GOTA- What to do before Field Day

I anticipate this to be the last of my 3 part series on how to run an effective GOTA station for Field Day. I certainly have learned a lot in putting this together, and I hope you all have benefited as well. For the final part, I wish to talk about things you should do well before Field Day to make the GOTA station effective.

So, you can understand Morse code, now what?

I've been working on Morse Code, and I'm starting to make some good progress. I'm about half way through the character set, and most of the time it's easier to learn the next character than the last one. I'm even starting to notice that the 20 character, 10 word speed sometimes seems slow, and I'm almost though the alphabet. I'm starting to see a date where I learn Morse Code completely, and I've been asking myself, then what? I've been collecting information from my club and others, and wanted to share it all with you.

Teaching how to use the GOTA station

One of the things that I saw countless times was people sitting in front of the GOTA station, and choking. There is the common example of a kid sitting and just not knowing when to make a contact, or tuning the dial on the slowest knob endlessly, hoping to find someone to talk to. I've seen people respond to a CQ by saying CQ themselves. Bottom line is, how can we improve the quality of contacts for the GOTA station, so they have fun, make contacts, and a line can move through efficiently?

IARU HF Championship

This past weekend I stumbled upon something that ended up being quite a bit of fun on the air. Specifically, I ran in to the IARU HF Championship. The championship is an unusual contest, because it is world wide. This is in fact the very first time that I've ran in to a world wide contest, and it was fantastic for increasing the countries I've worked.

Thoughts on Running an Effective Get On The Air (GOTA) Station for Field Day Part 1

This year was the first year that I ever participated in a Field Day. It was a lot of fun. I spent a fair bit of time around the GOTA station, and I had a lot of thoughts as to how it could be run better. This is still a work in progress, and I would love to have your feedback, but here's the start of a plan, and  a discussion, that I've started to have with my club, and I would love to have from you all. This is a rather lengthy subject, so I'm going to divide it in to parts, to allow it to be run a bit smoother.

13 Colonies Log

I had fun the week of the 4th of July working the 13 colony stations. I was able to work them all, and just wanted to post my log book for the world to see. Thanks to those putting on the special event, it was really fun to work them all!

How to listen to the NWS from a Marginal Area

I set up an HF antenna at a scout camp recently, and had one of the camp staff ask me how to improve his NWS system. I didn't have the answers then, but with a bit of work, I was able to come up with the answers (Internet research helps a ton!) I'm going to assume with this that you have the proper cable, and radio, but just can't make it work, and need a bit of help to make it work properly, because that was how their station was set up. All in all, this exercise helped to sell me on the benefits of Yagi antennas, and learn a thing or two about mounting to a roof.

LARG Field Day 2013

Here's just a few of my many photos for Field Day 2013 with the Loudoun Amateur Radio Group (LARG, K4LRG).

Maritime Mobile

Have you ever wanted to be a Maritime Mobile station, but didn't have a boat? Or Perhaps you live far away from the nearest beach? Or maybe you just don't have the time. Well, one ham has the device for you!