FIELD DAY 2009
I was euchred in to being the coordinator / chairman of our club's ARRL
Field Day event.
I had a little over two weeks notice to find a location and
enlist the troops and supplies.
The event worked out pretty well with a modest turnout and I got to
even showcase my new antenna launcher.
We were a class 3A installation with two Voice, a CW and UHF/VHF
stations.
Those whom attended, for the most part, enjoyed themselves and the work
involved.
The food was pretty good as well as our spirits. The ops were dedicated
and pulled through the 24 hour contest shift.
I was interviewed for a WCTV Channel 6 news spot on our Field Day
activity as well as by the Tallahassee Democrat.
If anything, Field Day was a great occasion to show our community what
we as hams are all about and also great PR for the TARS club.
Field Day, if anything was a proving ground for Murphy's Law and gave
us a taste or a real emergency deployment.
I performed my calling too well... It appears that I'll be the
coordinator next year as well.
  
FIELD DAY 2010
I had a lot more time this year
to prepare for the big day.
It worked out very well and we had around 70 visitors! The
food was wonderful: we dined on cola marinated BB-Q chicken. As well as
a stellar lunch with custom wraps.
We had the EDICTS unit from the Florida - State EOC and added a million
dollars worth of equipment to the mix. A very impressive setup with
robotic tracking satellite dishes, wi-fi and cell phone access. The
Tallahassee area was the safest (communications wise) that it ever
could be that day.
We were a class 2A, with Voice, CW, and Satellite.
We had a visit from Sen. Al Lawson and his entourage.
And as for PR we had the local WTXLABC NewsChannel 27 pay a visit. As
well as separate interview and news pieces from WCTW CBS Channel 6
Eyewitness News!
The Tallahassee Democrat has an expose as well.
As for Murphy's Law - It was very hot that day, near 100 degrees and no
rain!
There was an unusual absence and lack of seasoned operators - I myself
had to be in charge of the Voice station.
Not attending were the un-equated talents of Dave Huepel, Natalie
Binder, Paul Wood and Steve Welsh. I've grew used to depending upon
them over the last three wonderful Field Day adventures.
Throw in a few "ill tempered seabass" that acted like they were
entitled to a pampered ham-cation and three of four generators not
functioning with the forth a propane guzzler that kept asking for more
tanks and the Field Day event became the proving ground to a hams
resilience that it was supposed to be.
Oh, and the bees and spiders!
But it was a very good Field Day! Antennas and stations went up well.
The CW guys did an excellent job. And a few new hams got to shine:
Micah KJ4AZW make his first 60+ HF contacts!
I'll most likely be setting up 2011's as well - Bring it on!
FIELD DAY 2011
It was time once again for the pinnacle event in ham radio!
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The TARS Field Day weekend of June 25-26th,
2011 was a success!
This year we deployed a full functional emergency operations setup.
Over 50 hams and visitors attended our event at our new location on the
grounds of
St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church which has been more than
gracious in
allowing the club to host our activities. We used RVs and the TARS
trailer in
air-conditioned comfort to house our stations which included CW, Phone,
and 6 meters.
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 This was the "Phone" or "Voice"
station set up in K4SBZ's RV.
 Across
the field was the CW station set up in the TARS club portable
operations trailer.
Special commendation should be given to Nick Simoncini KI4FTK of FL
State EM and his crew for deploying the EDICS unit for our Field Day.
This unit is a portable logistics system for the state of Florida that
would provide cell phone, Internet and other vital communications for
all served agencies in the event of a disaster. It provided us with
wi-fi service so that we could link our logging computers.
 Hungry
hams go down to Norm's FD Grill !
Special thanks to Norm, K4GFD, for providing the burgers and dogs to a
hungry Field Day crew and for pulling more than his share to help out.
Norm also donated the use of his 5th Wheel RV for the operation of the
6m (VHF/UHF) station.
Saturday had an easy start with hams installing the myriad of antenna
systems, including dipoles, a delta loop, and a 30' mast for Ivan
Cook's 6m cubic-quad antenna.
The mast for the 6m station was my military surplus camo-system setup
that started out at 50 ft with every available ham pulling on the guy
ropes.
