The sPARC gap
Newsletter of the
Portland (Oregon)
Amateur Radio Club
(c) PARC, 2004
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| Volume 22 | July, 2004 | Number 7 |
| Past Issues Index |
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he more things change, the more they stay the same! PARC went to Kelly Butte this year to set up a 4A Field Day operation, and we witnessed somewhat of a change of the guards.
We had to do without the services of our Xerox contingent this year, and that hurt us for phone operation and cost us our satellite contacts. It also cost us the pleasure of the company of Ed, Cherie, Mike and Steve. However, thanks to some gear furnished by PARC members who are also members of the National Rail Historical Society, we were able to handle the power situation in their absence. Thank s to George Hickock, KC7PXF, his daughter Kimberly and a motley crew, all antennas were in place before the opening gun on Saturday. WA7HI, recovering from surgery, was still a great help with gear and his 80-meter antenna. George Mickelson, KD7INU, provided the archery support this year, in place of Ed.
As for the operations, we had ironman participation on CW from NB7F, K7ZSK, N2WLG, AL7W and WAØDIM; bringing in 517 QSOs for the operation. N7XB's efforts on 20 and 15 PSK got us an additional 44 QSOs for the digital side of things. HF voice, on the other hand, sagged, this year. On 20, 40 and 75 SSB, we only logged 82 QSOs altogether. This was not for lack of trying, but with the sunspots down, 10 watts PEP of voice doesn't hit very hard. We did have some VHF and UHF activity of a serious nature, this time, if only in a relatively short time on Saturday afternoon.
The QSO totals per band and mode came out thusly:
432 MHz Voice: 1
144 MHz Voice: 16
50 MHz Voice: 14
21MHz CW: 75
21 MHz Digital: 2
14 MHz CW 168
14 MHz Digital: 42
14 MHz Voice: 34
7 MHz CW: 247
7 MHz Voice: 34
3.5 MHz CW: 27
3.8 MHz Voice: 14
Our bonus points were earned for Natural Power, visitations by the State Senator for that district, as well as a couple of people from the Red Cross, 100% emergency power, publicity, an information table, operation from a public place, and we got the W1AW Field Day Bulletin (both on RTTY by AL7W, and on PSK by N7XB).
Chances are that our score will be lower than last year's, but with propagation down from a couple of years ago, so will everyone else's. A fun time was had by all!
-W7LT
Friday afternoon: W7PR with the tennis ball launcher, which successfully challenges the William Tell method of getting antenna supports into the trees. 50 PSI of compressed air launches the leads over any desired branch.
Visiting dignitaries: State Rep. Mike Schaufler (District 48) speaks with K7RUN, Vivian
Hagood, N7VH, and another Red Cross representative, shortly before the start on Saturday morning.
The prodigal son returns:
WAØDIM, racking up contacts on 20 CW.
N7XB
towing the trailer out after it was over.