Tag Archives: amateur radio

Event Overload

Posted on October 7, 2012 by AnnieRie

This weekend is second in a string of picture perfect fall weekends when it seems every community, farm, winery and/or entertainment organization is creating a pile up (an amateur radio term used when large numbers of operators simultaneously try to contact one rare station). I couldn’t even begin to list every event happening in Howard County and the surrounding area.

Today, my husband popped up to the Columbia Amateur Radio Association (CARA) annual HamFest to pick up a few supplies and visit his radio compatriots, even though it is raining. He had to dodge biking racers on the way, I suppose, as the Ulman Cancer Fund half full triathlon originating at Centennial winds through our rural roads between us and the fairgrounds.

The Farm City Celebration ends today, the 7th. Here is a list of what remains on their schedule.

Howard County Farmer’s Market – three more weeks of markets until season ends
Oakland Mills Village Center
9:00 am – 12:30 pm

Apple Fritters, Hayrides, & Pick-Your-Own Apples, Beets, Broccoli, and Spinach.
Straw Maze & Boo Barn (ages 4 to 9)
Larriland Farm
9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Teddy Bear Farm Visits (Free hayrides for children who bring Teddy bear)
Folk singer Tony McGuffin entertains from 12 noon – 4:00 PM
Clark’s Elioak Farm
Open from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

2 crop large maze of corn & cotton opens.
Farm animals, Pick Your Own Pumpkins, Fall Decorations.
Scarecrow Making Workshop from Noon-3 PM
Narrated Hayride at 1:00 pm
($1.50 per person 2 and under free)
Sharp’s at Waterford Farm
Open from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Any of these events are a good trip now that the weather is changing. The leaves definitely rained down yesterday as the front whipped through. We dodged traffic that was backed up on I-97 heading into the Renaissance Festival in Crownsville, and the Boat Show traffic going into Annapolis. We were trying to get to a family wedding at the Academy. Made it in time only because we left super early. The Renaissance Festival ends the 21st of October. The Sailboat Show ends tomorrow and the Powerboat Show starts this coming Thursday. A short trip down to Annapolis gets people to major entertainment options the next few weeks.

Add to that, the Ravens play at 1 PM. thankfully, it is an away game or could you imagine the traffic there since THE ORIOLES have a playoff game tonight at the Yard.

For us, we will be trying to find the games on satellite radio while getting to a winery dinner today. Many festivals at local wineries. We made arrangements weeks ago to hear Luca Paschina, Jim Law and Rutger de Vink talk of their vision for where Virginia wines could go. A picnic style dinner prepared by Chef Eric Ziebold of CITYZEN will be served and the menu includes a 1998 Barboursville Cabernet and 1997 Fiery Run Linden, as well as the RdV 2009 release. An event we have been anticipating for a while. RdV’s chef dinners are just awesome events. Worth the splurge occasionally to attend. Or, any winery events this month. The red grapes are being picked all over the area. Festivals every weekend.

merlot at RdV

If we recover enough tomorrow, we will pop up to see the dedication of the new Glenwood Fire Station. With this station, we now have Glenwood, Clarksville and West Friendship, all equidistant from our home. The fire station is being dedicated Monday morning at 10 am. Tours following the dedication.

Add to all this, the next three weekends are just as event laden. How can anyone say there isn’t enough to do around here?

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Posted in Adventures, Community, Day Trips, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Weather, West HoCo, Wine and tagged amateur radio, community, day trips, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, hoco loco, Howard County, Linden Vineyards, local businesses, weather, West HoCo, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

W3AO, It’s All About Logistics

Posted on June 25, 2012 by AnnieRie

After sleeping almost twelve hours, we sort of feel like human beings again. One of the most important aspects of planning and executing an event of the size of Field Day is this. You can always improve your performance with advance planning and, when operating almost non-stop for 50-60 hours, you need to pace yourself and not overheat, dehydrate or work when you are exhausted.

There were many new helpers and many more people at Field Day this year. Lots of younger people, thankfully, for us old folks 😉 to help us out. And many interested dedicated workers who help make this event a huge success.

I already posted once the team picture just before the start of the event. There were at least 10 people not there, who were out in the field making last minute set up adjustments.

These did not include a large number of people who came Friday to set up, and who returned Sunday to tear down. Set up and tear down teams help relieve the operators who were there almost round the clock starting Friday.

Advance prep like having the more than 2 miles of coax ready to go, already designated for where in the field each roll is placed. At tear down, they are rolled back up meticulously and marked so that the following year there is no delay to figure out where they are placed.

