The C.O.R.E. Group Field Day 2002 Page

The K4ORE 146.925- repeater is temporarily off the air pending a retune. I'll post here when it comes back up with improved coverage. 73 de Howard, K2LAW

The next CORE ARES ARRL Volunteer Examiner session will be on Saturday 25 August 2007 at 9 a.m. at the Fort Campbell Federal Credit Union location at 2050 Lowe's Drive, Clarksville, TN 37040. For more information, contact Hank or Howard at (931) 237-2672. Talk-in is on the W4CHM 442.900+ repeater, 110.9 tone.

A pic of visitors to the C.O.R.E. Group Field Day site- plus pictures of the site and operators- many thanks to the photographer, Lois- WD6CEO - Click for full size image

The C.O.R.E. group participated in Field Day 2002 from the field behind the Woodlawn Volunteer Fire Department on US 79 in Woodlawn, TN. We operated 5A with mostly wire antennae from two tents and a pop-up camper. Power came from three 5KW generators, the food was kept cold with ice, the 6 meter beam had an Armstrong rotator- usually Hank's arms- and all went very well. Our claimed score was only 2862 with the bonus points added in, but our goal wasn't to set up a portable, big-gun contest station- if you wouldn't have access to it in an emergency, we didn't use it.

We were on the air for the entire period, even though the QSO rate got really low during the early morning hours. We had 9 participants, including the following amateurs: Al, KA1FFO, Angela, KG4JIF, Jack, AA4TA, Rodney, KD4UEJ, Terry, N5HOT, Carmen, K1MED, Aaron, KB9MTD, Hank, N3ORX and Howard, K2LAW- along with guest operators. It was a low-stress, relaxed environment, as we had decided we weren't going for score- we were trying to get some idea if the group could accomplish something much more important- operate for over 24 hours in austere conditions without committing homicide, suicide or both (and yes, you would have to make sure you got those in the right order!!). I am pleased to report we accomplished this mission- and even managed to keep all the radios working.

As for specifics of our operation, here are a few. Hank ran his IC-551D for 68 QSOs on 6 meter SSB, Terry had his TS-50S set up for 40 meter PSK-31, which he and Carmen ran until the dupes were outnumbering the new contacts. Jack was hammering away at CW on 40 meters, collecting 189 QSOs. Other rigs in use at various times were a TS-140S, FT-100 and an FT-940. Al and Angela were working away at 20 meter PSK, racking up 75 QSOs, while Terry and Rodney were working 15 and 20 meter SSB. I, Howard, was bouncing from station to station, working a little of everything, displaying my lack of operating prowess at all. But we all had a great time, from Saturday morning setup through Sunday afternoon teardown- which went so smoothly that all involved were still joking around instead of the more normal bickering and confusion that normally attends the final stages of a Field Day Operation.

We all look forward to an even better Field Day in 2007- better skills, more digital, and even more organized. Check back here to find out where we'll be for the next round.

CORE Group Events | Museums on the Air | The ARES Group | The Big Tornado- Why ARES Matters | Licensing and the Volunteer Examiner Team | Frequencies in regular CORE Group Use | The CORE Group at Play | The C.O.R.E. Group at the June 2004 Relay for Life | Field Day 2004 | Field Day 2003 | CORE Group Tornado Response | The CORE Group and the 2002 Simulated Emergency Test | The CORE Group Home Page | Starting out in Ham Radio | WinAPRS Maps of All Kentucky and Tennessee Counties- Street Level | How to contact us

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Page updated 13 July 2007