Field Day will take place on the weekend of 25-26 June 2016. Setup will start early Saturday morning. The operating part of Field Day starts at 1500 Saturday and continues for 24 hours. We will then tear down and return home.<\/p>\n
Location:<\/strong><\/p>\n Field Day will be held at the picnic park in Cottage Cove, just outside Port George. To get there from Kingston\/Greenwood, take Exit 18 (Middleton\/Port George\/Margaretsville) from Highway 101. From the exit, turn right onto Victoria Road. Travel 1.4 km, and turn left onto Route 362 South at the T intersection. Travel 1.7 km and turn right onto Gates Mountain Road. Take that road over North Mountain 4.9 km until you reach a T intersection. Turn left at the T onto Shore Road, and travel approximately 6 km through Port George and beyond until you reach the park, on the Bay of Fundy side of the road.<\/p>\n If coming from the Bridgetown direction, there are several options. Just get to Shore Road and\u00a0remember that the picnic park is about 2 km southwest of Port George.<\/p>\n The park itself is about 270 meters end to end, and 35 meters deep at its widest point. It has an\u00a0open area to the northeast, and is treed to the southwest. It is a very popular place, especially\u00a0when the weather is nice. We have received permission from the Department of Natural\u00a0Resources (DNR) to operate there for the weekend.<\/p>\n The location is also outstanding from the point of view of propagation! We have a clear shot to\u00a0the rest of North America and our signals will have an excellent groundplane in the form of the\u00a0Bay of Fundy. I expect that we will have booming signals!<\/p>\n Objective:<\/strong><\/p>\n To quote the ARRL website, the objective of Field Day is: \u201cTo work as many stations as possible\u00a0on any and all amateur bands (excluding the 60, 30, 17, and 12-meter bands) and to learn to\u00a0operate in abnormal situations in less than optimal conditions. Field Day is open to all amateurs\u00a0in the areas covered by the ARRL\/RAC Field Organizations and countries within IARU Region\u00a0Two. DX stations residing in other regions may be contacted for credit, but are not eligible to\u00a0submit entries.\u201d<\/p>\n AVARC has two objectives for Field Day. The first is to practice those skills necessary to\u00a0operate in an emergency \u2013 deploying to a remote location, setting up effective stations without\u00a0relying on commercial power, and making QSOs in an efficient manner. The second is to have a Category, Stations and Exchange:<\/strong><\/p>\n AVARC will operate in the 2 Alpha category. This means that we will have two HF stations\u00a0operating on emergency power (generators). These stations will use the callsign VA1AVR.<\/p>\n If we have enough people, we may also have a GOTA (Get On The Air) station. It is a \u201cfree\u201d\u00a0station that may be operated by any person licensed since the previous year\u2019s Field Day or by\u00a0generally inactive or inexperienced Hams. Non-licensed persons may participate under the Providing enough operators for 3 stations for the entire weekend is a challenge for even large\u00a0clubs however, so I suspect that one of the HF stations will do double duty \u2013 It will operate under\u00a0the VA1AVR callsign when the more experienced operators are using it, and as VA1PR when We will also have a 2M FM simplex station. It would use the VA1AVR callsign.<\/p>\n For a Field Day QSO to count, both stations must accurately copy the other station\u2019s report. This\u00a0is called the \u201cexchange\u201d, and for Field Day it is our operating category and Radio Amateurs of\u00a0Canada (RAC) \/ American Radio Relay League (ARRL) section. For us, that is \u201cTwo Alpha If we answer a station calling CQ (K7UM for example), the exchange would go like this:<\/p>\n CQ Field Day. This is Kilo Seven Uniform Mike.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Kilo Seven Uniform Mike this is Victor Alpha One Alpha Victor Victor Alpha One Alpha Victor Romeo you are Four Alpha Utah.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Thanks for the Four Alpha Utah. Good luck with Field Day and 73.<\/em><\/p>\n A list of the different categories and RAC\/ARRL sections will be located in each station. As\u00a0well, the logging software will also have that information.<\/p>\n Bonus Points:<\/strong><\/p>\n There are a wide range of bonus points available for Field Day. We will try to take advantage of\u00a0as many of them as possible. They include:<\/p>\n 100% emergency power<\/p>\n Media publicity<\/p>\n Public information table and visitor\u2019s log<\/p>\n Message to the RAC Section Manager<\/p>\n Satellite QSO<\/p>\n Alternate Energy QSO (solar panels)<\/p>\n Copying the ARRL Field Day Bulletin<\/p>\n Educational Activity<\/p>\n Site visit by an elected official<\/p>\n Site visit by a served agency (EMO, Wing Operations)<\/p>\n GOTA station bonuses<\/p>\n Use of Social Media<\/p>\n Submitting our report online, and<\/p>\n Youth participation.<\/p>\n We will publish more information on the Bonus Activities closer to Field Day.<\/p>\n Site Layout:<\/strong><\/p>\n HF Station One \u2013 This station will be located in the northeast part of the park. It will be housed\u00a0in a cargo trailer specifically modified for use as a communications facility, and will use a 3 kw\u00a0generator. It will have a Kenwood TS-870 transceiver, a 3-element triband yagi on a 30-foot HF Station Two \u2013 This station will be located in the center part of the park, close to the galley\u00a0tent and the public information table. It will be located in its own tent, and will use a Kenwood\u00a0TS-440 transceiver with a 3-element triband yagi on a 30-foot tower and dipoles\/inverted Vantennas for 40 and 80 meters. It will share a 7 kw generator with the galley facilities. This\u00a0station will be set up for Voice and CW operations, and will be used as the GOTA station when\u00a0required.<\/p>\n![\"Sunset](\"http:\/\/avarc.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/sunset.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nfun and interesting weekend! We fully recognize that many of you have not operated before,\u00a0especially in a contest-type situation. There is no need to worry! The idea is to learn in a fun,\u00a0non-intimidating environment.<\/p>\n
\ndirect supervision of an appropriate control operator. Phyllis VA1PR will be GOTA \u201ccoach\u201d,\u00a0and the station will use her callsign.<\/p>\n
\nbeing operated as the GOTA station. This will require separate logging computers, so we\u2019ll need\u00a0to ensure that we change laptops when switching between the \u201cregular\u201d and GOTA station.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMaritime\u201d. The \u201cTwo\u201d means we are using 2 HF stations. The \u2018Alpha\u201d means we are using\u00a0emergency power, and \u201cmaritime\u201d means we are in the maritime provinces of Canada \u2013 NS, NB\u00a0and PEI.<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Romeo. You are Two\u00a0Alpha Maritime.<\/em><\/p>\n
\ntower, and dipoles\/inverted V antennas for 40 and 80 meters. This station will be set up for\u00a0Voice, CW and digital operations.<\/p>\n