AB-577’s otherwise known as rocket launchers, are pre-loaded for quick slide off at marked sites. Everything is ready to bring into the site with no loss of time for sorting or handling. This year, the club had volunteer help in sorting, repairing, lubricating and repacking all twenty-two kit bags that contain the guy wires, couplers, rings, cranks, stakes and nails that were dropped behind the launchers, presorted and ready to install.

Before

In Process

Tower, gear and antenna arrive in sequence and are ready to assemble by roving tower teams.

We have an amazing member who brings all the generators and keeps us powered up for the 48 hours. Three generators. We even had the Chief of Howard County Emergency Management checking them out in detail Sunday while he was visiting the site. Sunday I ended up so busy cooking, I forgot to take enough pics of the event and tear down. But, without reliable power, this event could not take place.

IT support is also important. Networked computers. Coordination. Again, dedicated club members keep all this organized and use a system to track what gets down where and how.

And, all good armies march on their stomachs, right? My contribution to Field Day (surprised?) is assistance to the food tent, ably executed by the wife of one of the club members who organizes the event. I have been assisting now three years. Every year we get more efficient and make constant adjustments in keeping 50-75 people fed and hopefully, very happy. Enough of them say we do, so I think we succeed.

Friday Night Pizza while still setting up

Saturday Lunch

Saturday while last minute preparations go on, we set out a cold cut, sloppy joe, salad, veggies/chips and dip, luncheon bar for people to grab and go, or take a break before the two o’clock start. It is nice to have good generators to power the crock pot. And, to allow us to hook up a Keurig in the evening for all night long fresh brewed coffee.

Saturday during the most active ops time, we bring in Mexican food. Easy to grab and eat, soft tacos, beans and rice, brownies, grapes, strawberries, all minimally interfere with calling CQ. We even deliver to the operators at their stations if they are holding a frequency and don’t want to lose momentum by taking a break.

Sunday breakfast has become simpler, since I cook it at home and drive it up the road a mile to the site. The site is near the top of one of the higher points in Howard County. We live near there (so do lots of other club members since HAAT is important). It means many things can be transported to the site easily, and for me as cook, it means they get hot bacon and eggs on Sunday morning after operating all night. I cook four pounds of bacon Saturday night, and 4 1/2 dozen scrambled eggs Sunday morning.

Get it all there 10 minutes before the 8AM breakfast call. Coffee is perked. Toasters are ready. Love having enough generator power for fresh toast. We were so busy serving, I forgot again to take pics.

Lunch is grilled burgers, hot dogs, smoked chicken, salads, toppings, all the leftovers as well.

After 2PM, it’s off to tear it all down and put it away for next year. No pics of that either as we were all busy.

A few random pics of the fun times.

Jim, far left, happy after blowing the air horn for 1800 UTC start of Field Day

My OM taking a two hour nap before tear down. Behind him the trailer for the towers, and the camper that is parked right in the middle of it all on Friday night to provide security before everyone arrives Saturday morning to complete set up.

Some of the youngest GOTA operators enjoying themselves Sunday morning.

Another good year. Lots of memories. Tired but happy people from all around this area. Who says there’s nothing to do in Howard County? Anyone interested in joining the fun, check out the Columbia Amateur Radio Association for local club events, county event support, emergency service support and other interests. Potomac Valley Radio Club, more widespread than just Columbia but with lots of local members, does lots of contesting and has social events in the area.

73 de PVRC and CARA

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Whiskey Three Atlantic Ocean

Posted on June 24, 2012 by AnnieRie

The start of Field Day approaches. This is the second of three reports about how PVRC and CARA put together a large auxiliary communications set up and operate for 24 hours. W3AO is the call sign. Using our adaptation from the NATO phonetic alphabet, which would be Whiskey Three Alpha Oscar.

For those CW cognizant, we are:
Dit Dah Dah
Dit Dit Dit Dah Dah
Dit Dah
Dah Dah Dah

Let’s start with the team picture. Just before starting out. A few missing as we were still setting up minutes before the start.

Last minute set up still going on at the VHF tent.

We know we are ready when Maurice gets the flags raised at the VHF site.

The Calm Before the Storm. I even got LPL to smile. 🙂

And, they’re off. More later after we finish today and clean up.

Come out and visit. We love having the community there, and you can operate the GOTA station. Get On The Air. You can’t miss us. Look for all the antennae in the fields. Triadelphia Ridge Elementary School. Triadelphia Rd. off Rte. 32.

73 de W3AO.

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Posted in Community, Howard County, West HoCo and tagged amateur radio, community, field day, hoco loco, Howard County. Bookmark the permalink.

CQ Field Day, CQ Field Day

Posted on June 23, 2012 by AnnieRie

Sometimes I think this phrase is imprinted in my brain for weeks after we finish our annual foray into supporting a traditional and interesting tradition among amateur radio operators.

