2018 Field Day Is Coming Soon!

The JPL Amateur Radio Club General Meeting for May, 2018, focused on the upcoming Field Day, June 23-24, 2018.

Those present included Jonathan Cameron KF6RTA (Vice President), Chris Gaylord W6YTB (Emergency Communications Coordinator), Nasrat Raouf (K1NAR), Florin Tudor KM6PTK, Dustin Lagoy KC1EMU, Josh Miller KB3UUS.  Those who joined us by phone include Chuck Sarture KG6NF (Treasurer), Kathleen Harming KM6GBY, Walt Mushagian K6DNS, Jim Marr AA6QI, Michael Gauthier K6ICS, Merv MacMedan N6NO, and Matt Bennett KF6RTB (Secretary).

Click on the image to the right to see a 1-page PDF flyer for Field Day 2018 (with map!).

Jonathan Cameron presented the Field Day material that had been prepared by Jim Marr with a few adaptations for the JPL Amateur Radio Club.   You can see the presentation below:

Field Day Configuration for Station #2
(CLICK to see the entire presentation)

Field Day this year looks like a great event!   There are FOUR local radio clubs joining together for Field Day including the Pasadena Radio Club (PRC), the Caltech Radio Club (CITARC), the JPL Amateur Radio Club (JPL ARC), and the South Pasadena Amateur Radio Club (SPARC)!

We will set up at the South-most parking lot of the Pasadena Art Center College of Design (above and west of the Rose Bowl).  We will set up starting at 7am, Saturday, June 23.  We will operate from 11am Saturday until 11am the following morning.  We can always use help during setup and teardown!

We will run operate in 4A again (4 main transmitters, on emergency power).  We will also have some “free stations” including a VHF/UHF and a satellite station.   JPL will help set up and manage two stations: The 10/15/20/75m SSB station in the JPL Emergency Communications Van and the 10-8om CW station.  There will be a food and water station.   We expect to have our friends set up a solar telescope again so you can (safely!)  look for solar spots.

We are also hoping to get a GOTA (Get On The Air)  station going.  The purpose of the GOTA station is to encourage non-hams as well as inactive hams a chance to get on the air and try it out.   According to the rules, the GOTA station can be operated by anyone licensed within the last year or someone who has been relatively inactive. For VHF/UHF, any license holder can operate the station. Non-licensed operators require a control operator to be present.

Please plan on joining us with your family.   Adults and kids  will have fun seeing people talk all over the country and the world, listening to Morse code, visiting the official JPL Emergency Communication Van, seeing sun spots with a solar telescope, and more!  Our operators are friendly and ready to answer your questions.

There will be a pot-luck dinner at 6pm on Saturday, June 23.  On Sunday morning at 8am Sunday morning, June 24, there will be a pancake breakfast.  Please let us know if you would like to join us for either meal!

There is a lot for us to do to get ready for Field Day:

  • Verify/update JPL checklists by reviewing each station diagram carefully
  • Find/Confirm locations of all JPL items
    • Need help with this, will schedule after-work session(s) to do this
  • Final preparations on work party, June 8th
    • Locate all antennas (80-40m dipole, Cushcraft ATB-34 Yagi)
    • Locate/construct 75m dipole
  • JPL Publicity for Field Day (digital flyer for kiosks?)
  • Purchase gasoline for generator

We need your help!  Sign up to help:

Many thanks to Jim Marr who as done a lot of work to prepare for Field Day!