Field Day 2013… Goal 500 Points! – Best Score Ever! 2300 Points!

Members of the VARC just finished up field day for this year.  What a wonderful experience for members, visitors and perspective amateurs alike. Ham radio shouldn’t be hard but rather fun and enjoyable which is what this event was.

It was great to see the following amateurs:  Bobby, Michael, Greg, Payne, Sheila, Barry, Tim, John, Bob, Mike, and several others who came to socialize.  There where several non-hams attending which were mostly member’s family or invited friends.  The pot luck Saturday evening was delicious and just plain enjoyable! Again Mike’s grilling expertise was top notch!  The grilled sausage was very tasty…

The VARC operated with three stations again this year using emergency power provided by solar panels.  One station operated 6 meters and the two others operated in the HF bands.  The 6 Meters station antennas was a 3 element cushcraft beam up 70 feet on a tower.  One of the HF stations used a 520′ loop antenna and the last station used a tri-bander beam up on the tower at 66 feet.  There was also a 40/75 inverted V but it failed during the event.

The HF bands were really good this year.  In fact very good!  Most contacts where made on 20,15,10, and 6 meters.  Around 100 on 6 meters alone.  The HF bands were just plain HOT!  Especially 6 Meters Sunday afternoon just before the event was over.

The goal this year was 500 points but after just the first hour the VARC scored already 300 points.  The overall contact score was 1160 contacts using only SSB.  When the score for using emergency power is factored in the final score is 2300 points!   Bobby KF4GTA (the contest machine) scored the most contacts for the event.  Thank Bobby for raising the bar for next year!

The greatest quote heard from many of those who visited field day was… “I didn’t realize that ham radio was this high tech.”

Make plans to attend next year… Field Day 2014….     CQ Field Day… This is W4VLD… 3E…. GA….