The Spark Gap
FARA Field Day long ago…… by Henry, K1WCC
Well, maybe it wasn’t so long ago but it seems like it. I joined FARA in 1994, and my first meeting was in June, just before Field Day. It was well attended and Field Day plans were discussed. I volunteered to help, having never participated in Field Day before. I did feel out of place, but had put up SWL antennas for years and wanted to see how it was done at FD.
Back in those days, FD was a major effort for FARA. Our operating site was the Fairgrounds parking area near where our CONEX box is now. The rules stated that you could not start setup until 2 PM Friday, and that included any antenna prep, etc. Equipment was stored in various locations, including at Shawn’s (N1HOQ) barn in Centerville. The two military towers we owned were buried in vegetation next to Saul’s (K1BI) garage in Waquoit and had to be dug out, loaded and transported to the site. Our deployment plan included both military towers as well as two Rohn 25 towers about 70 ft. tall that had to be assembly on site, and pulled up by the winch on Saul’s Blazer. John Reed, N1LNF was no spring chicken but he walked around barking out orders and getting the Rohns assembled and up in the air. Boy, could he work! Once the Rohn towers were up, tramlines were used to haul the antennas to the top. I can still see in my mind’s eye Geoff, KA1IOR at the top of a 70 ft. rope-guyed tower wresting the tribander in place. Once the towers were up, at least one of the station trailers would be on site, and a volunteer would spend the night to guard the site. In later years, I loved to do this, sleeping in a camping trailer and using my QRP radio with one of the big antennas.
The next morning, activity would begin early. The remaining station trailers would arrive and the station captains would begin to set them up for operation. Back then, FARA did not own any radios-the station captains supplied their own. We did use computers for logging-using the classic contest logger CT with each station using a desktop computer and big bulky monitor. Each station would have its own generator. We had a GOTA station that year-in a horse trailer! Plenty of room and plenty of bugs!
We had a tent set up at the side of the Field for information and food. As we do today, we had a large cookout late Saturday afternoon with families invited. After that, operators came and went all night. In the morning, there was a big coffee maker using some time on the generator to wake everyone up and leftovers from the cookout to provide a breakfast of sorts. Operating continued with kibitzers coming in to sit, talk and observe the operations. At 2 PM, operations were over, we turned off the generators, and began to disassemble the towers and antennas. The Rohns seemed to take forever, despite liberal amounts of WD-40 applied during initial assembly and innovative disassembly jacks. We often would not be finished until 7 or 7:30 PM. Everything had to be returned to it’s assigned location at various homes, barns and garages-we had no CONEX box. Saul, K1BI would assemble each stations’ score and submit them to the ARRL.
Since I was a newbie, I got to spend a lot of time in the horse trailer GOTA station. The Station captain was Bill Goranson, N1JTS. We had an old rig in there but---10 meters was wide open that night and Bill and I sat in there racking up a big score. During the hours I spent in there under Bill’s tutelage, I developed a taste for fast paced operating that is still with me.
Some of the people that were there in 1994 were Jim, WA1GPO, Saul, K1BI (sk), Mitch, WA1YKN (sk) Gene, KX1C, John, N1LNF (sk), Jo, N1LNE (sk) Geoff, KA1IOR, Ed Schwarm NX1V (sk) Kent, AI1W (sk), Don, N1JCT, Joe, N1KRT and others, some of whom are still FARA members.
