[K3PZN-List] Carroll County Amateur Radio Youth Organization next meeting

[Douglas Kearney]

	Well, it is that time of month again. The Carroll County Amateur
Radio Youth Group is meeting again. This Saturday from 1PM until 4PM is the
next meeting. We will be continuing our discover of Crystal Radios. As you
all have seen they certainly do have some limitations. First, is that the
old folks like your parents have a hard time hearing those faint signals,
but we will talk more about that on Saturday. I would like to get a head
count for this Saturday's class. I already know that Jonathan and Nathan
will be there, how about the other members?? 

	We are also going to discuss plans for Field Day 2004. You ask what
is Field Day. Well it is one weekend of the year that your parents will
probably let you stay up as long as you want. Last year Jeremy Coppersmith
was up until 2:30AM making QSO's. Please take time to read the excerpt below
and come prepared to talk about this year's field day.

SeeYa,
Doug Kearney N5LBJ


Question: What is the most popular amateur radio event in the US and Canada?

Answer: The ARRL Field Day

During the fourth full weekend in June, the eyes of the amateur radio
community turn towards the
annual Field Day operating event. From its beginning back in the 1930's as
an event to test the field
preparedness and emergency communications abilities of the burgeoning
amateur radio community, Field Day
has evolved into the largest on-the-air operation during the year. In 2003,
contest logs were submitted by over
2,100 clubs, groups and individuals across the US and Canada to the ARRL
Contest Branch. These logs
showed participation by 33,000 individuals. Over 1.3 million QSOs were
reported during the brief 24-hours of
the event.

Field Day is officially an operating event rather than a contest. The
purpose remains today as it did in
the beginning: to demonstrate the communications ability of the amateur
radio community in simulated
emergency situations. Groups across the continent use Field Day as a literal
"show and tell" exhibition. At
sites from the tundra of Alaska to the sandy beaches of Puerto Rico, amateur
radio brings together its resources
to show officials in government and various agencies what "amateur radio can
do."
Many clubs use Field Day as the focus of their annual calendar. Many hams
that are not otherwise
interested in contesting or DXing find themselves meeting various challenges
to help their club run a successful
Field Day operation. Officially, Field Day is not a contest. But it is the
thrill of the "non-contest contest" that
brings out the best in thousands of amateurs who under most circumstances
choose not to participate in the
various sponsored contests.

What makes a good Field Day? Ask that question at any hamfest and you will
probably receive a
different answer from each person you interview. I would offer a few basic
ideas to keep in mind as you
contemplate a Field Day operation.

First, and foremost, is Field Day should be a fun activity. Field Day serves
as one of the biggest
introductory "drawing cards" we offer in trying to expand interest in the
hobby. A Field Day that is technical in
set-up may well produce a good score. But remember that a Field Day that
practices the "KISS" principle
(Keep It Simple, Silly) is more likely to attract interest and participation
than one which is run like a hard-core
contest.

This doesn't mean you don't do the technical planning and preparation to
ensure the operation is a good
demonstration of what hams can do. It does mean that you should consider
having a wide-range of activities
and "jobs" which will encourage participation. Yes, 15 meter CW will
probably be a great way to rack up points.
But make certain that there are things for the non-CW inclined members of
your group to do. Standing
around watching one or two operators make all the contacts is a sure-fire
way to kill enthusiasm among your
group.

For example, several years ago our local club put up its highest Field Day
score ever. We had firstclass
stations and used outstanding operators on the "prime bands." They put in
18-20 hours of hard core
contest-style activity. The next year our club score fell approximately in
half. But the number of people who
actually made a contact using the club call went from eight to thirty-six.
This brings us to the second major
point: a successful Field Day is well planned.

Planning entails a wide range of things when it comes to Field Day. But they
all start at a common
sense point: set realistic goals for your group. Plan your operation to
bring out the best in your club
members. If your club is primarily comprised of no-code operators, then set
goals which allow their interests to
be highlighted. If your club has lots of experience in various modes and
operating conditions, plan a more
challenging test for yourself. After all, the success in Field Day is not
found in placing first in your
category or finishing with "bragging rights" over your cross-town rival.
Success in Field Day is
measured in attaining the goals you set for your group (or yourself if you
operate as an
individual).

While many people will be important to your Field Day operation, the key
person during the entire
experience - from selection of the site to the submission of the score -
will be the Field Day Chairman or
Coordinator. This person needs to be a good organizer with the ability to
delegate responsibility. The
responsibilities are many: site selection, securing "band captains" for each
transmitters, how to best utilize the
operating site, helping solicit operators, equipment, computers, generators,
assisting in public relations, safety
issues, and much more. The Field Day Chairman needs a good working
relationship with the club membership
and officers. It's also helpful if they have some previous Field Day
experience. Many clubs use an experienced
Field Day Chairman along with an assistant Chairman who is in "training" to
assume the job the following year.
As you plan Field Day, don't overlook the wide range of bonus points that
are available. If the operating
category is 3 A - meaning you have three regular stations operating
completely under emergency power, you
receive 300 bonus points (100 per transmitter class.) Are you operating in a
public place (mall parking lot, a
local park, in front of the fire department)? Don't forget the 100-point
bonus. Add in a table, some general ham
radio informational handouts, and some volunteers answering questions for
visitors and you have another 100
points for an Information Booth.

