By Roy D. Rasband

Before I describe more about Field Day, you must mark your calendars for the VERY IMPORTANT and FUN Field Day 2013 event which will be June 21st – 23rd.

Regarding the 2012 Field Day event K7DAV (our club) participated as a class ‘2A’.  ‘2A’ is a designation which mean 2 separate operating stations and the ‘A’  which means running on non-commercial power (of which we were running on solar and generators.  We scored 982 QSOs (contacts), did not exceed 150 watts in power, had 41 participants and had a total score of 3,072 points.  For not being a serious contesting club we did pretty well.  We also included a lot of participation with serious contesting HAMs, casual HAMs, beginning HAMs and non-HAMs.  That makes it more of a success than anything, promoting the hobby and including as many ages, etc. of participants as you can.

So what in blazes is "Field Day"? Some of you are key contributors to the club’s annual field event. Others know what it is but have chosen not to participate. Others, maybe haven't ever attended one or don't even have a clue as to what it is really all about. Well, in short, the annual ARRL Field Day event combines emergency in the field setup of communications equipment with heavy duty contesting and a lot of FUN! The idea is to create an exercise that gets amateurs to take their grab-n-go kits, antennas, generators, rigs, camping equipment, etc., to either local or remote locations for worldwide operations. Some people do field day in their own homes or backyards, some go to local parks or EOC facilities and others head for remote areas in the mountains. This year the DCARC has chosen to go to the Legacy Event Center which is just west of the Davis County Sherrifs Office.  This year we are offering incentives for your attendance and participation.  We will be giving away a VHF mobile rig, a hand-held, an antenna and some other stuff at the b-b-que in August.  The more you help out at Field Day the more chances that you have to win something.

So who says we have to rough it? We have generator power; many bring motor homes, trailers (trawlers), tents, etc. You are on your own for food except for Saturday dinner and Sunday morning breakfast. Here is the deal. We ask you bring something potluck, such as, chips, a salad, beans, a dessert) and a good breakfast on Sunday morning. You can't beat that deal. It doesn't stop there. We have my world famous popcorn on Friday and Saturday nights. And talk about high tech. We have an outdoor movie, digital (DVD) projected on screen with a large sound system on both nights. There are plenty of assignments to go around, so come on get off your soft sofa and volunteer to help out. If you don't plan on camping the entire weekend, we can still use lots of people to help on any of the days, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Type of help needed includes: transportation of equipment, setup, operating, take-down, help with meals and entertainment for kids and other non-ham adults. We will have a sign-up sheet for the camping spots along the road.  You can pay $25 per day for power if you want to hook up.  We look forward to your participation.  This is one of the most fun summer activities that our family looks forward to each year.  So lock-in your calendar for the dates of June 21st – 23rd.  See you there!  73, Roy – KF4USN