CQ FIELD DAY, CQ FIELD DAY from Whiskey 9 Zulu Lima, W9ZL.

CQ FIELD DAY, CQ FIELD
DAY from Whiskey 9 Zulu
Lima, W9ZL.
This sentence will be heard the fourth
weekend of the month of June. Yes ARRL’s
Field Day event will be this June 25th and 26th
that’s Saturday and Sunday. The Fox Cities
Amateur Radio Club will once again operate
Field Day at the Valley Aero Modelers airfield,
W5007 Quarry Road Appleton, which is just east of Mackville.
What is Field Day? Well taken from the ARRL’s website:
“Field Day is ham radio's open house. Every June, more than 40,000 hams throughout North America
set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio's science, skill and
service to our communities and our nation. It combines public service, emergency preparedness,
community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. Field Day has been an annual event since
1933, and remains the most popular event in ham radio.”
It is a contest of sorts where you or your organization try to contact as many stations as possible within
a 24-hour period.
For FCARC, Field Day is a time to set up a couple of temporary stations, running off portable generators
using temporary erected antennas. We like to operate a 2 Alpha station which means we will run 2
radios at a time on the low bands in various modes. We could operate SSB, CW, RTTY or FT8. In
addition, we will have a VHF/UHF station operating 6 meters and up. We will also have a satellite
station which you can see and try to make satellite contacts. If your new to amateur radio (one year or
less) you could operate on our GOTA (Get On The Air) station which will allow you to operate the
contest in a noncompetitive mode atmosphere. You don’t even need a Ham license to operate the
GOTA station. We will also have members available to demonstrate how Fusion or DMR works. If you
never worked any of the digital modes like RTTY or FT8, you could learn how it works, and sit down by
the computer and operate some digital modes. With a little luck, the 6-meter band may open and
maybe you can contact stations as far as Texas or Florida on 6 meters. You can also learn a little about
some logging programs and operating techniques. Of course, if you’re a season operator or contester,
your more than welcome and help build up some contesting points for FCARC.
As mentioned earlier, Field Day is the weekend of June 25th and 26th. It begins at 1pm on Saturday and
ends at 1pm on Sunday. We will be gathering at the VAM airfield about 8am on Saturday to begin
setting up. We will have the Ham Van with its 45-foot tower to elevate a rotatable 40-meter dipole,
VHF/UHF beams and some wire antennas for the low band. Your help in setting up is always welcome.
Many of us will be out at the site for the entire event. As in the past we will have a pizza run Saturday
evening to help keep us fed for the night.
We would like to get as many club members out to Field Day as possible and get everyone on the air. If
you can help set up, or help take everything down, or want to operator in wee hours of the night or any
time of the day, mark you calendar and come out to Field Day. Let Terry, N9AOT, know if you can help,
operate or have any equipment that we can use for Field Day. You can contact Terry at 920-572-2937 or
email terryaot@live.com