This past Saturday and Sunday, June 22 & 23, the WTRA Club & WT ARES Group participated in the annual ARRL Field Day.  All who attended experienced what was one of the best Field Days we’ve ever had.  This year we operated from the Isle of Wight Rescue Squad which is the temporary IOW County Emergency Operations Center.  The Club members installed and operated an End Fed Long Wire antenna for HF and a VHF/UHF vertical for communications to the IOW and Surry repeaters.  We were also able to connect to the IOW Digital Node with a mobile antenna.  The HF bands cooperated on Saturday with 10, 15 and 20 meters open to most of the U.S.  Sunday was mostly 15 and 20 meters.  40 and 80 meters were noisy but we made a few on 40.  Operating a total of 14 hours, we made a total of 172 contacts with 35 states on HF!  Since about half of the operators had never worked Field Day before, it was a learning experience but once they got the hang of it, did rather well.

Along with the HF station, WB4GUH operated a digital station and passed Winlink messages through the IOW Digital Node to other Tidewater stations and also to the ARRL Virginia Section Manager.  KQ4BET also had his portable digital station up and operating.  And we also had one of the IOW VHF/UHF/Digital Deployment Cases set up for demonstration.

KZ4AT Chairman, made sure everything came together once we were ready to operate.  WB4BYR took care of getting the publicity information out to the local media.  W4RBH did the safety checks before we started.  WB4KZI, KQ4BET and KZ4AT made sure we had plenty of food, drinks and ice to get us through the operating hours.  Most all helped initially with getting the antennas up, and taking everything down once Field Day was over.

A special thanks to Isle of Wight County, Will Drewery, IOW Emergency Coordinator and Brian Carroll, Rescue Squad Chief,  for allowing us to use the IOW Rescue Squad Building for this year’s event.  The temperature outside Both days was 95+ degrees!  And being able to operate inside in the air conditioned room was a life saver!  We always appreciate their support.  Here's a list of Club and ARES members who participated in the 2024 Field Day event.

Steve, KZ4AT Field Day Chairman
Robert, KQ4BET
Dick, W4RBH
Kurt, KN4SJC
Mike, KC8GZK
Paul, KO4RYU
Dean, WB4GUH
Don, WB4BYR
Duffy, KM4KBL
Rob, KJ4HMZ
Randy, WB4KZI

Thanks again to all who helped make this year’s Field Day a success and look forward to making plans for next year.  I think everyone gained much experience and knowledge this year and will be looking forward to participating in 2025.  I’ll tally the points and let all know how we did soon.

73

Randy Grigg, WB4KZI
Vice President
Western Tidewater Radio Association

Thanks to all who showed up and participated in the FD training this morning.  I think we're ready as far as operating is concerned.   We'll get together next Friday to set up antennas and test radios.  I'll send out an email in the middle of the week telling all what time to be at the Rescue Squad building.  Right now the weather calls for 90+ degrees on Friday so we might try to get out there in the morning and set up before the heat get too bad!

The current plan is to operate one station, one End Fed Long Wire for HF and a VHF/UHF, non field day station, for the repeaters and packet demo for any visitors who might drop by.  We will be putting our local publicity info to the media inviting the public to stop by and view our operation.  

Randy - WB4KZI

Field Day!  Is it a contest, a way to check your emergency equipment, or just a social gathering and eating event?  Reading some of the social media comments on Facebook yesterday after the conclusion of Field Day, there were different opinions.  But I’m glad to say that, after being a part of the WTRA Field Day, it was a mix of all those things!  Of course we had the usual “trials and tribulations”, but only a few minutes after the 2 PM start time on Saturday, we were up and running.  The plan to run one station and a GOTA station was scrubbed after the long wire antenna for the main station failed to perform as expected.  We ended up switching the main station to the vertical antenna which meant no antenna for Dean’s GOTA station!  The vertical antenna ended up working OK!  Sorry we couldn’t get the GOTA station on the air.

