ARRL Field Day 2011 – Call For Operators!

ARRL Field Day is the weekend of June 25th and 26th.  SEMARA needs operators in order to make our club station a success!  Please contact Ben, N1WBV if you are interested.  In a recent email to club members, Ben writes:

OK, I put the bug in everyone’s ear a couple of months ago and now it’s time to start cracking. Field Day is June 25 and 26!

ARRL Website full of all kinds of info: http://www.arrl.org/field-day

The previous years we have taken baby steps into trying to get a “Class A” station on the air. I would like to continue this trend and in 2011, get SEMARA completely “off the grid” and operate both days.

Some points to ponder:

* Last year our operators got killed by the sun (and the equipment got very toasty). We had to set up shop by noon. We need some kind of shelter this year. Also if we want to operate in the evening, we need a shelter that is bug proof!

* While I have a generator I lent to the cause last year, the thing was noisy enough that talking at the radio table was next to impossible.
Anyone have any ideas?

* There was some talk about pulling up stakes at SEMARA and heading out someplace else. Did anyone look into the venues they suggested?

* While I re-use the radios in the club, we need various bits and pieces to set up:

* Coax
* Antennas
* Poles to mount antennas on
* Surge Protectors

* We need people! A majority of the operation last year was done by myself, KB1UAM and my friend KB1TNF. Our second radio was left unused most of the time. If we want to run two days we need folks from 2PM Saturday to 2PM Sunday. Running the full 24 hours is not a big deal to me, but it would be nice to be in operation 12-16 hours during the event. Volunteer!

* This is a great way to show off the club and our clubhouse to hams and non-hams alike. Last year we had a visitor from Boston who was in the area and wanted to check us out. If we all pitch in, we can make this a great event.


Ben Jackson – N1WBV – New Bedford, MA
http://www.innismir.net/