Mt Tom Amateur Radio Association Field Day 2001

Mt Tom Amateur Repeater Association Field Day 2001

(pictures by Al Woodhull, N1AW)

Every June individual amateur radio operators and ham radio clubs set up portable radio stations operating independently of commercial power sources on Field Day. This event is sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the US national association of amateur radio operators. It is both a rehearsal of skills that would be needed during an emergency and a friendly competition. It is also a social event, a celebration of the beginning of summer, and an occasion to demonstrate amateur radio to the public.

I am a member of the Mount Tom Amateur Repeater Association (MTARA). The club is named after the location of its original repeater site in Holyoke, MA. Much of Mt. Tom is a State Reservation, and the club operates its Field Day stations from the the north ridge of the mountain, near the state visitors' center. In 2001 the club had up to eight stations on the air simultaneously.

(This map was the pre-event plan, not everything ended up where originally planned)

HF and VHF stations with their beam antennas were set up at the highest point, next to the lookout tower. (Click on photos to see larger versions).

C.w. (Morse code) operation was based in a tent just down the hill, co-ordinated by Alvah, K1TMA (right). John, WA1NTI, is on the left.

The digital modes station (with K1NBS and N1LZF) was nearby, as was the food.

Club president Paul, N1FI operated an ssb (voice) station on the 75 and 40 meter bands on the edge of the lower field, near the picnic area.

Field day is always open to visitors. Here a local ham whose status as a new parent didn't allow him to spend the whole weekend takes a turn as guest operator at my solar-powered station.

N1AW's Solar-Powered Station I have been a licensed amateur radio operator for many years, but had never participated in a Field Day contest until June 2001, when I volunteered to set up a solar-powered station as part of the MTARA effort. In line with the purpose of the event in practicing readiness for an emergency, a group gets extra points for operating at least one station using an "alternative" source of power. Although the alternative energy credit requires making only a few contacts, since I normally operate a ham radio station at home that is powered entirely by a photovoltaic system I decided to try to operate as many hours as possible using solar energy during the contest period from 2 p.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Sunday.

I had the use of a portable beam antenna (thanks to Walt, WA1HHN, seen in the picture) and a 100 watt solar panel. I set up my tent at the north end of the field, in order to get as much sunshine as possible.

That worked out well, sunshine was in short supply for most of the weekend. By the time the rain ended on Sunday the field was a swamp, and kids were playing in a small pond in the middle.

Despite the weather, I was able to gather enough solar energy to keep my 50-watt station on the air through most of the daylight hours. Storage batteries smoothed the uneven solar input and I kept a close eye on the voltmeter. I also used a sundial to help to keep my photovoltaic panel aligned toward the sun (it wasn't very useful when this picture was taken, in the rain).

In addition to my radio transceiver, I kept my laptop computer (used for logging) and a handheld transceiver charged from the photovoltaic system. I also had a camping-style flourescent light, but by the time it got dark on rainy Saturday I didn't have enough reserve power to keep operating into the night.

(The sharp-eyed observer will note the rotator control. That wasn't powered from my solar system, the tower came with a generator I started on the few occasions when I wanted to turn the antenna.) Field Day 2002 The 2002 Field Day took place on June 22 and 23, and I again set up a solar-powered station at Mt Tom. There is an MTARA Field Day 2002 web page, including a link to some of my pictures.

Back to Al Woodhull's N1AW ham radio home page.

revised 2002-08-04