We ended up with 9 operators/loggers during the event and we had 5 members who dropped by to say “hello” and support us.  We also had a number of new Hams, as well as perspective Hams who stopped by to view our operations.  Using the EOC’s HF radio, we operated from 2 PM Saturday afternoon until 11 PM Saturday evening.  Then we resumed operations at 7 AM Sunday morning until 2 PM Sunday afternoon.  All total we made 238 contacts under some very noisy conditions, some man made and some atmospheric.  We’re not sure but we suspect there were some electrical noises around the EOC area that caused an “S9” noise most of the time.  But looking at other comments on social media, the whole country experienced atmospheric noise during the two days that caused less than desirable conditions!

We also had a visit from the Isle of Wight Emergency Coordinator, Will Drewery.  He was impressed that we could make contacts with Florida and Mississippi! Thanks to Will for letting us use the IOW EOC.  Chris Bruce with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management also stopped by to view our operation.  Thanks to both of them for showing interest and stopping by.  And thanks to Isle of Wight County for letting us use the EOC.  Both gave us some bonus points!

A special thanks to Mark, KQ4ETT (Food), Don, WB4BYR (Publicity) and Dick W4RBH (Safety).  Mark provided some great BBQ and “fixin’s” for our dinner Saturday night.  Don provided publicity to the local media that got published and got us some bonus points!  Dick served as Safety Office which also gave us bonus points.

Our operators/loggers did an outstanding job!  It was a learning experience for some who had not participated in a Field Day before.  But by 2 PM Sunday afternoon, they were seasoned veterans!!  We operated in 1 hour shifts which gave all who wanted operate or log, a chance “at the wheel”.

The following participated as operators/loggers:

KA7HBH, Glen; Mark, KQ4ETT; Dean, WB4GUH; Rob, KJ4HMZ; Robert, KQ4BET; Randy, WB4KZI; John, KA1UGM; Duffie, KM4KBL; and Don, WB4BYR.

Kudos, especially, to the antenna crew who braved the 90 degree temperature and 95% humidity to install the antennas Saturday and take them down Sunday.  They’re the “real” workers!!  They were: Glen, KA7HBH; Dick, W4RBH; Robert, KQ4BET; Mark, KQ4ETT; Dean, WB4GUH, Don, WB4BYR; John, KA1UGM; and Randy, WB4KZI.

Some of the visitors that stopped by showed an interest in joining the club.  Others asked about getting their license and taking a class.  That’s something we need to address in the near future.

Sorry that Kurt, KN4SCG, had to miss the Field Day this year.  He got stuck in IOWA and know he had rather have been with us.  But thanks to him for doing what he could “at a distance” and look forward to having him be a part next year.

All in all, an estimated score for WTRA is about 1126 points!  Not bad considering one transmitter and the noise conditions.  Probably the best we’ve ever done.  The results should be in QST in a couple of months.  Again, a big thanks to all who participated and looking forward to Field Day 2024!  If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please let me know.  Everybody get some rest!  I'm taking today off!!!!!

73
Randy
WB4ZKI
June 26, 2023

We all shared a turn at making contacts and logging. I’m pleased to say we managed to make 153 contacts. 20 meters was difficult Saturday and Sunday. 40 meters was nice Saturday night!

Duffie McLamb

WTRA held the annual Field Day event in Suffolk, VA on June 26 & 27, 2021. The club score for the event was 1,040!

Congratulations to all who participated in this event!

Thanks to Duffie McLamb, KM4KBL, for coordinating this year’s event! And to Stu Tyler, WA4JUO for providing the event location on Wilroy Road!

On June 27 and 28, members of the Western Tidewater Radio Association participated in the annual ARRL Field Day. This year, due to coronavirus restrictions, the ARRL allowed members to operate from home and aggregate scores for a club total. Through the use of N3FJP Field Day Logging software, use of the N3FJP Club Score Processor and some last-minute work by Ron N4TJI, each station was able to upload score updates which were then presented on a webpage (see image). Participating at the Field Day site at the Windsor Police Station were KA7HBH, N4DIR, KK4PVE, KM4EBT, KJ4HMZ, WA4JUO and WB4KZI. Operating from their home stations were W4DXZ, N4KIT, WB4GUH and W4RGN (our CW ace in the hole!).

The club’s total QSO count is 517 with final score to be determined. Many thanks to all for another successful field day!

by Butch Moore

WTRA had a great field day this year good turn out, good food, great help and good operating fun!  And Good Fellowship, great weather, and did I say fun operating?!  Absolutely!!!