However, the mast was shortened to improve stability. (It looked like a
large green noodle!)
Field Day is undoubtedly a great way to prove and refine our skills and
equipment.
 Ivan
Cook W4FWL (SK) attacking one of them new fangled 6m openings.
Ivan's home brew 6 meter band Cubic Quad. He'll be
presenting this antenna to the club at the August TARS meeting.
With Ivan's home brew 6m antenna and the mast, he was able to pull in
an impressive 175+ 6m contacts coast-to-coast!
The Phone and CW stations pulled their weight as well, bringing the
total number of QSO's to around 700 with a point total of over 1100!
Jack managing a pileup.  Jerry copying
code.
The weather was perfect with very little rain. The chilled stations
were a welcome respite from the mid 90's+ temps.
There was a VE administered test session where we produced two new
Generals and two Extras.
Afterwards, for education credit, we constructed a dual-band dipole for
80 and 40 meters and it was erected for use at the Phone station.
We got at least two new Generals and an Extra. Go Brady
KJ4YSP!
Richard, W1AAO, and Lois, W4MIT, demonstrated PSK31 and SSTV modes.
Dinner was well-received with grilled fare by Norm, K4GFD, and we went
into the night with the contest.
There was very little or no sleep to be had as we pulled in the QSOs at
an easy pace. Brady, KJ4YSP, got to sit at the helm for the first time
to work HF.
The Get On The Air (GOTA) station was quite busy the
entire day!
James Ryder, KG4YZM, was there to guide a scout or two through the
requirements to earn the Radio merit badge, learning about ham radio in
the process.
John Decoteau, KG4GXT operated the GOTA station with a very active
turnout of non-hams and inexperienced ones looking to catch up.
The whole event went without any major hitches and everyone left
feeling good about the experience.
The new location at the church was without a doubt a good move with
ample space, good facilities and peace of mind to allow us the means to
setup and operate.
My sincere thanks to all the hams that sacrificed their time, equipment
and talent to make this event a success.
Mike Maynard,
K4ICY - 2011 Field Day Coordinator
FIELD DAY 2012
Our Field Day this year was a improvement and success!
Field
Day in 2012, June
23rd-24th
(Always the Fourth Weekend in June)
in Tallahassee, Florida at St. Francis of Assisi
Episcopal.
This
was the second and last year for the event at this location as St.
Francis will be sadly closing down. TARS was so very grateful
for
the gracious use of their facilities.
Saturday was a beautiful day, and was overcast from the afternoon on
out as tropical storm Debbie was looming in the Gulf.
We had nearly 70 attendees from young to old and even our good friend
Junior KG4ITD graced us with his presence.
The
following photos were taken in the morning on a low-quality camera
phone, so I hope to be able to snag some better ones if possible:
This year we were a 2A
station (NFL) With air-conditioned RV's set up for CW, Phone, UHF/VHF
as well as ground stations for Satellite, GOTA (Get On The Air), and
yes - Solar!
The meals were great with food provided by Norm K4GFD and by SUBWAY. There was a test session where
three new prospective hams passed their Technician, and one got his
Extra.
The morning was eventful!
Show
here was the antenna class put on for education points where three
directional antennas were built from scratch. Soldering was
also
taught by default.
The antennas were promptly employed in a fox-hunt
(direction finding) where several attendees throughout the day tried
their luck at finding a hidden transmitter.
A ham license was not required for the fox-hunt and valuable search and
rescue skill were taught.
The RV's were installed the night before and the station captains
stayed the night prior.
The
TARS trailer was retro-fitted throughout the morning with the emergency
communications equipment previously set up in our last vehicle.
Now, during an event, there is room for up to three stations to operate
in the field, including adequate shelter.
The
priority for the morning was installation of the many antennas we were
to use. The CW station had an end-fed dipole and a loop, there was a
dipole for the digital (PSK) station, a beam for the VHF/UHF station, a
Carolina Windom for the phone station, and the verticals and special
log-periodics for the satellite and solar special stations. Also a
dipole for the GOTA.
In fact, there were additional antennas for other pop-up stations like
the 2m installation.
