Category Archives: Ham Radio News

Field Day wrap-up

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Thanks again to everyone involved with our fine Field Day effort. We got very lucky with the weather and were again able to enjoy the use of what has to be one of the absolute best locations for a Field Day operation in Illinois, at least from a comfort, convenience, affordability and signal strength perspective. There were technical snafus and some interference – as there always will be with a temporary installation done with a variety of equipment lashed together  – but we were rather successful again in making a lot of QSOs and should again be in the hunt for being in the top 10 entries in the ENTIRE NATION for score in the 2F category. I’ll be submitting the club’s entry in the next week or so. Our GOTA station also provided a good number of points, especially from those operators who made at least 20 QSOs and brought in some bonus points by doing so. We won’t know exactly how well we did until the results are published in QST. It was truly a team effort, with too many players to name. As is customary, I’m providing some stats below for those who are curious. If there is some other data point you are looking for, e-mail me off list and I will try to find it for you.

TOTAL QSOs (including 2F, GOTA, Satellite and 6M/VHF/UHF):  roughly 1,276 (down only slightly from 1,321 in 2015)

QSOs by MODE for 2F stations: SSB (645), CW (504), RTTY (3)

QSOs by BAND for 2F stations:  20M (46.5%), 40M (21.4%), 75/80M (19.3%), 15M (12.8%)

TOP ARRL SECTIONS contacted: OH (76 times), VA (56), EPA (45), IL (41), NC (37)

ALASKA AND HAWAII were both worked: Alaska on 40M, Hawaii on 20M

TWO DX stations were work, both on 20M: England and the Bahamas

73, John/N0FCD

100 bonus points

YRC is taking advantage of the new bonus points available to those group who participate with Social Media – here’s an example of a post on the YRC Facebook page www.facebook.com/W9YRC
w
hich was cross posted to an Elmhurst Facebook group –

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All good especially when it might mean and member of the community gets a chance to find out about Amateur Radio this weekend!