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Welcome To

E.A.R.S.

The Ellijay Amateur Radio Society FD 2005




 

To All:
Well, like last year, the EARS 2005 Field Day exercise was "all wet." All went well for the set up on Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning. At 2pm the SSB station took off on 20 meters making contacts in the nice afternoon. Tom Glaze, K4SUS, brought out a nifty mobile trailer with a 2-element 6meter quad antenna. He made a number of contacts during the weekend which was a really nice surprise given current propagation conditions. Tom also made a contact with a nice trout out of the Mountaintown Creek. Around 3pm, the CW station finally got going.

The weather was warm and humid throughout Saturday and our cookout that began at 5pm. Then about 6:30pm, the rains started. It rained off and on through the night and up until we finally broke camp beginning around 11:30 Sunday morning. The CW station was inundated with water and had to be shut down several times. Finally the heaviest rain came mid morning Sunday and that was the final straw.

Bill Campbell, WB4HAT, is a man of many talents. He cooked the meat for the Saturday cookout and then on Sunday morning, cooked a wonderful country breakfast with eggs, bacon, biscuits and pancakes. He also furnished the SSB rig and one of the antennas. Bill's XYL, Becky, brought some yummy rice crispy treats and lemonade.

Sam Underhill, K4SWU, loaned us his generator which was used full time last year but became our standby this year. Sam and his XYL, Orene, fixed up their prize chili which Sam brought for the cookout. Sam also furnished the multiband dipole for the SSB station. That is one great antenna. Thanks Sam.

David Barlitt, KF4AWU, brought his generator which we pressed into service for the entire weekend. He also furnished lots of legwork, gasoline, and operating hours.

Joe Frack, VP, was our all around go-guy. As usual, he stuck it out for the whole weekend and helped in various ways from operating, duping, and fetching stuff. Louise Frack came out with food for the cookout and visited a spell in the CW tent listening to all the dits and dahs flying out of the station speaker.

Marsha Greenwood, KG4AHV, brought delicious potato salad, salad fixings and was a champion duper for the SSB station.

Dennis Rodgers, KA4VHP and his sister Sue, KG4TXJ, operated the SSB station in the late hours of Saturday night/Sunday morning. Sue brought some great baked beans and potato salad. Dennis provided transportation for Sam Underhill's generator.

David Frederickson-WB4HZG Helped put up antennas and dupe for the CW station. He operated the SSB station like an old pro. He also brought some beans for the cookout.

I know I am going to forget someone but to keep this short, I'll try to name those who came out to operate, help set up and/or take down, brought food and served as helpers in myriad ways are: Dow Hoffman, N4VYU-SSB operator & logger, Sam McInturff-K4MOS CW duper and SSB logger, Hugh Pendley-KD4SGO-setup helper and SSB logger/duper and copier of the ARRL Field Day message for 100 points, Ian Malcolm-N4IAN and his XYL, Tiffany-KI4JAS (who both operated 6 meters on Tom's station), Randy Key-a former ham who wants to pick up where he left off years ago, Janice Meadows, brought cookies, and joined us for the cookout. Dave-K4LDI helped with set up, take down and CW station operation.

Mr. J.T. Lutrell of the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, came by to make sure everything was working OK at the camp.

If I forgot anyone, please forgive me.

Thanks to all of you for helping make our 2005 Field Day outing a success in spite of the rain.

I'll let you all know how we did score wise in a future newsletter.
73,
Dave - K4LDI

Field Day 2005 Pics
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Newspaper articles:
Times Courier (annouce)
Times Courier (yields)