Field Day, June 22—23

BARC will be gathering for Field Day this year at Hale Education in Westwood. This annual event, held on the third full weekend in June, is part contest, part open house, part emergency exercise, part camping trip, and all a lot of fun. People who aren’t yet members of BARC, or who even aren’t yet licensed, are welcome to join us.

The operating period runs from 2 pm on Saturday until 2 pm on Sunday, and will be preceded by setup and followed by teardown. We will have four HF stations in operation, and in keeping with the emergency preparedness theme, power will be provided by generators. Single sideband voice, CW (Morse code), and various digital modes will be used. If you’re licensed but haven’t operated much (or at all), this is a great opportunity to get started on HF.

There will be food and drinks available.

The ARRL Field Day page is here. Directions to Hale Education are here. Talkaround will be on 147.420 MHz simplex. For more information, contact us at w1bos@arrl.net.

BARC Field Day, June 24–25, 2023

Once again, BARC will be holding Field Day in 2023 at the Andrew Cucchiara Learning Center at Hale Education in Westwood, MA. Directions are here. Note that if you are coming to this event, you do not need to pay the normal entrance fee to enter the Hale Education site. Everyone, including guests and those who are not yet licensed, is welcome.

Operating times are from 2:00 pm Saturday, June, 24, until 2:00 pm Sunday, June 25. We will be in class 3A, operating 3 HF stations and a VHF/UHF station using SSB, CW, and digital modes. We are also planning to make a satellite contact. People who wish to participate are encouraged to help with setup on Saturday morning and/or teardown on Sunday afternoon.

We will have pizza on Saturday evening, and breakfast and lunch on Sunday will be provided. Spots for tent camping will be available, though facilities will be minimal (portable toilets and a small sink but no other running water).

Talkaround will be on the BARC simplex frequency, 147.420 MHz.

If you are planning on coming, please let us know using the Google form at https://forms.gle/JFYhn53M8j8BkfZz5.

More information on Field Day can be found on the ARRL website and questions about BARC should be sent to w1bos@arrl.net.

Field Day will be June 25–26

BARC will be holding Field Day this year at the Hale Educational Center in Westwood. For those who have not attended Field Day before, this is one of the biggest amateur radio events of the year, a cross between an emergency exercise, contest, party, and public relations event. Participants (including clubs like BARC) set up in a temporary location using emergency power and make contacts for 24 hours. If you attend you will learn a great deal—especially if you can help with setup and/or teardown—whether you’re still studying for your Technician or have been an Extra for years.

This will be our first year at Hale Education. You can find directions and a map here. The site is in Norfolk County, grid FN42jf. The one problem with the site is a lack of public transportation options, so we will be organizing carpools to and from nearby MBTA commuter stations. If you will need a ride or are willing to volunteer to make a few trips to the T to shuttle people back and forth, please contact Brendan, NW1S, at nw1s.brendan@gmail.com.

We will be operating in class 3A, which is a club running three HF transceivers at once, and using wire antennas for the HF bands between 80 and 10 meters. The rules allow one VHF/UHF station transmitting at any one time and that will be used on six and two meters using stacked beam antennas. Modes will be SSB, CW, and digital. We will also attempt a satellite contact again this year. If you have a Technician license or none at all, we can arrange for you to operate under the supervision of a control operator if you wish.

If you want to stay overnight, you will need to bring your own tent, sleeping bag, and anything else you need for spending the night. There are some hotels along Route 128 in the area if you don’t want to sleep on the ground but also don’t want to drive back and forth from home more than once. We will provide food, including a cookout on Saturday night. If you have special dietary requirements, please let either NW1S or NV1W know.

Setup will start around 9:00 am on Saturday. Operating time runs from 2:00 pm on Saturday to 2:00 pm on Sunday, after which we will tear things down and pack up. If you want to volunteer to help or just want to say you’re coming, send a note to Brendan, NW1S, at nw1s.brendan@gmail.com. If you need more information, contact Joe, NV1W, at nv1w@arrl.net.

BARC General Meeting, Thursday, May 19

BARC will be holding a General Meeting on Thursday, May 19, at 7:30 p.m. on the Zoom teleconferencing platform. There will be no speaker this month; we will be discussing plans for Field Day on the weekend of June 25 and 26.

The meeting room will be opened at 7:00 pm for a period of socializing. Please put your call sign (if you have one) in your meeting name to help us figure out who you are.

https://zoom.us/j/99918732995?pwd=cFhSbmwySUQ2Qi90eGVUNFNhQ0N4Zz09
Meeting ID: 999 1873 2995 Password: BARC

Field Day 2020

The deadline for submitting Field Day entries has passed, and the following members have submitted reports as members of BARC:

Scott, K1SU (1D EMA); Mark, KB1EKN (1D EMA); Joe, N1QD (2D NH); Joe, NV1W (1E EMA); Harry, WA1GXC (1D RI).

Share How You’re Spending Field Day!

Today is the eve of the most atypical Field Day in the history of the League! Field Day was first done in 1933 and the only pandemic event that can rival what we are going through today was the Spanish Flu in 1917, years before.

The purpose of Field Day is to demonstrate Amateur Radio’s flexibility to both the public and to ourselves.

How are you spending this historic Field Day?

Send your quick stories and pictures to “w1bos@arrl.net” and we’ll be sharing these through the weekend on our Facebook page.

If you choose to “aggregate” your score as a club – and I hope you do – please sign us as “Boston Amateur Radio Club” as NV1W suggested.

Good Field Day, everyone! “Neither rain, nor snow, nor COVID-19” can stop us!

Field Day is this Weekend, June 27-28

Field Day is this weekend, June 27–28. As noted in the current issue of The SPARC, there have been some temporary changes to the rules. Most notably, if you’re operating in class D (home stations using commercial power) you can count contacts with other stations in that class for points.

When you submit your logs, please set the “Club” field to “Boston Amateur Radio Club” to ensure that your points are added to the BARC total.

Several club members will be active; listen for us!

Field Day, June 22–23

We are counting down the days to the 2019 edition of ARRL Field Day! Setup will begin at 8:30 am on Saturday, June 22 at the Bare Cove Fire Museum in Hingham. The plan is to repeat the 3A with VHF setup that has been used the past few years. Logging will be done with N1MM+, and there will be opportunities for phone, CW, and digital ops. Will the stars finally align for a satellite QSO? Will 15 or 10 open? Will there be another 6 meter opening? Find out June 22 & 23!

If you are planning on attending Field Day, please mail Mark Duff, Vice President and Mr Field Day, at the email address given in the “Officers and Staff” section of The SPARC. Let him know which day(s) you’ll be attending and whether you will be staying overnight.

Field Day is just two weeks away!!

We are counting down the days to the 2018 edition of ARRL Field Day!! Setup will begin at 8:30AM on Saturday, June 23 at the Bare Cove Fire Museum. The plan is to repeat the 3A with a VHF setup that has been used the past few years. Logging will be done with N1MM+, and there will be opportunities for phone, CW, and digital ops. Will the stars finally align for a satellite QSO? Will 15 or 10 open? Will there be another 6 meter opening? Find out June 23 & 24!

The signup form for the 2018 Boston Amateur Radio Club Field Day is now live! If you are planning on attending Field Day, please let us know by filling out the signup form. It will help the club determine how much food to purchase, and give us an idea of how to best plan for setup and takedown.

Signup: https://goo.gl/forms/Q2jqlTMCUgfAMpW82