FARS Field Day 2011

[160Mtr Balloon Antenna]
[FARS Field Day 2009]

The Foothills Amateur Radio Society participated in the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) 2011 Field Day event on Saturday June 25^th and Sunday June 26^th.

The event was open to the public and visitors were welcome from 12 Noon until 7PM on Saturday, June 25^th. Field Day is an opportunity to see Amateur Radio in action and even participate. Learn about ham radio by participating.

Here's an Article on the FARS 2007 Field Day from "100 Watts Magazine" a Thai HAM radio magazine. Thanks Nimit, KI6JLD.

John L. Gaffey, WS1EA has written a helpful primer for organizing your own Field Day event.

FARS operated in the 3A category, with three HF radio stations on emergency power at a temporary location. We had a total of five operating radio stations:

• HF station operating Single Sideband (SSB) voice on 40m, 20m, 15m and 10m;
• HF station split between operating CW (Morse Code) and PSK31/RTTY (keyboard) on 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m and 10m;
• HF station operating (SSB) voice on 80m and 160m;
• VHF/satellite station (not counted in category number);
• GOTA (Get On The Air) station (not counted in the category number);

Field Day Captains

AA6PZ	Paul, AA6PZ, was our HF-SSB captain for 40m, 20m, 15m, and 10m. The station transceiver is a Ten-Tec. We operate 20, 15, and some 40 meters during the day, and 40 and 80 meters at night.
KN6QI	Mikel, KN6QI was our station captain for the CW/Digital station. The transceiver is a Kenwood FT-570S with HamScope and MM-TTY running on a laptop for PSK31/RTTY operation. We operated mostly 40, 20, and 15 meters during the day, but 40 and 80 meters during the night.
KA6MZE	Phil, KA6MZE, was our HF SSB station station captain for 160m and 80m operation. Phil is also the overall Field Day captain.
K6XOX	Nimit, K6XOX, was our VHF/Satellite station captain. The VHF station is an ICOM IC-910 for satellite and VHF 2-meter operation. We operate on 6m, 2m, and 70cm.
NE6RD	Michael, NE6RD, was our GOTA station captain. This station is for non-Hams and new Hams to try out an amateur radio HF radio station. Under guidance of our control operator, our guests work contacts with amateur radio stations throughout the United States, Canada, and further.

Visitors

We welcomed visitors from the general public to visit our Amateur Radio Field Day between 12 Noon and 7PM on Saturday, June 25^th.

You did not need a license or previous experience to participate

You did not need a radio license to operate our Get On The Air (GOTA) station. This is a great opportunity to experience amateur radio by doing it. Our control operators guide our guests so that they can make their their own radio contacts. Those who have held an amateur radio license for less than a year were also eligible to operate the GOTA station.

Information for Participants

We used W3KM's Genlog32 software for logging at each of the Field Day stations. The exception is the GOTA station which uses paper logging. You may download the software (Genlog32).

More information

FARS 2009 Field Day Pictures.

FARS 2008 Field Day Pictures.

FARS 2007 Field Day Pictures.

FARS 2005 Field Day Pictures.

FARS 2004 Field Day Report; pictures July 2004 Newsletter.

FARS 2003 Field Day Report; more pictures July 2003 Newsletter.

FARS 2002 Field Day Report.

Pictures from the 2001 FARS Field Day.

Pictures from the 2000 FARS Field Day.

Pictures from the 1999 FARS Field Day.

Pictures from the 1998 FARS Field Day.

Field Day information at the ARRL's web site.

Story in Los Altos Town Crier on the 2001 FARS Field Day.