SignField Day 2005




Location: Washington Monument State Park (Middletown, Maryland)

Date: June 25-26, 2005


The Field Day group

The crew: 2005 attendees: l-r back WA3OFC, WA3PYU, Joel, N2AW, KG4URX, WA3SOR; front WA3KLK, K3MZ, N3IC, K3AN; not shown WA3IRQ, KG4PPU, KG4OAP, WA3LTJ, Jeff, Ginger, Elaine


First, antennas must go up!

Bob with stringFrank and Drew with stringRobert with string
Bob, Frank/Drew, and Robert navigate support strings in the trees

Frank and Mike with quad
Raise a Quad!
Frank, Mike, and Joel raise a quad


The Results

DipoleQuad
QuadPaul's antenna

The dipole might be a bit jealous of the quads, but neither need worry about competition from Paul's dummy load (:>)


Lest we forget the UHF/VHF antennas

UHF/VHF antenna mastUHF Antenna6 meter quad

The mast, VHF/UHF, and the six meter quads


Hooking Equipment Up

Bill arranges stubsWiring
Bill arranges the stubs; the wiring on the floor is not quite mil-spec


Power to the Equipment

Solar CellsThe Generator
Solar cells for natural power contacts, and the generator


Time to Operate!

Inside the ShelterBob and Frank
Drew and Bill man the stations at left; Bob and Frank at right

Bill - daytimeBill - nighttime
Bill seems okay in the daylight, but apparently he needs some flashlight assistance to see at night

CW RateTop Op Bob
Bob shows us how its done on CW!

Steve and FrankDrew
Steve pulls a weak signal out of the QRM; Drew blesses the airwaves with his vociferous frequency handling

FrankFrankLeeMike

Frank has -- well, let's just say his own operating style (not so much in this clip, but click his picture for a demonstration); Lee shows that one never forgets; and Mike presents a more traditional approach (than Frank) to making contacts

Young Operators Joel and Frank
Young Operators get coached

GOTA stationGOTA Station
The HF GOTA station


Special Modes and Bonuses

Point to the SatellitePaul at the VHF/UHF stationAPRS setup
Mike directs Jeff to point to the satellite while Paul attempts contact; Steve's APRS station

Mike and ATV antennaATV Monitor
Mike with his ATV antenna; live action on the ATV monitor

ScoutsScouts
A local Scout troop visits


Relaxing

LeeBobRobert

Lee impatiently waits for his slot at a transmitter; Bob brags about his Expos (uh, Nationals) and likens the tired Orioles to a tired Robert -- as if either team made it to the World Series

GrilleDrew fights his camera
After lighting a fire on the airwaves, Bob does the same on the grille; Drew curses his malfunctioning camera all weekend


Owings Mills Times












Media Publicity: Believe it or not, this is what they published after a half hour on the phone with Drew and me plus email and the website! To be sure, the editor "trimmed" it a bit.



We went with two transmitters plus the VHF/UHF and GOTA stations, scoring 7106 plus 1350 bonus points. Alas, a new high again was too elusive! But it was our second best score, beat only in 2002. QSO breakdown:

Total: 1109 cw x 2 = 2218 + 1335 phone = 3553 x 2 = 7106


Station List |  Log |  ARRL Submission

Bill's Activity and History Analyses


Tracking results from Bill's WinFD program:

Operator Stats

Congratulations to our top contest op N2AW, who wins four years in a row!
Look at the last page in the Log file for breakdown by band/mode per operator


--- Results from December 2005 QST ---
December 2005 QSTQST Score 2005

We scored 17th out of 454 (96.5 percentile) non-battery / non-commercial power entries in the 2A category. We scored 18th out of the total 510 entries (96.7 percentile) in the 2A category (the largest category). We had the highest score in Maryland once again.

Entries ahead of us in the Atlantic Division (DEL, MDC, EPA, WPA, NNY, WNY, SNJ):

Duh... There are none!

(The overall 2A high score was 13,260)


2005 QSL card


Print out a QSL card (pdf format).
for the unzip password


RARC Home Page

(Photos by WA3KLK, K3MZ, WA3IRQ, and N3IC. Designed to be viewable in 640 x 480 resolution)