Field Day 2009
- Details
For the 53rd year, the Anoka County Radio Club will be participating in the ARRL Field Day event. 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 27-28, 2009.
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 2A Field Day site this year. 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).
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.
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 Parry Brown KC0TWB This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it."> This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Jeremy Amundson KD0BOC This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
HF Station 1
| Equipment | Provided By |
| Yaesu FT-950 HF / 6M all mode transceiver | Jeremy Amundson KD0BOC |
| HyGain 3-element Yagi for 10, 15 and 20 M | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
| Tower / Feedline / Rotor | Bob Cordell KB0GIP |
| Shelter for HF1 |
HF Station 2
| Equipment | Provided By |
| Kenwood TS440S HF all mode transceiver | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
| Icom 746 Pro HF / 6M / 2M all mode transceiver | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
| G5RV Antenna and Feedline | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
| Camper to house HF2 | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
VHF/UHF Station
| Equipment | Provided By |
| Yaesu FT857D all mode transceiver | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
| Alinco DR-235 | Ray Costello N0FY |
| 3-element 2m Yagi antenna | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
| 6-element 70cm Yagi antenna | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
| 3-element 6m Yagi antenna | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
| 1.25m vertical antenna | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
| Tower and feedline | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
| Minivan to house this station | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
Other Support Equipment
| Equipment | Provided by |
| 3000W AC Generator with cables | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
| N3FJP Logging software (server laptop/pc) | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
| Wireless 802.11B/G Wifi router | Parry Brown KC0TWB |
| Backup Generator |
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.
Field Day Schedule
|
Friday June 26th, 5PM |
Field Day 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 27th, Noon | Field Day Operations Begin. Remember that the Blaine Blazin 4th parade is also going on at the same time. |
| Sunday June 28th, Noon | Field Day 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 Parry Brown KC0TWB This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Jeremy Amundson KD0BOC This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.