Field Day 2022

Radio Club of Tacoma went back "to the field" this summer, after two pandemic years of minimal participation, mostly as individual club members.  The site was the same as that used for most such deployments during the last decade:  the southeastern portion of the Western State Hospital campus, directly across from Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood.

The open field accomodated three 50-foot AB-577 towers supporting 3-element 20M monobanders for phone and CW and a 5-element 15M monobander.  A 5-element 10M monobander was supported by an extension ladder at 20 feet, and a 4-element 6M beam was erected on a 15-foot mast.  A sprinkling of tall fir trees, which nature clearly intended to support wire antennas, held up our eastward-firing 3-element wire yagi (and separately-fed catenary N/S dipole) for 40M at 60 feet along with an 80M inverted vee at 75 feet.  All five HF stations and our UHF/VHF station were housed in a 20x30-foot shelter beside the central fir tree.  Our kitchen, eating and gathering shelter was set up in a convenient grove of smaller trees near the road.

ACTIVITIES

HF operations were quite successful, considering RCT is not a rabid contest club.  We racked up 1382 QSOs after dupe removal from the logs -- a much improved total over years since 2016, when solar cycle 24 was waning.  A half-dozen operators and many other participants experienced and learned from their first Field Day.  Our two youthful operators were each 12 years old, one a newly-licensed Tech.

The licensed operator list this year:  KK7HAY, KI7YRC, WE7P, AF7YD, K7ANA, KJ7NIF, KC7PS, KK7KJC, W7GEL, KA7NWF, W2NCC, WB7TVS, K7YEM, W7XTZ, W7LKG, N7OMS, W7MKE, W7XH, KA7DCX, KD7SV, K7BTW, N7EPD, NG7G, W7JSJ, K7OG and WB4SPB.

Our usual camp chefs W7PFU and K7HTU, along with WB7EC and other helpers, kept us well fed during the weekend.  AD7AB set up 2M and 440 FM stations supporting repeater demo, talk-in and site-tactical communications.

We earned bonus points in several areas:

• Public site
  
• Emergency power
• 5 QSOs on alternative power (human-driven bicycle generator)
• Educational activity (WinLink Express demo and traffic origination by participants)
• Section Manager traffic origination
• Additional traffic origination
• W1AW Field Day message copy
• Visit by an invited official of Tacoma Fire Emergency Management

Special mention this year:

• Steve AF7YD and Nick K7MO for refurbishing and tuning up our 20M monobanders.
• Adam W2NCC for jumping in as lead cat-herder.
• Rich KR7W, who moved away during the year and is missed, but who took care to carefully pack the 40M yagi last time we used it -- your example has been followed.
  

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