Tag Archives: Field Day

Field Day 2019 – Saturday June 22 thru Sunday June 23

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This year we’re putting the “Field” back in Field Day!  We will be operating from Elings Park up on the hill where the hang gliders take off. We will be operating from 11:00am Saturday until 2:00pm Sunday, and we still have several time slots to fill, so we would really appreciate your help. We need three volunteers per time slot, two to operate the two stations (morse code [CW] and voice [SSB] this year), and one to help with outreach to the public (answering questions, etc).  We also need people to help set up before-hand, and help break-down at the end. Operating/outreach time-slots are four hours long (but if you can only do something less, we’ll still fit you in).  We are considering visiting a restaurant for an early dinner after the event Sunday – stay tuned!  Your club needs you! Let’s make this a fun field day for everyone. We will bring the Rover to just above the hang gliding area at about 10:00am on Saturday, June 22.  We will need a small crew to help assemble di-poles and erect antenna masts and pop-ups. Check out the ARRL Field Day intro and the ARRL Field Day Rules for more information.  If you want to follow along closely with field day activities, please subscribe to the field day mailing list. You are more than welcome to work a 4-hour operator shift and a 4-hour outreach shift, if you so desire, or even take two operator shifts at different stations and/or times (lowering the need for as many total volunteers). Feel free to mix it up and hang out. If you can help out in any way, please contact us immediately, and let us know what hours you are available. Ideally, we’ll be filling shifts for these seven time slots: 11am-3pm, 3pm-7pm, 7pm-11pm, 11pm-3am, 3am-7am, 7am-11am, and 11am-2pm, but again, let us know when you can help, and we’ll fit you in! Post expires at 8:00pm on Sunday June 23rd, 2019 but will still be available in the archives.

Field Day Report From Ken KA6KEN

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Dear SBARC Members, I would like to thank all those who attended Field Day this year.  The turn-out was fantastic. Elings Park was a bit cold and we never did see the sun, but perhaps that was better than hot and dusty (isn’t it amazing how it went from cold and overcast two weeks ago to 107 degrees last week)? We had two stations running (plus the Get-on-the-Air, or GOTA, station).  We used our K6TZ call for the primary two stations and K6SBZ for the GOTA station.  Our class was “2A” and our section was “SB”. We assembled and installed the massive Force-12 antenna on a rotator atop the 50′ pneumatic mast on the Rover along with an 80-meter dipole, we set up the two-element StepIR on a push-up mast (that was a feat) along with a 40/80 meter dipole, and we erected three fiberglass masts with guy ropes to support a G5RV multi-band center-fed di-pole antenna as an inverted-V at about 30′ at its center-point. Our total score was 2,236, comprised of 553 QSO’s (multiplied by 2 since we used less than 150watts for all QSOs) plus 1,130 bonus points.  For more details (like bonus points break-down), click here and download the file called “ARRL Field Day Entry Form as submitted.pdf” (note you must add the Total Bonus Points to the Claimed Score for the final score).  If you want to find out more about comparative scores check out the ARRL web site for last year’s scores; this year’s scores will not be published until November.  Also, check out the ARRL Contest Soapbox by clicking on and selecting “2018 ARRL Field Day” in the Event drop-down for pictures and comments people have posted regarding Field Day – they are still streaming in. The band conditions were not as bad as predicted.  We actually had some pretty solid runs.  In fact, the team of Dennis WB6OBB and Jim N6SXB managed a rate of 128 QSOs per hour, at their peak!  While Dennis is a seasoned contestor, this was Jim’s first; Jim was logging for Dennis.  Congrats to the dynamic duo!  Now if we could only sustain that rate, we would have scored 12,288 points in 24 hours across the two stations (including our 2x multiplier for running on emergency power).  We all have something to work toward next year! We made 273 QSOs on 20 meters, 214 on 40 meters, and… Continue reading →

Field Day 2018 – Saturday June 23 thru Sunday June 24

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This year we’re putting the “Field” back in Field Day!  We will be operating from Elings Park up on the hill where the hang gliders take off. We will be operating from 11:00am Saturday until 11:00am Sunday, and we still have several time slots to fill, so we would really appreciate your help. We need two volunteers per time slot, one to operate the station, and one to help with outreach to the public (answering questions, etc). Newly licensed (in the past year) and inactive hams – we’ll teach you how to work the GOTA station (check out the ARRL Field Day intro and the ARRL Field Day Rules for more information); so, if you are new to the hobby or just getting back into it, we have a spot for you too! We also need people to help set up before-hand, and help break-down at the end. Operating/outreach time-slots are four hours long (but if you can only do something less, we’ll still fit you in).  Your club needs you! Let’s make this a fun field day for everyone. We will bring the Rover to just above the hang gliding area at 7:00am on Saturday, June 23.  We will need a crew of four or more to assemble the antenna and put it on the Rover’s mast, but we’ll need more people to help assemble di-poles and erect antenna masts. We need a minimum of TEN volunteers to kick this off – six operators and four people for outreach (fewer for outreach since the public won’t be there during the dark hours). It would be awesome to get twelve operator time-slots filled (two people per time-slot) for a total of SIXTEEN volunteers so we can run two operator stations! You are more than welcome to work a 4-hour operator shift and a 4-hour outreach shift, if you so desire, or even take two operator shifts at different stations and/or times (lowering the need for as many total volunteers). Feel free to mix it up and hang out. If you can help out in any way, please contact us immediately, and let us know what hours you are available. Ideally, we’ll be filling shifts for these six time slots: 11am-3pm, 3pm-7pm, 7pm-11pm, 11pm-3am, 3am-7am, and 7am-11am, but again, let us know when you can help, and we’ll fit you in! Post expires at 1:00am on Monday June 25th, 2018 but will still be… Continue reading →

