to water.  Looks like we have another future ace FieldDay operator on our hands!
 
We also had several GOTA QSOs made by a walk-in visitor,Peter Romersa, impressing him with the wonder of ham radio.
 
In terms of regular operations, the biggest surprise of thisyear’s Field Day was the tremendous effort put in by Fred Cunningham and JonShapiro on Sunday morning in the SSB station on 20 meters.
 
Both Fred and Jon volunteered for the early morning shift onSunday, to help relieve the overnight operators.  True to form, they both showed up around 7:00AM.
 
I had been operating 40 meters before they appeared, and asthey were getting ready to relieve me, I did a quick check of the 20 meterband, using the band scope on my ICOM 756 Pro III.  My previous attempts at checking out 20 hadfound it dead as a door nail.


But, when I did my final check, all of a sudden my bandscope showed at least 25 QSOs suddenly occurring on 20 meters.
 
At that point, I turned the SSB station over to Fred and Jon,who rode 20 meters and whipped on it like a rented mule, snaring some 300 SSBcontacts in a matter of just 3 hours or so. They put in the best run on SSB of anyone that operated thatstation.  It just goes to prove howimportant timing and teamwork are on Field Day, because I would not have hadthe energy to complete that kind of run on my own.
 
I would like to additionally thank Jon Shapiro for droppingoff his Honda EU2000 generator on Saturday morning, along with his automaticrefueler mechanism, for use by the two CW stations.  As a result of the auto-refueler, we wereable to operate the two CW stations for the entire 24 hour period, withouthaving to bring them down once to refuel the generator.  
 
While I am at, I would also like to thank our guestoperators, Gerry and Brooke, who were flexible in their approach, and adaptedwell to subtle changes we made to our game plan as we went along. Gerry didstints in both the SSB and CW tents, while Brooke focused 100% on CW, working on10, 15, 20 and 80 meters, expertly switching back and forth based on which bandwas most productive at any given time. My thanks also go out to Brooke’s wife Eve, a lovely lady, who workedQSOs in the GOTA tent, and then worked with me as a logger in the SSB tent.  Everyone who came in contact them found themto be nice folks with a real passion for ham radio and Field Day.  Both Brooke and Gerry gave us financial contributionsas dues, so our club now has two more members as a result.
 
Speaking of our CW operation, my thanks and congratulationsto Andy Siegel for heading up a great CW team, and developing our strategy ofusing two CW stations.
 
The net result of his efforts is that our CW scoreabsolutely blew the roof off!
 
Andy came up with a CW game planthat kept both CW stations running full bore for the entire 24 hr. period,cranking out a huge volume of CW QSOs.  He and Marcel were responsible for operatingthe dedicated 40 meter CW station, and had tremendous results doing so.  In addition, Andy worked tirelessly preppingfor Field Day by repairing a bunch of coax cables to avoid the shorts weexperienced last year, as well as relocating and re-aiming our traditionalantenna configuration to accommodate the new two CW station strategy.
 
I would also like to extend mythanks to Steve Urso, Ernest and KathieLaug, (aka “the Nightingale of SARA”) and John Sabini, for handling the foodprep, cooking, and photography for us. We will be publishing pictures of the event on our web site and Facebookpage in the next day or so.
 
I would like to additionally thankErnest for being our spiritual leader throughout the many challenges we facedthis Field Day, and for holding us together despite some adverse circumstances.
 
I would like to award this yearsSARA Field Day MVP title to Steve Urso.
 
He was everywhere I was this FieldDay, and then some.
 
When I called on him to help me getthe club’s Field Day equipment delivered to the SM&NC well in advance, tosave us energy on setup day and minimize the effects of being short-handed, hewas there for us.
 
While his primary responsibilitywas heading up the food team on Field Day, he was also there for setup onFriday, GOTA mentoring on Saturday through Sunday, and then teardown on Sundayafternoon and evening, all without complaint.
 
He amazed me in just abouteverything he did, but what struck me most was how well he performed in thepublic relations role that was spontaneously thrust on him.
 
Steve got us our elected officialand served agency bonuses, kept the sign-in sheet going, and also hijackedevery visitor that came anywhere near our site, explaining what Field Day isall about, and evangelizing for Ham Radio. Steve, you did real well!
 
Lastly, I would like to thank mywife for allowing and encouraging me to do Field Day this year, despite somesignificant medical complications.  Shefound out around the first of the year that she would have to have a couple ofvery invasive medical procedures done on her, that were scheduled for June 21st.  When I mentioned to her that Field Day wouldbe the following weekend, and that I would likely not participate as a result,she wouldn’t hear of it.  She explainedthat she knew how much Field Day means to me, and that she didn’t want me tomiss out in it, giving me her blessing to be a part of it again this year.  For those of you who have expressed interest,she is recovering well, and doing fine so far, but her recovery period callsfor another two weeks of bed rest.
 
So, Laura, thanks for growing up acrossthe street from the Ham Radio operator that would become my mentor, and notdisowning me for being a “nerd” when I took up the hobby.  And of course, thanks also for giving birthto Melissa, whose voice we use on the SARA Field Day voice recorder.
 
OK, having said all that, as SARA Field Day Captain, it istime to report our results.
 
I started off this summary by saying that we didn’t have ourbest of Field Days this year.
 
Technically, that’s true, but a bit of a rope-a-dope.  Because it turns out that we did have oursecond best Field Day of all time this year.
 
 
I am pleased to announce that we scored a total of 10,468points for Field Day this year, which is second only to our highest performanceof all of time of 11,334 points, set back in 2014. 
 
Off course, several members of the 2014 team are no longerwith us, and we have all aged three years since then.
 
So, here’s what I say…Not too shabby for a bunch of old men,who allegedly don’t know what they are doing, led by a despotic and ill-informedField Day Captain!
 
Actually we succeeded primarily because we were assistedlovingly by a couple of XYLs and multiple YLs. Maybe we still have something going for us with the ladies after all!
 
By the way, we made a total of 2,659 contacts.
 
Our GOTA station made 214 QSOs, and scored 788 points, whichwas a significant improvement over recent years.  Our thanks to the YLs for that!
 
Now I can trash talk with the best of them, but I was alwaysraised to believe that your game should speak for itself, and that the secretof competitive success is unselfishness and team work.  
 
So, thanks team, you all have cause to be proud ofyourselves!
 
I am proud to have been associated with all of you, and of ouraccomplishments this Field Day.
 
And, yes, we did laugh and have fun in the true spirit ofjoy that is Field Day!
 
73, 88, and God Bless!
 
Terry Martin