See the July 2016 issue of RF News, starting at page 14, for a report on our 2016 Field Day activity. Additional photos by K5CGX are posted here. Click on any image to enlarge.
2015
As usual, the Baton Rouge ARC operated from the Highland Road Park Observatory. We used the two tribanders, a 40m dipole, and 80m dipole, and the jumpered multiband dipole. We had great participation, both from the local ham community and the public. I counted 24 different operators in the log, at least 6 others not in the log, and 12 members
of the public participated at the GOTA station.
Our log had 768 CW QSOs, 554 SSB, 44 digital contacts, and 1 satellite contact. This was a decrease of 140 CW and 70 SSB contacts over last year, but we increased our digital count to 44 from last year’s 10. Our efforts netted every ARRL section save four: EWA, VI, AB and SK. CW continues to be our workhorse mode, in large part thanks to the guys (W5XU, AA5O, N5BUD, W5DJA and W5ZDW) who pounded away at station 1. Unlike last year, 6m did open up Sunday morning, netting us 62 contacts in 2 hours. This year, with the extra antenna on 80m, we did much better, with over 50 SSB contacts, mostly due to Craig, KF5VKQ and Richard N5BTP. On 10m CW we went from 0 last year to 171 QSO’s this year.
Click on any thumbnail photo below for an expanded view.
Oh, so true! Chris Kersey, KE5PQO, and his staff at the observatory put a lot of effort into publicity for the event.Steve, KC5SAS, prepares to shoot a line over a tree for the 80m antenna, while Vernon, AA5O, Marvin, N5HE, and Jerry, W5AJD supervise.Frank, Vernon AA5O and Ken W5KQ tie down the end of the 80m inverted vee.Thornton, KG5HLC does the cranking while Jim, N5IB, watches the dipole.Dana, AD5VC, and Thornton, KG5HLC, try to sort out the end of the multiband dipole.Robin, KK5RH and Trey, KF5ZCL unload the tribander.Robin, KK5RH, Pat, K5AHE and Jerry W5AJD discuss the finer points of putting up the tribanderOur power source was marine storage batteries recharged by these generators. The batteries lasted 10 to 12 hours between charges, so these generators saw a lot of use late Saturday night.Chargers and Batteries.Brook, N5DGK, and Ken, W5KQ, work on the 6m antenna.Jim. N5IB and Dana, AD5VC, check output of solar panels for natural power contacts on 6m & 10m SSB at 3W.Jeremy’s AD5XY trabander is up, but where is the rotor and the control cable?Jim, N5IB, and David, W5XU, set up the K2 for logging and keying.Daniel, N5KHM and Brook, N5DGK, put up posters for our public information booth.Buddy’(N5BUD) public information table attracted a lot of attention, especially from the kids sending their name in Morse.6m loop awaits an opening.Bouts of heavy rain were the norm all Saturday afternoon and even late into the night. Thankfully, there was no lightning.Pat, K5AHE, and Jerry, W5AJD, work CW. CW contacts made up 60% of our QSOs.Frank and Ken, W5KQ, work phone. Frank is studying for his license.Trey, KF5ZCL on the 6m station on Saturday afternoon. It was slow going until the opening Sunday morning.Marvin, N5HE, and Frank work phone.Hank, K5HDE, works PSK31. We garnered 44 digital QSOs this year.Some of the many visitors to Buddy’s Morse code table. This young man then came over to the GOTA station to make a contact.Buddy N5BUD and Daniel N5KHM demonstrate itty-bitty radios to two students participating in a summer research program in the LSU physics department.Steve, WA5FKF, and Thorton, KG5HCL, work the GOTA station. Thorton got his license this year. He made a total of 11 GOTA contacts.Jon, WA9JBR, and Ken, W5KQ, work the phone station. Notice the big white blanks in the map on the screen. Central Canada remained unworked the entire time.David, W5XU and Jerry, W5AJD work on 15m CW.Daniel, N5KHM, works with a young man while his grandfather and Steve, WA5FKF look on. He got the contact on the second call!Robin at his potThese are Robin’s sous-chefs, or maybe they are just hungry.The Jambalaya and white beans were delicious.A delightful dinner under the pavilion. The rain even held off for us.Ken , W5KQ, works phone while Dana, AD5VC, prepares to make natural power contacts on the KX3 (QRP SSB)Why can’t we hear central Canada or EWA?Robin, KK5RH and Daniel N5KHM working the 6m opening.Daniel, N5KHM and Dana, AD5VC, work the 6m opening on Sunday morning. It was fast and furious.Jeremy, AD5XY and Steve, WA5FKF on 40m phoneDave, KF5CGS, cuts up the watermelon. The equipment is stowed and it’s time to celebrate another successful Field Day.MMM, MMM, GOODDana, AD5VC, Field Day Coordinator and Robert, who is an LSU student studying for his license.
June 23-24, 2018