Field Day 2016

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This year we’re putting the “Field” back in Field Day! We will be operating from Elings Park up on the hill where the hang gliders take off. We still have several time slots to fill, so we would really appreciate your help. Operating/logging time slots are only 2 hours long, so it won’t put a very big dent in your weekend plans. Your club needs you! Let’s make this a fun field day for everyone. The plan is to bring the Rover Friday afternoon to the South Park area of Elings. Tom, N6YX expects to arrive between noon and 1 pm. He will take the road that the hang gliders use, then drive through the field to South Park area. We will need a crew of four or more to assemble the antenna and put it on the Rovers mast. The antenna only weighs 60 pounds, but it is about 12 feet long and 10 feet wide. We will test the radio and check digital modes. We should be finished before 4 pm Friday. Tom will arrive again Saturday morning about 9 am. He will work with someone else for the first shift. Shifts are two hours during the day and evening until 9 pm. Other operators / loggers will arrive for each shift. From 9 pm to about 6 am, there will be two or three for the night shift. We will operate until 11 am Sunday morning. The Rover will remain parked from Friday afternoon to Sunday about 1 pm. I don’t expect more than six people at a time. I don’t know how many from the club will be participating. We need at least 16 people for a full 24 hour operation. We need a minimum of 10 for a 12 hour operation. If you can help out with operating, logging, set-up or take-down, please contact us as soon as possible. Post expires at 11:00am on Sunday June 26th, 2016 but will still be available in the archives.

Field Day 2015 – UPDATED

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Field Day is an intense 24 hours of ham operations. SBARC will have the Rover set up at the Camino Real Marketplace near the movie theater. Setup will begin on Friday June 26th at 12:30 hours and operating will begin on Saturday June 27th at 11:00 hours and continue nonstop until Sunday June 28th at 11:00 hours. Operators are needed for 2 hour time slots during these times. Operation will be on SSB, CW and Digital Modes. People will also be needed to meet, greet, and explain amateur radio to the general public. Contact Tom – N6YX at 805-967-7351 or tsaund@cox.net to sign up for this fun event! UPDATE – June 10, 2015 – From Tom N6YX You are welcome to join the SBARC Field Day event. Field Day starts 11 AM, Saturday, June 27 and runs for 24 hours. We will be located at Camino Real Market Place, about 70 yards south of the movie theatre. The club will operate as a 1A station (single transmitter). We will make hundreds of short HF contacts to stations in US, Canada, Mexico, Hawaii. Contacts will be made using phone, CW, and digital modes. This is a great learning experience for new as well as old hams. We need help with setup Friday afternoon, operators, loggers, and greeters for the public. Setup involves the assembly and mounting of an antenna on the club’s Rover van. We will check out the equipment to make sure everything is working properly before we start operating Saturday morning. Loggers enter contact information into a computer. It is a very simple program that is used to log station call sign, operating classification, and ARRL section information from each contact. Technician class and unlicensed individuals can operate as long as there is a properly licensed ham as the control operator. You do not need any experience to be an operator or logger. This is a great outreach event for the public. This is why we chose the Camino Real mall for this event. We get a lot of interest from the public. Greeters answer simple questions about ham radio and get interested people to sign up for more information or to start a license class. You are also welcome to stop by and check it out. Post expires at 11:00am on Sunday June 28th, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.

Team Leaders Needed for Field Day and Hamfest

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Do you have organizational skills or want to participate and help get everything in place for a major Club event? The board of directors is looking for team leaders for the various aspects of organizing two major upcoming events, Field Day (June 26-28) and Hamfest (Aug 9). This year Hamfest and the Bazaar will be combined into one event. At this time we are planning on having this combined event at the Elks lodge. We are still finalizing plans for Field Day, but are planning on having something fun and exciting. Team leaders will have responsibility for helping to plan and execute various aspects of these once-a-year events. You will be helping to coordinate volunteers, logistics (the mighty McLeod Brock is there to save for the day!!), You can also look at this site to know more , event day activities, and working with the Board of Directors in making sure these events are well run and fun for everyone. This is a good opportunity to get to know other club members better, learn more about how the club operates, and practice your leadership skills. If you can volunteer, please go to the “Contact Us” form here on the website, complete it and let us know. We’ll get back to you right away. You can also contact us directly by email by sending an email to info@sbarc.org. We’ll make sure your email gets to the right person.