[SMCARA] Field Day 2013 Plans

Tue Apr 9 12:33:36 EDT 2013

Hi Gang!

Just over two months to go to FD2013! JUNE 22-23 2013 is the big day! I
hope it is circled in red on your calendar.

We are listed on the ARRL Field Day schedule.
http://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator 

We now have a tent scheduled for the event.  The tent guy will set up
Saturday morning at 0800 and tear down Sunday afternoon.

The HF Triplexer is in hand and the Bandpass filters will be installed
on a mounting board for ease of use and to keep the inevitable "birds
nest" of coax to a minimum.  Does anyone have 3 short (six inches or so)
coax jumpers with PL-259's available? These will connect the Triplexer
to the three bandpass filters.

Johnny Johnson will have his USCGAux and CAP gear setup (and probably
the knot board too!)

Outstanding items:

1.  short coax jumpers
2.  We need someone to volunteer as "Ops Director" Usually it is no
problem finding operators during the day.  Once dinner is over, it gets
pretty lonely around the radios. This task will involve recruiting folks
to keep the RF flowing during the night.
3.  Digital station?
4.  GOTA/Demo station? Yes, No , Maybe?
5.  We need a volunteer to act as PR person.
6.  Food- Pete, Boz, plus ?? to plan menu and make shopping list.
7.  Backup Generator? I have changed the oil on the club genny and given
it a test run.
8.  AC power distribution, extension cords, power strips, light strings,
etc??
9.  Do we still have the common grounding setup we used a few years ago?
10. Decide on Callsign - HKI, NAL, NHK?
11. What else?

We will discuss at the next meeting - 25 APR 2013.  Bring your ideas!

73 Tom/W4OKW

---------------------------------------------------------------
Field Day 2013 SMCARA

1.  Class: 3A Two voice/cw plus digital? To make a digital effort worth
dedicating one station, it needs to run continuously (more or less).
Same for
voice, actually!

2.  Call sign: K3HKI, K3NAL, K3NHK (?)

3.  Location: Hollywood Firehouse, bingo building.  We are scheduled for
the site.

4.  Tent: The one we used last year is not available.  A 20 by 30 foot
tent will be set up on Saturday morning.

5.  GOTA Station: (?) Yes, No , Maybe(?) Ham Exams? PR Table? Invite
media? County bigwigs? We need a Volunteer PR Coordinator?

6.  Antennas
	a. Gene Talley's Rocket Launcher 
	b. Yagi Antenna - Pete WA3UMY will bring his Tri-Bander
	c. 80 M Dipole
	d. 40 M Dipole
	e. Multiband Vertical (HF-6V from museum?)
	f. 6 m Yagi on rocket launcher or sep tower/mast (?)
	g. Band Pass filters for each station. These combined with h.
	will help isolation.
	h. New idea- a Triplexer so 2 or 3 stations (10-15-20) can use
	Yagi simultaneously. In hand.

7.  Laptops plus logging programs - we need to do a dry run or two
before zero hour. Last year was a goat rope at the starting bell when
the network didn't work! Larry Ray, KB3FWW has signed on for this task 
again and will provide computers. Thanks Ray!

8.  Regarding step 7, we should have plenty of pads and pens for notes
and logging if computers don't work. Blank dupe sheets too.

9.  CHOW- previous years have proven this to be essential and
successful. See Pete Butt for details. This category includes ice,
water, soda, coolers, coffee maker, snacks, utensils, plates, napkins,
and all that support stuff.  Covered Dish/Pot luck picnic for Saturday
evening seems to work well at SMCARA! Boz has volunteered to do the
shopping.

10. Rigs 
a.  ICOM 746 from museum.
b.  ICOM 751A/IC-735 from base. 
c.  Yaesu 736 from base if someone wants to try satellites. Need UHF/VHF
antennas.
d.  Other rigs available from members. ICOM 7000(W4OKW), ICOM
7200 (KG3BOZ??), etc?
e.  Yaecomwood rigs are notorious for having "loose" front ends
and transmit phase noise, so it would be nice to have a K-2 or K-3 or
two!

11.  Power: Club generator (3500 watts) is available.  Need to have a
backup in place.  W4OKW will bring gas in cans. Spare Genny?

12.  Power distribution - cables and multi outlets. (a.k.a. extension
cord and cube tap!) Pete WA3UMY?

13.  Tent lights - also small lights for logging etc at night. Pete?

Tom Clarke