A team-effort was instrumental in installing this home-brew 6m,
three-element cubic-quad.
This
installation required several people to install. It used three sets of
surplus military camouflage support-sections donated from different
hams.
Ivan W4FWL brought a whopper of a cubic-quad this year, custom made
from PVC pipe sections and stranded copper wire.
Unfortunately,
there were very few 6m contacts this year - due to the magic
propagation, or lack there of that was to be expected.
The antenna,
once installed read an SWR of 1:1. Way to go Ivan! It was a
good
exercise for the type of deployment we might see during a disaster.
The
6m station, regardless of long-distance propagation would have superior
operation for regional coverage during an emergency event.
We, however, did manage to make a lot of often rare satellite contacts!
 Tom
Brooks K4TB with his custom, motorized-tracked dual-polarized satellite
station antenna.
There
were at least three stations on the grounds that did not include the
main contest stations, which gave ample opportunity for visitors to get
on the air.
The
many visitors to the station were impressed. We were graced by a few
elected officials and a higher-up with the state and county EOC's.
We had a number of your visit and participate, as well as a few new
hams that didn't even have their tickets yet.
Information was plentiful and cordial, thanks to our enthusiastic PIO
specialist and the many "Elmers" on hand.
Seated was Junior KG4ITD, a legendary ham voted #1
911 call specialist for the state of Florida in 2011.
Junior
lives in a nearby county and is often at the ready to provide friendly
correspondence to anyone that gets on the air... oh... and he happens
to be seeing-impaired, not and issue to Junior.
The ARRL 2012 Field Day contest was underway at 2pm and would last at
least 24 more hours!
This
year TARS under the call of K4TLH would break our record for the past
few years. Your's truly, Mike K4ICY, got to log at the CW
station..
 (The contest-paced speeds of
these seasoned CW operators was a glorious site to behold)
...and
then pulled off a two and a half hour pile-up of power, dominating
14.305 as over 200 stations rang in one after another. I went
non-stop and had to have drinks handed to me like a marathon runner.
I became a true robotic contester with a system so fast-paced
that the logger could not keep up! I had to go back later to
find
a dozen missed stations I wrote down. Throw in there a few
European DX contacts and I can tell you that the contest was plentiful
for TARS this year!
3am... still going. Smoke and
sparks!!! Norm's 15kw generator threw a rod! Oil on
the
ground and the CW and digital stations were out of commission.
We
had already passed our record, so no big deal. It was better
for
the generator to die at a fun event like Field Day than in the throws
of a real emergency.
Sunday rolled in with an oncoming tropical
storm! Fortunately for us, Debbie has turned a hard right for
Tampa, but some limbs were knocked down at the site, and under the
circumstances, the news crew which was scheduled to film our activities
had to focus on the flooding and damage in the adjacent coastal
counties.
Sunday was non-eventful, but the contacts continued to
roll in and a few more hams got to get on the air to try their craft at
contesting.
For me as the TARS Field Day coordinator and chairman, I can say that
this year's event was a success for our club.
I
can only give a special thanks to the network of charitable individuals
whom gave their time, skills, and much money, I might add to assist in
the effort.
Without the cooks, the station captains, the Elmer's and support crew,
the TARS Field Day would not have been a success.
My
work really stopped the day before the event as this was really an
equal-opportunity party for all the club members and hams in our area.
I
have no doubt that if a hurricane of great magnitude were to strike, or
some other God-forsaken calamity were to place the Red Cross, the
Sheriff's department or any of our other served agencies in
communications
risk, TARS and our Capital Area ARES would be ready and well-equipped!
See you at Field Day next year!
73, DE Mike Maynard
K4ICY - TARS 2012 Field Day Coordinator/Chairman
Below is a very realistic 3D
Rendition of a theoretical solar-powered Field Day station.
It was
modeled with MoI (Moment of Inspiration - Moi3D.com)
To
see the post visit :Here: (Log in as Guest)
"Green
Field Day"
operating on completely solar power and advanced Lithium-Ion storage
technology!
Find out more about the fun of
Field Day - Visit: http://www.arrl.org/field-day
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Check out
the photo journal...
