Updated: 03/03/2010
For the 52nd year, the Anoka County Radio Club will be participating in
the ARRL Field Day event. This year we continue the tradition along with
Anoka-ARES. Click here for the
Official Press Release on this event.
Like last year we will be setting up the Field Day Site at the Blaine City Hall at 10801 Town Square Dr, at the corner of 109th Street and Radisson Road in Blaine, MN.
Field Day is open to everyone. We will be using the club's W0YFZ call with it's Extra class privileges. So this is a chance to talk on any of the amateur HF bands no matter what your amateur license class is, or even if you don't have a license. The objective is to work as many stations as possible on any and all amateur bands (excluding the 60, 30, 17, and 12-meter bands) and in doing so to learn to operate in abnormal situations in less than optimal conditions. A premium is placed on developing skills to meet the challenges of emergency preparedness as well as to acquaint the general public with the capabilities of Amateur Radio.
Field Day is always the fourth full weekend of June, beginning at Noon (1800 UTC) Saturday and ending at Noon (1800 UTC) Sunday. This year Field Day will be held June 28-29, 2008.
Site setup will start after 5:00 p.m. on Friday in the south eastern parking lot at the Blaine City Hall.
We are working on being a 2F Field Day site this year if plans work out with Anoka County Emergency Management and the City of Blaine. If not we will return to our normal 2A site. Given the Emergency Management twist this year, we will be using the Anoka-RACES/AREA W0ANA license for our Field Day entry and the W0YFZ call for the public GOTA (Get On The Air) station. All our equipment, including antennas, must lie within a circle of less than 1000 feet (300 meters) a diameter. All our contacts must be made with transmitters and receivers operating independent of commercial power and use less than 150 watts of power.
We may also setup one additional bare-bones transmitter to operate exclusively on any bands or combination of bands above 50 MHz (VHF/UHF).
This year Ross Demeyere W0FTX and Dave Healy KC0MVW will coordinating field day events for Anoka RACES / ARES and Perry Brown KC0TWB will coordinate the Anoka County Radio Club side. We are still looking for more helpers to assist with setup and tear down operations. If you are interested please contact any of the above.
For a complete listing of rules please visit the ARRL web site at Field Day Rules.
Logging Software
We will be using N3FJP's Field Day software for logging our contacts. All of our stations will be networked via a wireless 802.11B/G network at the site.
With the Field Day Network Log we
can have a PC at each radio table updating the same log file
simultaneously via our LAN. If we running a GOTA station, this station
CANNOT be part of the network. We must add the totals from the GOTA
station to our grand total at the end of the contest. The following are
key features of the software:
- Easy and intuitive to use!
- Checks for duplicates and partial duplicates.
- Lists all the sections and section color changes when it is worked.
- Lists all contacts.
- Provides many updated statistics during operation.
- Displays a section map that changes color on map when a section is worked.
- Writes ASCII log, dupe and summary files for log submission.
- This program also provides easy merging and dupe checking of log files from other PCs.
- Automatically backs up your log files.
The software needs a minimum of a 166MHz Pentiums with 64 MEG of RAM for acceptable results. At this point all the the software, two laptops and network support will be provided by Dave - KC0KEP.
Equipment List
We could not even hold a field day event without radio and support equipment. The following is a list of all the known equipment that will be supplied during the event. If you can add any items to support the effort please contact Dave (KC0KEP) at any of the contacts listed below.
