Field Day
Bedwell Bayfront Park, Menlo Park 22, 23 June 2024
Building on last years successful return to Bedwell Bayfront Park in Menlo Park, PAARA will be once again holding its annual Field Day exercise at the park. This year, Field Day is on June 22nd and 23rd.
We will be entering in Class 2A again this year. That means 2 HF transmitters, hopefully running 500 watts each, under new rules established last year. Like last year, neither station will be dedicated to a particular operating mode, but its very likely that one will operate primarily CW and the other phone.
We have always had a BIG signal, thanks to our excellent operating location on Radio Ridge with sloping terrain leading down to the western edge of the bay, giving us the additional boost of the Salt Water Amp effect. The 500 watt power limit proved interesting, but had to be dialed back to prevent inter-station interferrence. The amps we borrowed last year are not certain to be available, so how much power well be cranking out remains to be seen.
Well also have our usual excellent GOTA station where we can get folks on the air who may not have any HF experience or even a license. Our terrific GOTA Captain, Christopher, AI6KG is planning to be there to coach operators without HF experience. If you or anyone you know might be interested in helping out at GOTA by coaching our inexperienced operators, please let me know.
Set up starts this year on Friday morning around 9:00 in the back corner of the park where we have traditionally established operations, with assembly of antennas, and getting them in the air.
We will be erecting 2 full-sized beam antennas again this year, our 6-element KT-36XA tribander, which will be shared by both stations through Kristens Hi-power triplexer and filter setup. Thank you Kristen!
The tribander goes up on one of our AB-621 military masts, and the BIG 40 meter mono-bander will be on the tower trailer as always. We’ll have an 80 Meter Dipole up for nighttime operations. Getting those up safely requires many hands, so please come out to help.
In addition to getting antennas up, we will need to run network cables, feed lines and power cables to the stations, both of which will be along the ridge where we have usually set up our two A stations in U-Haul box trucks.
Well also set up the food and socializing area in the usual place at the fork of the road leading to the ridge. That entails setting up the big red canopy, anchoring it against the wind and dragging tables and chairs out of the box trailer and getting them set up.
And of course, at the end of the event on Sunday morning, we have to take it all down, pack it up and take it all off the Park. Many hands make light work of all of this, so please bring yours out to join the effort.
As we did last year, we will start on Friday morning at 9:00 AM and work until we run out of daylight or things to do. Saturday morning starts at 9:00 again, making sure we have all the details handled and stations set up and tested. Operations begin at 11:00 and run for the next 24 hours straight.
We strive to keep both of our primary stations on the air for the entire 24 hours, so please pick a time slot and sign up to operate. Sign-up sheets for operating positions and times are again available on-line at http://tinyurl.com/FieldDaySchedule.
As I write, there are NO signups. Lets see if we cant fill all of our open slots well in advance of the event. This is an opportunity to work the biggest operating event of the year from superb stations in an excellent location. Dont miss your chance to participate.
Following the basic PAARA rule, You work, we feed, food service will consist of the usual make-it-yourself sandwich lunch on Friday and Saturday, as well as hot soup and hot dogs for Saturday night dinner for the troops. Thank you Rob for feeding us so well.
For questions, or to volunteer to help, please contact me, Doug, KG6LWE by e-mail at dteter@wcwi.com.
Please join us at the park for another fabulous PAARA Field Day event.
GO PAARA!!