Tiny Elephant's Contest Corner The Latest Contest News - A NARC Bulletin Exclusive A monthly column by Ed Deichler, K2TE

By now, you should be well aware of the latest NARC Field Day adventure if you have made it past the front page of this newsletter. It seems fitting that we put on our most ambitious operation ever as a finale to the Ridge Road site in Hollis that we have used for Field Day since 1991. This was a Field Day with the “mostest”. Most transmitters on the air(27); most QSOs and points; most aluminum in the air (including 100 feet of tower 3); and most sunburn. Being able to pull this off under the guidance of Fletch, N1MEO, the new IC&S (Incident Commander & Stuckee), proves the theme for this year was CHALLENGE.

All the band results, big and small, are covered elsewhere in this issue. To get a feel for what it was like being there, visit the club’s special Field Day web site at http://www.n1nh.tiac.net for all kinds of great pictures and information.

There are always many things that stand out for me from one Field Day to the next. Several stations set new records, I was especially proud of the 80 meter CW crew captained by Mike, NE1V. Despite poor conditions on 80CW, the group almost set a new record for the band using the 3-element inverted V beam that I had built. It took some last hour hustle for Mike; Jon, W1SU; Jim, N1NH (of course!); and K2TE (who?) to push the Q-count to 522.

The big story was on SSB. The SSB operation was big in a lot of ways: BIG tower (first-ever Field Day tower of 100 feet); BIG antennas (2 X 2 on 40 and 4 X 4 on 20); and BIG-GUN operators. On 40 SSB, Rex, K1HI, and Chris, K1SI (no; they are not related) shattered the club record by a DX mile, amassing nearly 1400 Qs.

Rex opted for 40 SSB with no trepidation about 20 SSB. There was little reason to fret about 20 SSB thanks to the dynamic duo of Ray, KB1SO, and Shane, K1ZR. These young lions showed plenty of contest stamina as they worked an unbelievable 1580 stations, breaking last year’s all-time SSB record for NARC. Between both stations, they logged nearly 3000 contacts, proving once again that enough aluminum will make its own sunspots.

All the records were not the exclusive domain of HF this Field Day. Charlie, WB2FSK, ran packet to over 100 contacts, breaking the century mark for the first time for the club. (Wonder if the terrific aluminum ground plane under the Ringo 2 meter antenna had anything to do with it?) The 2 meter SSB crew, captained by Tracy, N1WIR, showed what happens when you combine youth, chips, sodas, and non-stop energy to set a new record.

I think the big story for this NARC Field Day is not so much the fact that this was officially our largest participation effort with 27 stations. The real story is the fact that we could pull the people together to sustain the level of participation that we had. It was nice to see new faces handling the critical power and cooking chores for Field Day. Rich, W1HZN, successfully passed the sacred power panel to Don, N1UBD, and his crew for Private Service, NARC Hams. For the NARC kitchen, Don, KA1GOZ, handed the greasy spatula to Brooks, KC1PD, as the new “chef du jour”. Jim, WW1Y, seemed to demux himself as he was in and out of the site helping with tower erections, providing coax, programming laptops, and loading up- to-the-minute data and pictures on site progress.

As far as my reflections about Field Day 1997 are concerned, they may best be summed up by my response to my XYL. When asked how did my weekend go, I shrugged and said, “I was mostly up in the air just hanging out.” I spent so much time on the Field Day towers during the 3 days that I was drawing alluring looks from passing birds. All this activity, however, did give me an idea for a new incentive program. I propose that we institute a Frequent Climber program. Like its airline counterpart, NARC members would accumulate climber feet for each foot climbed during tower projects. A graduated awards program could be set up. Climbing 1000 feet would earn you a free trip up Mt. Washington. Mt. McKinley would be a fitting reward for reaching the 10,000-foot level. For those grizzled tower monkeys that reach the 100,000 foot plateau, the grand prize is a year’s worth of visits to a massage therapist.

As Fletch begins to put the pieces together for 1998, a big thank-you to everyone for giving NARC a “three-peat”. To the new faces who eagerly jumped in to help, I say, “Welcome; hope you enjoyed it”. To those who seem to show up once a year, I say, Nice to see you again; why not drop in a little more often?”

To everyone else: 73 and on to Field Day 98! DE K2TE

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