wtra field day 2025

The Club operated 1F at the IOW EOC.  1F is operating one FD station radio at an Emergency Operations Center.  We ended up making 74 phone and 34 CW contacts, mostly on 20 and 40 meters, although we did make a few on 80 meters Saturday night.  We began FD operations at 2 PM Saturday afternoon.  After putting up the long wire antenna, members took turns operating on the HF radio.  Atmospheric conditions were not the best but as the day progressed, conditions got better, especially on 40 meters.  We terminated Saturday operations about 10 PM.  We were back Sunday morning at 9AM and operated until FD was complete at 2PM.
We had a few visitors Saturday.  A couple of them were Hams who had not been on the air for some years and stopped by to say “hello”.  We had 12 Club members who were able to operate during the two day event. 
During the FD operation, we setup one of our ARES Deployment cases and also had a Digital Station, connected to the WT4RA Digital Node, fully operational.
Steve, KZ4AT, our Field Day Chairman, did an outstanding job bringing it all together and making sure everything was organized during the event.  Stu, WA4JUO, provided us with a delicious BBQ dinner. Don, WB4BYR, took care of greeting our visitors and getting the information in the local paper.  Lyle, N4ACK, was able to send digital Winlink messages to the Virginia SM, SEC and a few other recipients, using the Digital Station. Kurt, WB8WXA served as Safety Officer. Robert, KQ4BET, helped Scott, W0TSA, log on the CW station, and also operated and log on the HF station. Others who took turns operating and logging on the HF phone station were Paul (KO4RYU), Rob (KJ4MZ), John (KA1UGM), and Randy (WB4KZI). 
A special thanks to Isle of Wight County, especially Will Drewery, IOW Emergency Coordinator, for letting us use the IOW Emergency Operations Center.  Will also stopped by to view our FD operation for a few minutes on Saturday.  Being able to operate in an air conditioned building sure was a blessing as it was 95 degrees and very humid outside both days.
I will be sending in the scores in this week.  We’ll see how we did in an upcoming QST.  It might not have been the highest score or most contacts, but we had a great fellowship.  Things mostly worked as planned with very few glitches.  A big thanks to the crew that put up and took down the antenna in the hot weather.  All in all, I think we all had a good showing and, as always, everyone had a good experience in what it’s like to operate Field Day.  Soon we’ll be making plans for next year!  Thanks to all who participated for your contribution.
 
73
Randy, WB4KZI
Vice President, WTRA

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