• John Glass, NU6P
• Christina Sand, KG6ORH
• Rob Vance, N6ROB
• Joe Talaich, N6IWJ
• Don Anastasia, AA6W
• Yin Shih, N9YS
• Dave Ritchie, W6DR
• Dick Crouch, N6RC

The Board of Directors of the Saratoga Amateur Radio Association has decided to hold a special meeting on July 13, 2005 at 6:00 p.m. This meeting will be located at Round Table Pizza on 1472 Pollard Road, Los Gatos, CA, where we usually go for pizza prior to our regular meetings. The back room at Round Table Pizza has been reserved for our use during this meeting. The purpose of this meeting will be to do a debriefing of our 2005 Field Day Event. Because we do not normally have a July meeting, this notice has been sent out via email to all of the members pursuant to Article 4 of our Bylaws and is posted on our website. Please join us!

Field Day Wrap Up :

Personnel.

• SARA is capable of a serious FD effort
• SARA needs to attract more operators and better coordinate station assignments to insure a signal on the air at all times from all radios
• Members of SARA could recruit a few more experienced operators, such as NCCC members, for FD06

Food & Facilities.

• The Food operation worked well - many thanks to Christina - some effort should be made next time to share this effort so that it does not all fall on Christina
• The toilet operation worked well - many thanks to DonA
• The physical facility worked well - many thanks to Tim
• Parking cars outside the gate worked well to minimize disruptive traffic and protect equipment and people
• Next time rent 6 large (3' x 6') folding tables and a dozen folding chairs - the plastic ones were murder to operate from.  Skip the round heavy tables (not enough space for the effort).  OK to bring some of the plastic chairs for lounging and eating outside.
• Foliage & Grounds
  
  • Delete shrubbery all around tower trailer site
    
  • Delete trees blocking path to tower trailer site and blocking erection of tower trailer tower
    
  • Make clear path to all guy sites
    
  • Delete trees, shrubbery and overhead dead branches at the Van site
    
  • Lose the pile of crap behind the trailer
    
  • Lose the pile of concrete rubble behind the trailer
    
  • Lose the piles of crap around the communications bunker
• Environment
  
  • It RAINS up there - plan on it
    
  • It’s COLD up there - plan on it
    
  • There are nasty biting bugs and mosquitoes up there - bring repellent and appropriate coverup
    
  • It gets dark up there, bring flashlights
    
  • Don't forget lighting in the operating stations!

Equipment.

• Computer Stuff
• When it finally got configured, the computer system worked well - the problem was that it was difficult to configure and didn't become operational until several hours after the start of the contest.  This will be corrected next year by making sure that the network setup is assigned to someone familiar with network configuration issues and assigning the goal of having the network tested good before nightfall on Friday.
• The optical network worked well once properly configured.  We should continue to use fiber rather than wire.
• If we want to go to a 3A or 4A entry, we should set up a WRITELOG server and a switch and run all of the links back to the server/switch.  This should be implemented in the main blockhouse and backed up with a UPS.  The server must NOT be allowed to go down during FD.
• We should try to have laptops for all stations and we should make an effort to get people to use WRITELOG at other times during the year so that they develop some proficiency.  It is a very difficult program to learn to use on the fly.
• Remember that WRITELOG needs to have you tell it that your computer's name is the same one assigned to it when it was formatted, e.g., "DRITCHIE_LT" and "APRrcrouchLaptop" and the like.  Do not get cute and attempt to rename your laptop to your call sign after the fact.  This only works if that was the name you assigned it when you loaded Windows onto the computer.  It actually says this somewhere in the manual so we have no excuses

Antennas

• HF2: 2 Element Steppir at 30 feet:  This antenna played unbelievably well - the gain, HAAT and 30' height seemed to be just about perfect for FD.  Do not change anything here.
• HF1: KLM KT34A at 65 feet:  This antenna perhaps had too much height and too much gain - we should reconsider this antenna installation for next year.
• HF1: 40M Sloper:  Worked well - beef up and package for reuse.
• HF1: 80M Delta:  The 80M delta is about 285' around at 3.550 MHz and requires a minimum height at the apex of about 86 feet.  To achieve this next year we will acquire a 20 foot 2" mast and use it before the 20 foot 1.5" mast in a nested configuration to get the additional height.  The antenna should be redesigned, tested and tuned for this location. It should be deployed as a single piece of stranded copper #12 THHN wire with the corners held by pieces of curved (90 degree) PVC pipe and the feed point between the apex and the bottom corner (up about 1/8 to 1/5 of the leg distance) and fed by 1/4 wavelength of RG-11 75-ohm coax to bring it to 50-ohms.  I think the 2:1 baluns should be avoided but I am open to discussion on this point.
• Build, test and tune a 40M sloper for the HF2 station.  The  40M sloper on the tower trailer worked great and had good rates.  However, the mounting height on the van tower would be 30-40 feet lower, so we need to confirm performance of lower mount or achieve equivalent mounting height through mast extensions or in the trees.
• 75M Delta:  We need to rethink how to support this at the HF2 station - consider putting a rope through the pine tree way up high so we can support the DELTA - rope will need to get about 90 - 100' up into the tree.  Not clear that we can accomplish this.
• If operating bias isn’t considered, it appears the nighttime QSO rate on the Zepp was much higher than on the 80M Delta.

