Field Day is THIS SATURDAY!
I am very excited because I've already got FOURTEEN people signed up to perform public relations duties and to operate stations! I need another two operators, and we'll have enough to operate TWO stations! I need at least one more PR person to help with the public information table. Be sure to attend and hang out for a bit even if you can not stay for long, or operate.
I also need some GOTA coaches for our Get-On-The-Air station. ANYONE who has been licensed in the past year and all Novice and Technician licensed hams should come out to operate the GOTA station; the coaches will show you how. Each of you can help us earn up to an extra 100 points in the contest. Also, if you hold a General license or above, but are generally inactive, please come out as you can operate the GOTA station as well!
Finally, I need a couple more people to help set up Saturday morning at 7:00am, and a couple more to help pack everything up at 11am Sunday morning. We need hams who are 18 and younger to operate as well (even if the GOTA station) as we earn extra points for the younger hams. If you know anyone 18 or younger who is licensed, please encourage them to come.
Field day is not only a contest, but a way to show the public what we, as the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club, are all about. More than 40,000 amateur radio operators throughout North America will be partipating in field day this year. Field Day has been an annual event since 1933, and remains the most popular event in amateur radio.
Saturday morning we will be installing the HUGE Force-12 antenna atop the Rover van! Its longest element is nearly 20-feet long! The telepscoping mast on the Rover is almost 50-feet high! This will be a site to see. We'll have several other antennas on-site including a really cool StepIR and some di-poles. We'll be running 100% on emergency power. At some point, a couple of us will be making satellite contacts, so be sure to show up to see this.
For more information, including directions to the SBARC Field Day site in the South Park area of Elings Park, visit http://www.sbarc.org. Please RSVP to ken@alker.net today and let me know exactly how you can help out, even if it is just coming by to try out the GOTA station. Please come out and help us prove that "when all else fails, amateur radio works!"
When you RSVP, please let me know what time-slot (or SLOTS) would you like. Let me know if you want to be an operator, a GOTA coach, or do public outreach (or all three) for the shift(s) you choose. We'll likely be running two stations, so keep this in mind when responding. It is proving to be hardest to fill the 11pm-7am shifts, so I need night owls too! Let me know if you want to do multiple shifts or two half-shifts, etc. If you want to create your own time slot, please do - I'll work everyone into the schedule one way or another! Also, be sure to let me know if you can help set up and/or break down.
TIME SLOTS: Sat/Sun (4-hour slots; but you can make up your own): 11am- 3pm 3pm- 7pm 7pm-11pm 11pm- 3am 3am- 7am 7am-11am
Ken Alker Director at Large ka6ken@alker.net