Field Day 2015

10518606_10204453886607925_9188315673833927742_oField Day 2015 was held on June 27 & 28. We obtained permission from the Boone County Commission to setup our equipment on the County Commission property located adjacent to the Department of Highways Rock Creek Field Office just off of Route 119, 1 mile north of Danville WV. Overall, we had a great time, even though we did not make as many contacts as the previous year. A contributing factor to the lower number of contacts was band conditions on field day bands. The reception (and transmission) was not all that good. 11061977_10204522578166176_5806310782267800639_n11402999_10204522577326155_8567512577569983559_n

11228942_10204453886567924_2340422655135073762_oThrough the use of the mobile command center (trailer), provided by the Danville Volunteer Fire Department, members were kept in the dry and able to do their work in relative comfort. The command center shack was manned and operated for 24 hours with a minimum of a General class operator present at all times and predominantly manned with an Extra class operator.

11665505_10204522578286179_6445867535553200832_nWe did not participate in CW due to a lack of skill and experience of our operators. We were setup to attempt contact with the Space Station on 2m, but we did not successfully make a contact.

We had representatives from the local Emergency Operations Center onsite on a couple of occasions as well as an informational booth setup with ARRL hand-outs to present to interested parties. 11234052_10204522578246178_8583033884088606407_n

At one point during operations, we were visited (from about 100 yards) by a Black Bear.

11693843_10204522577566161_6411184888644437532_nThe setup included two HF rigs and two antennas. One rig was attached to a multi-band di-pole antenna, the other rig to a vertical “Eagle One” antenna. Both of which have been historically good producers for club members and continue to serve after field day.

Setup was accomplished in about 30 minutes or so. Members worked feverishly to get one of the rigs with the vertical on the air as quickly as possible while 300ft of rope and the multi-band di-pole took a little longer to setup.

All attending members were given the opportunity to operate either rig during the event. 10155972_10204522577006147_149884784330903850_n

While we would have loved for conditions to be more favorable for making contacts, we were happy with the results and proved once again, field operations are a necessity to support the local community as well as to assist in handling message traffic over the entire Nation.1538949_10204522577726165_305853528263048750_n

Thanks goes out to all members and patrons for their support. We cannot do Field Day without the personnel necessary to do the work.


by