Van Antenna Support System

• Worked ok but needs improvement.
  
  • Beef up lateral and cross supports with aluminum channel instead of wood 2x4s.
    
  • Winch?
    
  • 30' tower works well as long as it is guyed.
    
  • Don't forget to chain (or otherwise link) the base of the tower to the van
    
  • Needs swinging antenna mount so we can load the antenna horizontally and allow it to stay horizontal as we raise the structure.  DBR to engineer and acquire.
    
  • Mast clamp?

Tower Trailer

• Improve trailer suspension items (springs, axle load rating, jacks, etc)
• Bring materials to properly level the TT - do not count on the big pile of wood being there next year.
• Mast/Tower improvements needed
  
  • Get 20 feet of 2" OD 3/16 wall Aluminum 6061T6 pipe
    
  • Need swinging antenna mounts
    
  • Consider S-2 at 30 feet and a 2 element 40 at 65' (both with swinging mounts)
    
  • Mast clamps?
• Better generator maintenance is needed
  
  • Trickle Charger for Kohler
    
  • Change Oil in Kohler before FD06
    
  • Change Oil in Honda ES6500 before FD06
    
  • Trickle Charger for Honda
• Backing up the tower trailer into position is hard on the curved, bumpy road (due to jack-knifing and limited room to straighten).  Is there an external steering method that could assist?  For example, steering ropes on rear corners?

Stations, Radios and other Equipment

• GOTA in the main blockhouse worked ok.  We didn’t fully utilize GOTA, it is eligible for 600 points (400 QSO points, 100 bonus points for the first 100 QSO’s and 100 youth points for 5 youths making QSO’s) if used well.
• HF1 in the tent is ok but wouldn't the communications bunker better?   The communications bunker is safer (tower failure/collapse) and cooler, but appears unpopular to work from.  Is this claustrophobia?  What can be done to address this?
• SAT:  Next time, print out the passes with the ALT/AZ tracks by 10 second intervals so someone can aim the antennas while someone else does the talking - better yet, bring the full computerized setup.
• Make sure manuals are available on site for all equipment - PDFs are ok as long as they are not loaded on logging computers where they cannot be accessed.
• Need to bring good and proper tuners for any antennas we want to use that need tuners.  Not all tuners tune all antennas.  Plan and test ahead.
• The Yaesu FT-1000MP-V does not accept a two-pole 1/4" CW plug - it needs a three-pole plug even if you want to use an external keyer.  This is different from all other radios.  Plan ahead.
• Test HF2/419 filters for damage on 20M - something occurred
• Test HF2/TS950SDX for damage on 20M band pass filter circuit – ditto
• Need ¼” stereo audio splitters and headphones for all positions.  Noise level is high in the concrete bunkers.  The trailer is better damped, but requires closer operating positions if there is to be more than 1 station eventually.

 Preparation and Scheduling

• Setup
• Planned on-site start was 11AM Friday morning, however actual on-site start was about 1:30PM.
• Since everyone was very busy once we started, it is clear we needed to truly start at the planned start  time of 11AM start (and/or have more people), since HF2 and VHF were not running until mid- to late-afternoon Friday (3-6 hours behind schedule).
• Since the logging/network system is the single common point (all else, antennas, radios, generators, are redundant), priority needs to be given to its setup and validation before Saturday morning, otherwise it will become critical path.
• More people need to be trained in the operation and safety aspects of the “heavy duty” equipment so that no one becomes a critical path either.
• Coordinated manpower (groups of 4-6 people) was actually needed mostly in the late Friday afternoon (3-6PM) in order to raise towers, man guys, etc.
• Teardown
• Planned teardown end was 2-3PM Sunday, actual “last-off-the-hill” was about 4:30PM.
• There is a lot of equipment to take down and certain phases are manpower intensive if they are to be safe.  We need to make sure that we have enough manpower on Sunday afternoon to safely take down heavy equipment.  This probably means that a Sunday afternoon meal needs to be planned, even if it is “leftovers” from the previous meals.
• The last vehicles leaving were heavily loaded.  Equipment that came up in multiple trips or vehicles left in the last one.  People can assist by bringing things down as well as up.