NEXT MEETING: APRIL 9, 2005
LOCATION: AMERICAN RED CROSS 2700 SOUTHWEST FRWY
TIME: 7:30 P.M. TOPIC: FIELD DAY PLANNING
ECHO REPEATERS: 147.08, 147.32, 224.26 (no tones on any), 444.4 (currently down for repair)
WEB SITE: w5eco.org
FIELD DAY IS JUNE 25-26
ECHO will participate as 2F STX in Field Day, also plans GOTA station
More planning at April 9 meeting
The Houston ECHO Society will continue planning for
Field Day at the April 9 ECHO meeting. The club can
still use lots more operators for the event,
especially for Saturday night and Sunday morning.
ECHO will use the call sign W5ECO and operate as a class 2F station. F=emergency operations center stations.
In addition to the two main transmitters, ECHO also plans a third station - called a Get on the Air (GOTA) station. This station is for newly license hams, those who have been inactive for awhile and those who are interesting in getting a ham license. This station will use the same 2F designator, but will have a different call sign from the main station (GOTA call TBA). If you know anyone who would like to get on the air on the GOTA station, please invite them. The GOTA station may even be a good opportunity for Scout troops or other youth groups. One of the Field Day bonuses involves youth participation, so that might be a good way to tie the two together.
ECHO will have a cw (code) station and an ssb (voice) station on the two main transmitters. Computer logging with TR software will be used. Depending on band conditions and other factors, different modes (possibly even psk31) and bands will be used, but cw and ssb will be the primary modes. 20 and 40 meters will probably be the two most active bands and if 15 meters is open, it was also be quite active. 10 meters is a question mark due to the sunspot cycle. 80 meters may prove to be a good nighttime band. On-air competition takes place from 1 p.m. Saturday to 1 p.m. Sunday. Voice contacts count one point each, while cw and digital contacts are worth two points each. A variety of bonuses are available and are discussed on page 2. Echo holds Field Day tune-up session Several ECHO members gathered on a recent Saturday morning to do some hands-on planning for Field Day. In attendance were Mark Tyler, K5GQ; Richard Banks, WC5O; Lee Gaspard, WA5QXE; Mike Nault, W5OFT; Paul Rubin, N8NOV; John Moore, KK5NU and Marty Blaise, AG5T.
A variety of items were checked and discussed, both in the Hadash Memorial Radio Room at the Red Cross Disaster Communications Building and on the roof and parking garage.
Items discussed and looked at included: * Checking resonance of antennas * Bandpass filters * Physical location of HF stations * Noting that one antenna was completely disconnected Tune-up session, continued * Physical layout of antennas and possible use of an antenna on the parking garage * Looking for nulls so that it would be possible for two stations to operate on 20 meters (antenna interaction checks) * Discussion of types of transceivers to be used, which antennas to use them with and other related items * We decided we still had quite a bit more work to do before Field Day and will probably attempt another Saturday morning session.
ECHO Field Day - where we stand __Call sign to be used: W5ECO __Exchange: 2F STX (South Texas) __2 transmitters + 1 GOTA transmitter (planned), power level 100 watts (GOTA call sign to be announced) __CW coordinator - K5GQ __SSB coordinator - need a coordinator __Bandpass filters will be used __20 and 40 meters should be best bands __we may have 6 meter and 2 meter available and possibly some digital, but main focus is cw and ssb
Field Day bonuses can boost point totals! Field Day includes a variety of bonuses that can really help increase a club's score. ECHO plans on getting as many bonuses as possible. Here is a list of bonuses and the club's plans:
100 points for news media coverage (or at least sending a news release - if done properly, sometimes the media will attend the event) - Marty Blaise, AG5T is in charge of this bonus
100 points - set up a public information table in Red Cross - need volunteer - this can be set up in the Red Cross lobby near the guard station - we will gladly give a tour to anyone who wants to visit our FD site
100 points for public location - Red Cross is a public location so ECHO qualifies (this was determined at a previous FD)
100 points - invite an elected official to attend your FD - the official must attend for bonus - anyone have any contacts?
100 points - invite an emergency service official (ARES, Red Cross) to attend, must attend to get the bonus - we just need to make a formal invitation - the Red Cross is right there for our usage!
100 points - copy W1AW Field Day bulletin - it can be copied in various formats, if you don't get the whole thing on one, it's possible to use another mode to fill in the blanks - need volunteers!
100 points - get properly addressed radio message to Section Manager - must have certain information listed - best bet is to check into one of the traffic nets - volunteers?
10 points each - properly addressed radiograms (100 point maximum) - these can be done on traffic nets and always listen for possibilities of sending to other cities - example you hear a station say West Texas and you have a message for El Paso. There's always a possibility the West Texas station could relay the message. Hey, it's 10 points for both of you!
100 points per main station transmitter for emergency power. Note: class F stations only need to prove that emergency power is available (since the Red Cross, etc. don't really want the radio groups firing up their emergency generators) - so ECHO will get 200 points for the two transmitters
100 points for one satellite FD contact - anyone have a way to do this - all it takes is one contact!
100 points for alternate power for 5 contacts (solar, wind, etc. power) - we will have to see what we have available
100 points - if 100 GOTA QSOs completed
50 points - if you submit scores online
20 points - each participant age 18 or less making a qso (maximum 100 points)
ECHO wants to have a great competitive effort in this year's Field Day and wants to make sure everyone gets a chance to be involved. If you plan on attending, that's great - invite a friend. Better yet, invite a friend that's a prospective ham that can "Get on the Air" on the GOTA station. - Marty Blaise, AG5T