Click on the News 12 icon below to watch the 3 minute video which covered our event.
Tennessee Valley DX Association
INITIAL 2005 FIELD DAY REPORT
TVDXA members gathered at the “Martin’s Nest” after a country breakfast to participate in the 2005 Field Day. We set up four stations, 1–CW, 1–SSB, a 6-Meter and a GOTA, with new antenna locations for all. This included:
Radios, tuners, power supplies and other necessary supplies. A Zepp and beam with 30 ft. tower were erected for each the “main stations.” The GOTA station had a dedicated multi-band vertical and a shared SSB beam. The 6-meter/VHF station had beams for 6, 145, and 440. Most of the equipment and the two main stations were on the air at 2:00PM (give or take). It was fairly smooth sailing, as everything worked well, including the operators. We did encounter a “Murphy Strike” with the generator when the fail-safe switch failed and safely shut down the generator around midnight. It took 30+ minutes to trouble shoot and fix the problem. The generator worked great, after that.
We had some new or prospective hams and visitors to try out the SSB/CW or the GOTA station. This included some Erlanger staff from Life Force, Dr. Mike, and Channel 12 news cameraman. We were the ‘lead story’ on the 6 O’clock news and were again mentioned on the 11 O’clock news. If you want a CD copy of the news story, contact Paul Q. N4LCD, Howard KE4MBP or download it from our web-site. (tvdxa.com)
The GOTA station got a real work out making over 100+ contacts. We need to keep this as part of FD. Paul Q’s grandson Connor, Kay W. and Nan (Ms. W4FOA) really got “into it”. Tony (Mr. W4FOA) went to bed at midnight while Nan stayed up till 4AM and worked-em-all. Kay W. spent most of her waking hours on the GOTA station and helping others make contacts. We may have created some “mic monsters”. Tony may have to install a 2nd station in his ham shack.
1000 QSO's was not reached (again this year) but, we were oooOOOH So Close, at 931 HF-SSB Q's. This is a record especially considering the band conditions. The operators are already saying “Next year” and our “1000 Q Badges are still good!” The "SSB crew" kept the voice station operating both day and night.
The CW experts, worked hard, using every trick in the book and staffing their station for the full 24 hours, could not keep up. The CW operators had trouble, at times, finding new ones to work. After they “vacuumed cleaned” the band they had to wait for other new ones to show up. This affected their rate and total QSO’s. The number of CW stations operating FD must be dropping. In the future, they will need to stay put and “RUN and HOLD” A FREQUENCY. This did not stop them from walking over and checking on the SSB log to see if they could catch up.
At 2:00PM on Sunday, we shut down with another SSB’ers QSO victory!!! FIRST AGAIN! Hey, Tony, "You got room for the plaque, again?"
Tony surrenders and works SSB Nancy showing Tony how a REAL SSB’er Gits-R-Done
The Family BBQ went extremely well. We had a number of wives and YL's enjoy the dinner and see what the operators were doing. The radio operators shut down and turned their attention to preparing a dinner for the families and guests. We had over 35+ operators and family, to enjoy the family BBQ. Operators cooked burgers and dogs and the wives provided enough food (covered dishes) to feed an army. All of our Ladies received roses from the operators to show their appreciation. Then it was “Back to Work” as we re-powered W4FOA and went back to the “fracas”.
The weather was typical for the South, in summer - the temperature was near 90 and an equal amount of humidity with some very lite rain thrown in for good measure. The night was pleasant but not too cool and the Bug-Zappers worked overtime on some of the larger species.
Our computers using the N1MM Contest Software worked flawlessly and we hope everyone liked the change. Kenny, Paul, Ed & Tommie had the computers bullet proofed. Howard (WB4ZBI) got our Public Service announcement on US – 101. Unfortunately, no satellite contact or city/county officials made it this year (again), Tony (W4FOA) sent our traffic message and Gary G. handled the ARRL FD message.
Our estimated final totals are:
CW – QSO's 647 1294 POINTS
SSB – QSO's 931 931 POINTS (GOOD JOB VOICE OPERATORS)
RTTY/DIGITAL 47 94 POINTS
GOTA 115 115 POINTS
6 - Meter CW/Voice 49 49 POINTS
Bonus Points 860 POINTS (estimated)
GRAND TOTAL POINTS – 5826 POINTS (4570 Last year)WAY TO GO TEAM!!! KILLER JOB!!!
As always, Tony & Nancy, and their never-ending hospitality, get a “THANK YOU” for the use of the Martin’s Nest, again.
Editorial Comments
What more can I say, both Kenny & I had so much support from the club and the families that made this the BEST FD. We want to thank every one of you for all that you did, the time, the hours and the support to help. Field Day could not be what it is without YOU! I know we (I) play up an inter-club rivalry but it is both CW'ers and SSB'ers that make this club such a rewarding organization to be part of. ALL OF YOU deserve the credit for our FD effort.
Rubbing the “CW Guru” for SSB good luck
More Field Day Pictures.......
