[HCRA] HCRA FD 2011 40 Meter Phone Station

[Marty]

Greetings,

??I have volunteered to be the 40 meter phone band captain for the rapidly approaching HCRA Field Day effort,.so the primary purpose of this e-mail is to recruit operators for the 40 meter phone station but beyond that I hope to strike a cord in the club membership which will renew that spark of interest that brought them to the hobby initially. Whether you rag-chew or contest, build equipment or purchase it, the logical end result is to operate your equipment and communicate either locally or world wide with your fellow radio amateurs. The frame work of the ARRL sponsored annual Field Day is perfect for renewing that spark and your participation in FD may allow you to renew your interest in the hobby and educate the public and politicians about the role Hams play in providing emergency communication for local emergency management agencies and disaster relief providers when the communications infrastructure is compromised. Just a few hours of your time can make a great difference and if you are truly a ham you will manage to make playing with radios in the field a fun filled experience.

?There will be no GOTA station this year, so the 40 meter phone station will offer an opportunity for anyone wishing to experience the wonderful world of HF operation a chance to join the team and learn the rudiments of station operations and logging. If you are a seasoned operator, you can look forward to entering the fray and logging as many stations as propagation and your skills allow?and possibly being a mentor instrumental in giving a new comer the type of introduction to HF operation that will inspire a license upgrade and a lifetime of pleasureful operation. The 40 meter phone station will be equipped with an Icom 756 Pro transceiver running 100 watts into a MOXON aerial at 40 feet or so and will interface with a laptop PC running a net worked N1MM logging program via an Icom CT-17 level converter. This interface will provided automated rig control, as well as computer assisted logging which greatly enhances station operation as well as the post operation submission of FD logs and data to the ARRL. The logging software is user friendly and using it is intuitive thus easily learned literally in a few minutes. I am hoping to have enough operators to create two person teams that would operate and log for a minimum period of two hours. This would give each team member at least one hour operating and one hour logging but each team is free to determine who operates or logs and for what period of time. I would have no objection to teams scheduling a shift longer than two hours as long as everyone who would like to participate in 40 meter phone is given an opportunity to do so. The prime directive is to have fun and enjoy the field day experience. I hope to receive e-mails or phone calls from many of  you regarding a place on the 40 meter phone team and to see others operating at some band station during FD 2011. Life is short. So many radio contacts to make, so little time. Enjoy the summer and good DX.

73,

Marty W1MJB

413 525-3717

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