News from the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)

Hi,

Field Day is over for another year.

Still, there is some clean up work yet to do. Dick, W2YE, will collect information compute our score, and make our formal submission. Jim, AF4MO, is working on getting an article in the Loudoun Times. All who worked bonus points, and all who brought visitors should help by sending Dick an email (w2ye@arrl.net).  And we will all work on catching up on our sleep and recovering from too much sun.

It is amazing to see how everyone contributed. Folks just saw something that needed to be done and did it.  The net result was a memorable field day.

A few things that come immediately to mind:

  1.  Watching Chris, KK4HDG, running on the GOTA station Sunday morning. Chris is a new ham and, at eleven years old, is a better contester than I.  Thanks to Tom, WA4BCK, for taking the time Sunday morning to help Chris learn to run.

  2.  Don, K7CS, did a masterful job of working the antennas.  Don and Dick, W2YE, Bill, WF1L, and Ray, KD4RSL, among others, have been talking about antennas since the last field day. Don build several new antennas just for this event. They worked very well.  Since we hear that Don will be with us for 3 or 4 more Field Days, surely we can expect things to get even better.

  3.  We had operators at all the stations most of the time (except for 4 in the morning), and we had both a talker and a logger.

  4.  We had several of the newer club members come out. Don, KC4RCG, Marty, NV3H, and Skip, KJ4LBB, are some that come immediately to mind, but there were others, as well.  It as good to see a new generation of club members join in.

  5.  We also had many visitors this year. Several worked the GOTA station for a contact or two. Tommy, "Z". Evelyn (daughter of Marty), Bob (family member of Tom), and an Indian ham (whose name escapes me right now, but is in our log) come to mind.

Many more things were involved in making this Field Day such a success, but I need to stop. I hope others will share what they remember the most.

Thank you all for making this a most memorable Field Day.

73, Gordon, NQ4K