Field Day '96
by Carolyn Keydash N3DON &
Stan Iarosis N2US

After 5 months of planning, Field Day '96 was met with lots of enthusiasm and participation by a dedicated group of members from the Goddard Amateur Radio Club, during the weekend of June 22nd.
View from behind GSFC Visitor's Center showing outdoor tent operating positions as well as antennas on the roof and a G5RV suspended from the large rocket !
By tradition the GARC team was back at the Visitor Center site which is ideally suited for antenna placement and offers other equally important and crucial amenities such as indoor plumbing. It is also a safe haven during those, almost certain, thunder storms. However, Mother Nature in her unpredictable manner, failed to deliver the annual rain showers that has characterized Field Day over the last 5 years or so. Or perhaps the weather stayed dry because the Tri-bander and 160 m long wire were not used. Hmmm.

Roberto Aleman, N3QVD, Dave Ryan, N3PZZ, and Stan Iarosis, N2US prepare one of two generators for use
With the help of many volunteers the 2 G5RVs, and R7 were installed, 3 tents were put up, and the generators, batteries, satellite tower and array were hauled over to the Field Day site on Friday. This was an significant achievement since these tasks represented the bulk of the work. Preliminary work was performed on the VHF antennas. Pizza kept the workers energized until sundown Friday.
Gary Chatters, WA9ZZZ, Roberto Aleman, N3QVD, and Dave Ryan, N3PZZ prepare to haul antennas and other equipment to the Goddard Visitor's Center roof
In optimizing antenna placement using typical GARC methodology, one G5RV was anchored to the delta rocket, the other to a tree on the south side of the building, and the R7 was mounted on the roof of the Visitor Center. Stan N2US used his brand new whizbang sling shot and a one pound weight to 'fire' a line into a tree but the weapon proved inadequate for such a 'tough' job. It was then time to call in the age old, proven, veteran of previous Field Days the W3FUO golden bow and arrow! It goes without saying that on Hugh's second attempt, the arrow carried the guy line to its intended position in the tree and the arrow was recovered. The focus Saturday morning was to setup the individual stations which included 2 HF, 1 satellite, 1 packet, and a Novice VHF position with 2, 6 and 10 m capabilities. Jim KA3UNQ, Robert KA3ZYX, Roberto N3QVD, Bill W3IUI, Bill K3FFR, and Randy KC6HUR funneled their energies here.
Jim Gass, N3CJN, and Robert Schall, xxxxxx grab those solar powered contacts early on in the contest
A big milestone for GARC was achieved when all the primary tasks were completed by 10 AM Saturday morning. This included the purchase of gasoline for the generators and the completion of VHF, and satellite antenna installation. Jim N3CJN set up his 5 watt Argonaut QRP, solar powered transmitter which served as HF station #2 until the solar powered contacts were made.

Operations

The second significant milestone of the day occurred when the GARC operation began on time, exactly at 2 PM EDT. About 3:00 the solar powered rig was turned off and the primary HF #2 rig was brought into service. All stations were staffed until about 7 when the hamburgers hotdogs, and fried chicken were ready. There was plenty of food and drink. For desert, there was a birthday cake for Dave N3PZZ to help celebrate the anniversary of his 29th birthday.

Frank KA3GAL ,though unable to attend Field Day, loaned us his tent for the satellite station, and brought in a huge, mouth watering supply of fried chicken.

Randy Hammock, KC6HUR, Bill Muney, K3FFR, work packet (Marco, KB5ZOS in background)
There was good coverage throughout the evening. Bill K3FFR, and Randy KC6HUR worked packet. About 1 AM, Carolyn N3DON took over the packet station and worked quite a few Europeans and was on until 8 AM. Marco KB5ZOS had a number of phone contacts on HF. Bill W3IUI put forth an enormous effort to snare the elusive satellite contact. The satellite effort concentrated on AO13 since it is nearing its expected demise at the end of the year. Jim KA3UNQ, Hugh W3FUO, Robert KA3ZYX, Dave N3PZZ, Carolyn N3DON, Stan N2US and Roberto N3QVD operated various modes. Jim's N3CJN friend Robert helped out as well. Dan N3KTU came in after midnight from a Civil War reenactment to try his skills on VHF. Despite the late hours, Dan enthusiastically chased after QSOs for many hours.
Jim Gass, N3CJN and Stan Iarosis, N2US work CW
John Gerke, a ham from Washington state, visited the GARC site on Sunday. Since he is a science teacher, we made sure he stopped by the Teachers Resource Library before he left. When we said good-bye, John was holding a hand full of literature.
Robert DiRosario, KA3ZYX, and Jim Gass, N3CJN work VHF
Both generators were used throughout the weekend and held up fairly well. The Novice and packet stations were setup inside the Center and used available power.

Tear down began at 2 PM Sunday afternoon and proceeded well. Within 2 hours most of the work was completed. Again, Dave's N3PZZ truck was used to haul equipment back to the club facility. Tear down was quick, painless, and very efficient thanks to the volunteers on hand. Gary W9GC was there to offer his assistance as well.

It was gratifying from a planners perspective to see the operations begin on time and to see the increased participation on the air as proven by the number of QSOs logged. Once again the GARC team pulled together a first class, very efficient, Field Day activity. Stan and I are deeply appreciative of the level of interest, cooperation and participation that the members of GARC put forth. It is with pride in a job well done that we thank those who rolled up their sleeves, pitched in, and made this a top notch Field Day.

Under the 2A category, GARC was able to claim 100 points each for the following bonus point categories: media publicity, ARRL FD Bulletin, locating in a public place, information booth, originating message to ARRL section manager, solar powered contact, setting up a packet station, and 10+ QSOs on VHF. We missed out on the bonus points for a satellite contact, and for relaying a Field Day message. We were not able to claim 100% emergency power since our lights were coming from a commercial source.

Thanks to the efforts of Stan N2US, the Field Day logs have been duped, and a final tally made. The Field Day packet must be completed and sent in by July 23rd.

988 Total QSO
(2016 CW QSO Points + 968 SSB QSO Points)
x 2 Multiplier
+ 700 Bonus
------------
3,684 Total points

Take note CW aficionados, the total number of CW contacts exceeded the number of phone contacts. There were also 20 dupes that were removed and the adjusted totals appear above. Just wait till next year!

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Last Update 21 July, 1996