Sometimes there is confusion as to the bonus for media publicity. Prepare a
press release about your
event and send it to the various local media outlets (television, radio, and
newspapers). At that point you qualify
for the 100-point media bonus. While we hope the press will attend your
event, their resources may not allow
them to cover it. The bonus is for the attempt to secure media publicity.
Educating the state and local government officials and representatives of
agencies that ARES may work
with is part of the Field Day goal. You may claim a 100-point bonus if an
elected or appointed local or state
governmental official visits your site as a direct result of your
invitation. A second 100-point bonus may
be earned if a representative of one of the agencies which we serve (such as
Red Cross or Salvation
Army) visits your site as a result of a direct invitation from your group.
Two things are required to earn this
bonus: your must formally invite officials to visit the operation and one
(or more) of them must visit. Maximum
bonus is 100 points per category (100 for an elected official and 100 for an
agency official - not 100 point per
official). ARRL \ ARES officials do not qualify.

Part of any real emergency will be handling formal traffic for the agencies
we serve. Field Day
incorporates this into the exercise in two ways. First, 100 points are
earned by originating a message from
the club to your ARRL Section Manager or Section Emergency Coordinator. The
message must be
originated during the Field Day period. Why not have one of your club's
experienced traffic-handlers work with
someone just learning how to handle traffic involved in this part of Field
Day?
You should also be ready to garner points for originating, relaying, or
receiving and delivering
formal NTS style messages during the Field Day operation. You can gain up to
100 points (10 points each
for 10 messages) as well as incorporating another segment of your club into
the operation. You can't double
dip - so you may not include the ARRL SM/SEC message as one of these
messages, since it already
receives a separate bonus.

During any actual wide-scale emergency, W1AW will broadcast situation
bulletins during the duration of
the event. To allow groups to practice using this source of information, a
100-point bonus is available for
copying the special W1AW Field Day bulletin during the course of the event.
You must copy this special
bulletin on the air during the Field Day operation. It won't be sent out as
an email or posted to an ARRL
web page. It takes some planning on how to accomplish this at your Field Day
site, but it is another available
bonus category. The W1AW schedule is found in this packet with the rules. In
2004 look for the West Coast
transmission of the W1AW bulletin.

Groups for many years have used alternative power sources rather than
commercial or petroleumderivative
powered generators to run part of their Field Day operation. To encourage
this, an easy 100-point
bonus may be earned by making at least five QSOs using a "natural power"
source. Solar, wind, waterpower,
methane or grain alcohol all qualify here. (Sorry, dry cell batteries are a
no-no.)
Field Day is a time of experimentation and demonstration for many hams. Two
rules encourage groups
and individuals to broaden their scope during the weekend. If you complete
at least one QSO via one of the
amateur satellites, you earn a 100-point bonus. The contact must be directly
through the satellite between the
two amateur stations, not relayed through a system that uses a satellite
uplink system. A dedicated satellite
station does not count as an additional transmitter towards your group's
total. The total bonus is 100 points -
not 100 points for each satellite that you contact.

Many new modes of communication are being introduced into the amateur's "bag
of tricks." To
encourage this experimentation, you may earn up to 300-bonus points by
setting up demonstrations of a
"non-traditional" mode of amateur communication. You may earn 100 points
each for up to three
demonstration stations. This would include such things as APRS, ATV or one
of the modes that is not covered
by the three categories of QSOs - CW, digital and Phone. Be careful when you
choose this mode. The digital
category already includes such things as RTTY, and PSK31, so they don't
qualify for the bonus.
If you wish to claim packet for this special bonus credit, you must set-up a
completely portable
packet system, including a portable node. You may not use existing packet
networks to qualify for
packet credit under this bonus, and any contacts made do not count for QSO
credit. Also remember that
frequency bands do not count as modes. Simply demonstrating a CW QSO on 47
GHz does not qualify, since
CW is not a demonstration mode and 47 GHz is a frequency, not a mode.

If your Field Day group is operating in the Class A category, and are at
least a two-transmitter entry, you
have two more ways of adding operating excitement to your event. Groups at
2A or higher may add a
dedicated GET ON THE AIR station (GOTA). This station may be operated by
those holding Novice and
Technician-Plus licenses or by generally inactive licensees. Non-licensed
individuals may participate in this
station under the direct supervision of a properly licensed control
operator. It may be operated on any Field Day
HF band or mode, provided it is under the direct supervision of a control
operator that has license privileges that
includes that band and mode. The complete guidelines are found in Field Day
Rule 4.1.1. A maximum of 400
QSOs from this station may be counted towards the group's total. The station
does not qualify as an additional
transmitter for the per transmitter bonus. If the station completes at least
100 QSOs from the GOTA station,
you will have earned an additional 100-point bonus. The GOTA station is
limited to being an HF station.
For those in your club which are more VHF/UHF oriented, any group operating
as a Class 2A or higher
may also include one dedicated VHF/UHF station. This will allow those
licensees to participate fully on their
favorite amateur bands above 50 MHz. This dedicated VHF/UHF station does not
count as an additional
transmitter towards your group's total and does not qualify for the 100
points per transmitter bonus. Your group
may operate more than one VHF/UHF station during the event. If you do, the
additional transmitters do count
towards your club's transmitter total.

