SARC

The club operated 2A (two transmitters + GOTA, club station) on Field Day. We had approximately 35 participants over the 24 hour period.

Our final score is: 3,204

This consists of:

• 490 Bonus Points for the ARRL bulletin, emergency power, public location, youth participants and GOTA.
• 610 CW QSOs
• 382 Phone QSOs
• 35 Digital QSOs

We did not get all of the sections, missing a few in Canada, AK, EWA, and PAC. We made contacts on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters.

We would like to thank everyone who operated, participated, helped in the setup, teardown and planning for the event. We are especially thankful for those who oversaw the tent and food preparation: Robert W9RKK for SSB, Bob W9DXR for CW, Bob W9GEW for GOTA and Bill W9WEM for both dinner and breakfast with help from Frank N9QPD. A special thanks goes out to Ryan W9RAO for climbing the tower at both setup and tear down, and as serving as our impromptu first aid station.

Here is a video shot by drone as we were setting up. Thanks to Peter KD9ICT for bringing the drone.

A few photos of our operation follow.

The club recently assisted with the Hoffman Estates Independence Day Parade. This event is slightly different than most public service deployments. Typically, ham radio volunteers are only expected to be communicators, helping event staff effectively communicate over a large area. While we still used our radios and communications skills, we are also responsible for getting all parade units lined up in the proper order in the staging prior to the parade beginning. We have worked with the village for many years and appreciate that they trust us with this task.

Rob N9MVO served as net control operator for the event and was also our liaison with the village. He reports that the event went very well. He also commented that we were able to assist the police in locating a girl who had been separated from her mother during the event. While the club didn’t necessarily plan for this contingency all of our operators were very professional in their response.

Jim KB9RGU was located at the parade reviewing stand and commented “Excellent job by everyone involved!”

Thanks to Robert  W9RKK for the photos.