Greetings!

The Decatur Amateur Radio Club has formally submitted its scoring for its 73rd Field Day to the ARRL. WOW!! Look at these numbers:

Number of participants: 32

Number of radios: 4 (Class 4A). Does not include GOTA, satellite, 6m, and 2m radios.

Contacts:

• CW contacts: 486
• Digital contacts: 265
• Phone contacts: 364 + 45 GOTA = 409

QSO points:

• 486 x 2 = 972(CW)
• 265 X 2 = 530 (DIG)
• 364 x 1 = 364 (PH)
• 45 x 1 = 45 (GOTA PH)
• Total QSO points = 1,911
• Power multiplier: 100 watts or less = QSO’s x 2
• Claimed QSO score = 3,822

Bonus points:

• 400 points – 100% Emergency power (4 HF stations x 100 points each)
• 100 points – Media Publicity
• 100 points – Set-up in Public Place
• 100 points – Information Table
• 100 points – Formal Message to ARRL Section Manager/SEC
• 100 points – W1AW Field Day Message Copied
• 100 points – Formal Messages Handled
  (14 completed at 10 points each, 100 points max)
• 100 points – Natural Power QSO’s Completed
• 100 points – Site Visit by Invited Agency Official (EMA)
• 100 points – Educational Activity
• 100 points – Youth Participation Bonus
  (6 young people x 20 points each, 100 points max)
• 100 points – Social media (Facebook)
• 225 points – GOTA Station
• 100 points – GOTA Station Coach
• 50 points – Online entry form submission
• Total bonus points = 1,875

** Total submitted score: 5,697 points
(2,109 points MORE than last year’s 3,588)

This is a MONSTROUS improvement over prior years! Once again we had more contacts and more bonus points than the previous year, working for the 2nd time as a class 4A operation. The location at North Park in Priceville was great, and provided great options for stringing antennas and operating quietly while still having the openness of a publicly-accessible location. We fewer visitors than usual, but they included some young people! It was a great time!

Thanks are in order to the following:

• Bryan Tenniswood W1WC for a bunch of radios, antennas, power supplies, table, chairs, tents, and just about everything we needed.
• Bryan again for the solar and satellite equipment.
• Bryan for tabulating and submitting the score.
• Chris Robson KB3A who also supplied a station and manned it for a large part of the event.
• Bill Bearden N4GGH who coached the GOTA station.
• Everyone else who manned the radios to make contacts.
• Those others who provided radios, antennas, computers, and all of the pieces and parts needed for a successful event.
• Those who came for setup, operating, and teardown. We couldn’t have done it without every one!
• Club Treasurer Bob Flautt KB4ACP who always procures great food and snacks for the event.
• And those others who brought refreshments and good company to the site.

The December issue of QST, the ARRL magazine, will list the scores for the event, and then we’ll find out just how well we actually did.

Go ahead and mark your calendar for next year! Field Day 2027 will be on June 26th and 27th, 2027. Make plans to come help us. We need to improve the score even more! And Winter Field Day in January can serve as practice!

If you took any photos during setup, operation, or teardown, would you please share them with the club by emailing them to me at this address so I can publish them on Flickr. with prior years? Thanks!

See you at the August meeting at the Morgan County Courthouse!