After your successful Field Day operation, what happens next? Submitting the
required paperwork on
time is an absolute must. Submit your entry to the ARRL Contest Branch
within 30 days of the end of the
event. Your entry begins with a completely and accurately filled out Summary
Sheet which shows all of the
information. Be careful: many of the commercial logging programs provide
some basic information on your
summary sheet, but leave some important things out. Your best bet is to use
an official Summary Sheet. Make
certain you use the most current Summary Sheet from the ARRL, since there
are changes that affect
scoring. Make certain you complete all parts of the Summary Sheet. Without
your supplying us complete,
accurate information, we can't print the results accurately.

Consider making your submission with the new ARRL Field Day Web Applet that
is found at
www.b4h.net/cabforms/ At this site you can submit your summary sheet
information directly to the ARRL.
Remember that if you use this option you still need to submit your
supporting documentation. Also keep in mind
that the Cabrillo format does not accommodate Field Day.
The logging requirements for Field Day are different from ARRL contests.
Instead of standard log files,
you are only required to submit a Dupe Sheet, separated by band and mode.
For Field Day, paper copies of
the dupe sheets are acceptable. Keep your logs available, however, in case
we need to request you to submit
them at a later time for clarification. You do not have to use the Cabrillo
format for Field Day, since it is a
log format and only Dupe sheets are required for submission.

The final part of your submission includes the various "proofs" of your
bonus points claimed. Some
of these are easy. Log sheets noted with the specific QSOs made using
natural power or your satellite contacts
are sufficient for that bonus. A written statement verifying your location
in a public place and a copy of your
visitor's log will be fine for claiming those points. Send in a copy of your
Press Release, or a copy of any
newspaper or media coverage you actually receive. And send in your
photographs. Be creative with your
photography. Sending in a picture of someone in a baseball cap pouring gas
into a generator may be proof of
use of emergency power, but probably won't be used in the QST write-up.
Creative photos of operators,
interesting station set-ups, participation by young people and such are more
likely to catch the eyes of QST
editors.

The best way to share your group's Field Day story is via the Online Soapbox
on the ARRL Web. Log
on to www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox and select Field Day. From that site,
you may upload a narrative of your
group's Field Day operation as well as photographs. Once these are proofed
at ARRL Headquarters, they are
posted to the web for thousands to share.

The rules require a couple of specific proofs for some of the bonus points.
You need to submit a copy of
the fully serviced National Traffic System message sent to your Section
Manager or Section Emergency
Coordinator as well as any messages relayed from your site. You also need to
submit a complete copy of the
special Field Day message in your submission. If you submit electronically
you should send these proofs as
attachments to your email submission.

A couple of hints that might help you make your event even more successful
might come in handy.
Remember: that while one of the purposes of the event is to have fun, you
need to practice safety as well.
Having a safety officer for the site is a good idea. Make certain antennas
are safely away from power lines.
Generators should be grounded properly and operated carefully. Guy wires for
temporary structures or towers
need to be well marked. The safety officer needs to work closely with the
Field Day Chairman to ensure
everyone has a safe, as well as fun time.

Make certain everyone is familiar with the Field Day rules. Some people show
up and mean well, but
their activities on behalf of the club may not be within the spirit of the
rules. The complete Field Day rules
appear at the Contest Department's Web Page on line at:
www.arrl.org/contests From that page you can
download the complete Field Day packet. This packet includes copies of the
official summary sheet, several
other useful forms, as well as some simple information material on several
aspects of Field Day. You can also
receive this packet by sending an SASE with at least 4 units of postage to:
Field Day Packet, ARRL, 225 Main
St, Newington CT 06111.

How you organize your group for Field Day will depend on the numbers of
participants and size of the
operation you plan. One helpful hunt is appoint an individual to head up
each station /mode/ band. These
"band captains" should be responsible for planning their individual station,
working in conjunction with the Field
Day Chairman and the other stations planned. Band captains shouldn't be
expected to do it all so make certain
each has plenty of help for set-up, operating and taking down the site.

If you have questions about Field Day after reviewing the rules and packet,
drop an email to
contests@arrl.org or phone (860) 594-0295 and someone in the Contest Branch
will be happy to help you. Field
Day is the most popular amateur radio operating event in the US and Canada.
Please contact the ARRL
Contest Branch if we can assist you in some way to help ensure your Field
Day operation this year is the best
ever!