HF Station 1
| Equipment | Provided By |
| FT-897D HF, VHF, UHF all mode transceiver | Dave (KC0KEP) and Stacy (K0PWD) |
| LDG AT-897 Automatic Antenna Tuner | Dave (KC0KEP) and Stacy (K0PWD) |
| 23A Switching Power Supply | Dave (KC0KEP) and Stacy (K0PWD) |
| External Speaker | Dave (KC0KEP) and Stacy (K0PWD) |
| 50' RG8 Coax cable for HF | Stacy (K0PWD) |
| Rohn 33' Tower with field base and support ropes | Dave (KC0KEP) and Stacy (K0PWD) |
| Rotator with cable, mast and rotator tower base | Dave (KC0KEP) |
| Three element 20 meter beam | Dave (KC0KEP) |
| Dell Pentium III Laptop with 802.11B Wifi and N3FJP FD Logging Software | Dave (KC0KEP) |
HF Station 2
| Equipment | Provided By |
| IC-706MKIIG HF, VHF, UHF all mode transceiver | Dave (KC0KEP) |
| LDG AT-11MP Automatic Antenna Tuner | Dave (KC0KEP) |
| 23A Switching Power Supply | Dave (KC0KEP) |
| MFJ Iambic Key | Dave (KC0KEP) |
| Kenwood Speaker | Dave (KC0KEP) |
| Ramsey Electronics Dual Head Phone Amp | Dave (KC0KEP) |
| 2 - Pair headphones | Dave (KC0KEP) |
| 50' RG8 Coax cable for HF | Dave (KC0KEP) |
| G5RV | Dave (W0DAH) |
| Dell Pentium III Laptop with 802.11B Wifi and N3FJP FD Logging Software | Dave (KC0KEP) |
| Travel Trailer 21' setup as a radio support shack | Dave (KC0KEP), Stacy (K0PWD) and Karen (KC0WEM) |
Other Support Equipment
| Equipment | Provided by |
| Generac 4000 Watt AC generator with power distribution cabling | Dave (KC0KEP), Stacy (K0PWD) and Karen (KC0WEM) |
| Generac 4000 Watt AC generator | Rob (KC0WEO) |
| 3000 Watt AC Generator with power distribution cabling | Perry (KC0TWB) |
| XP Dell Laptop with N3FJP software on board and network cable for server | Dave (KC0KEP) |
| D-Link wireless 802.11B/G Wifi router with high gain antenna | Dave (KC0KEP) |
| ACRC Rotator | ACRC |
| Packet radio station | Perry (KC0TWB) |
| QRP Station | Ross (W0FTX) |
Food
Here is a list of food items that the club and members are planning to
bring. Also, please add your own item(s) to this list. We
will be having one of the cookouts at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.
| Name | Item |
|---|---|
| ACRC/AC-ARES/RACES | Brats, Hamburgers, Buns and Pop |
| AEØAL | baked beans |
| Andrew Turner KD0BEP | W/E you want at the grocery store. |
| Chrissy Neu KC0OKE | Cake & Brownies |
| Jeremy KDØBOC | cookies |
| Lorri Rung K0LLR | Pasta Salad |
| Parry Brown KC0TWB | 2 Potato Salads |
| Sam Kaplin KD0EJG | Bottled Water |
| Shawn Rung K0SMR | Jello Salad |
| Stacy Runkle K0PWD | Cucumber/Tomato Salad |
| Wendy LeVesseur KC0TUS | Chips/Salsa |
Field Day Schedule
Friday June 27th, 5PM |
Field Day 2008 site setup begins. We will need to transport all the equipment from the various locations to the Blaine City Hall's south/east parking lot. By agreement we can not start setup until after 5pm so all the city workers can clear the area. Once all the equipment is on site we can start to setup the Field Day site. Last year we divide in to two teams. Each team worked on each of the key pieces at the site until all was made ready. |
| Saturday June 28th, Noon | Field Day 2008 Operations Begin. Remember that the Blaine Blazin 4th parade is also going on at the same time. One of the HF rigs and support trailer and generator will not be on site until the parade is finished. This does not mean that other not involved with the parade should not start up at Noon! |
| Sunday June 29th, Noon | Field Day 2008 Operations End. Once the Field Day has been completed, the N3FJP software logs will be backed up several times and distributed to two other members for safe keeping. All the equipment will need to be taken down and made ready to transport back to their original locations. One last team needs to sweep the Field Day Site to make sure it is clean and all our stuff has been removed. |
Contact Information
Please contact Dave Runkle KC0KEP at drunkle@astrorat.com or Parry Brown KC0TWB at kc0twb@msn.com for more information.
Dave Runkle - KC0KEP
Anoka County Emergency Coordinator
Anoka County Radio Club Member
Home phone: 763-784-4384
For Packet BBS connect to KC0KEP-1 (using the maple site will help in some
locations)