 Buzz Davis (KE6BQC), Randy Oberg (KD6GIK), and ? with trailer. Photo by Lamb, WA6BRW |
We always seem to have a grand time of it when celebrating Field Day with the SARC group at Vandenberg. They have the old tracking station facilities, as I’ve mentioned before, and it makes a great spot to hang antennas and such for this event.
This year this activity gave our Central County ARES group an opportunity to give an initial try out for our new Command Center trailer. Even though it is not finished, a table borrowed from Bill Martin, KC6RPK, and a couple of chairs thrown in, provided a fine novice/technician station.
In the above photo, Buzz Davis, KE6BQC, on the left and Randy Oberg, KD6GIK, had just finished setting it up. I don’t know who that was looking through the doorway.
 Randy Oberg (KD6GIK) playing with heights again. Photo by Lamb, WA6BRW |
At the bottom of the page is Oberg again doing we he does best. This year he not only set up the beam on his tower for this station but he climbed several poles the Air Force had sticking up in the area and placed pulley and ropes on them so they could be utilized at a later time, if necessary.
Last year at this time, Ron Drumheller, K3NXF, was building Mike E’s for several of us. He set up his building bench, so to speak, in front of Al Hess’s RV and remained there most of Saturday. Several of us are still using these little gems.
This year, most of us actually got on the air and made some contacts. I worked CW for awhile over to one of the ssb stations and worked that.
We all started working on the preliminary set up Friday afternoon and we were up and running with most of the 4A stations by eleven o’clock Saturday morning.
 Bob Harrison, KD6TBO, looking over the shoulder of one of the guys making contacts on voice. I didn't catch the operator's name but have seen him several times with the SARC group. Bob probably wants to make sure he's doing it right. Photo by Lamb, WA6BRW |
 Here's just a few of the helpers for this event. l/r Bill Martin, KC6RPK; Dick Davidson, W6JX; Bob Finn, W3RF and Roy Ellis, W6QJ. This year Martin brought along a BIG air tank so he could stay for many hours. If you remeber last year, we got him back just before the air ran out. I don't think he trusts us. Photo by Lamb, WA6BRW |
 Well, here's bill doing what he does best. He prefers pounding on a hand key rather than using an electronic iambic paddle. Contacts were as scarce as hen's teeth, so they say. I think over a period of several hours, he made only a few contacts. Photo by Lamb, WA6BRW |
 The Bar-B-Q was just great. Roy Ellis and I believe Bob Harrison was the cook. Everyone brought along a side disk of some kind or another. On the right you can see Ulla and Al Hess stuffing it down. Photo by Lamb, WA6BRW |
Bob Harrison, on ssb, did very well, I was told. I think he just stuck it out long enough to accomplish his goal. Me?! I get the most enjoyment setting everything up. There is a great sense of organization and companionship when you look around and see a dozen or more people climbing poles, holding tower parts, tying down cables, running extension cords from generators, bringing out chairs in front of their RV’s and trailers, spreading carpet on the ground, laughing, joking, and generally having a great time working all together in establishing a viable communication command center.
This so called command center might be set up for fun and frolics but it would be exactly the same type of command center necessary for handling emergency traffic during an actual disaster. I’ve seen it happen several times and the whole drill is worth it. Each and every time we bring in vehicles, trucks, RV’s and trailers with equipment and supplies for a field day is exactly what we do when it’s necessary out in the "field".
It was a grand time for all the participants and I hope we can do it again next year. Thanks for asking us, Satellite Club.
Back to ARES
|
Sponsored By: SYV.COM Web master: Anne Bixler |
 |