Field Day. A twenty four hour period where amateur radio clubs and individuals across the USA and Canada practice their communication skills using auxiliary power. It is meant to keep them capable to support natural disasters, loss of communications or power, or assist emergency officials in the event of a large scale incident that requires support of communications.

We have one of the largest and most innovative collaborations here in Howard County.The T shirt from 2010 shows 11 years of making the most contacts in our class. This year’s shirt is simple. Front and back alike with no scores. But, we are now at 13 years running of working the most stations and last year set a new record for number of contacts. This is pretty much a Type A personality group. Striving for better performance year after year.

The shirts include the phrase “48 hours” which means 24 hour set up and 24 hour operations. A few shots of set up are included here. I will have more when we finish tomorrow. I just fried four pounds of bacon and need to get up at 0 Dark Hundred to scramble 4 dozen eggs to take breakfast up there. They are set up a mile up from the road from us. Lucky me. I get to avoid the spot a pot.

This is Columbia’s club testing out our satellite communication capability to see if everything works.

This shot I like particularly because it shows how much fun the younger family members of current operators are having while learning to put up temporary towers. He was not the only young person we had out there Friday.

Yes, we are crazy. We put up eleven of these using old military surplus crank up towers. Here are a few. we had other wires and crank ups as well. We operate as 27A, which means 27 simultaneous transmitters using generators.

The clubs are operating until 2PM Sunday. Come out and check it out. Anyone can Get On The Air (GOTA) at our station designed to get inactive licensed operators on the air, and to introduce unlicensed operators to the hobby. We are at Triadelphia Ridge Elementary School on Triadelphia Rd. just off of Rte. 32.

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Posted in Adventures, Community, Howard County and tagged amateur radio, community, cooking, field day, ham radio, hoco loco, Howard County. Bookmark the permalink.

Getting Ready for a Hectic Holiday Weekend

Posted on May 23, 2012 by AnnieRie

So much to do this weekend, with the holiday and with all the other events going on. What will tempt you to spend time out and about? Are you a beach goer? Or do you stay local?

Our weekend kicks off early with Wine in the Garden at the Conservancy tomorrow night. Cross your fingers for good weather. If you haven’t pre-purchased tickets, they will be selling them at the entrance. Come sip and taste in the loveliness of the Honors Garden.

Saturday I may be off to PA for a picnic at one of the farmers who supplies our CSA. It may be me and a friend, as my OldMan (OM in amateur radio speak) will be contesting and a weekend of listening to him calling “CQ Contest, CQ contest”, is hard to take. Oh wait, this is the CQ WW WPX CW contest, so all I get to hear is key clicks. Translation of the above, means it is the Morse Code only contest, and one where hams try to work as many unique prefixes, like JY, which is Jordan, or 9WA which is Malaysia.

Complicated, and easy to do if you have a unique prefix and everyone wants to call you, harder if you are a W something, like my hubby is. No one looking for him once they have worked W3LPL. He has to work hard to find all the unique prefixes out there. And, we only have wires, not towers.

Sunday I will wander back to Olney to get some fresh berries, and hope that the VA farmers there have cherries. We got our tentative list of what will be in this week’s CSA basket so I only need fruit to supplement the greens this week. I don’t want to touch the berries I processed while fresh goodies are still in the local markets. I will know tomorrow what I will be grilling if it stops threatening storms every night.

Monday we will be chilling out and avoiding those traffic clogged roads. Memorial Day traffic on the highways around here is crazy, so a day of grilling, chilling and drinking local wine sounds like a perfect ending to the holiday weekend.

Then, as retirees with nothing pressing to do later in the week, we will take a day to visit my hubby’s hometown and check on the grave sites for his dad and mom.

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Posted in Community, CSA, Day Trips, Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Retirement and tagged amateur radio, community, CSA, day trips, farmer's markets, Food, grilling, hoco loco, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, Locavore, volunteering. Bookmark the permalink.

OK, I admit it! I’m a Geek!

Posted on March 13, 2012 by AnnieRie

And I am celebrating my 100th post by focusing on statistics, and why all these disparate things interest me.

No denying my fascination with things that don’t normally resonate with some women friends of mine. Things like my amateur radio license. My engineering experience. My love of taking apart small electrical or mechanical things and figuring them out. That’s why I am OK with wires hanging off my house.

So, why am I so deeply into cooking and gardening? Probably because they balance me out. But, even there, numbers and competition and a quest like here in growing purple calabash from seed to a ribbon winning heirloom at the County Fair. Seeds from Monticello bought while there on a weekend in Charlottesville.

I spent most of my 30 years working as a computer scientist, mathematician, electronics engineer, program manager for the Navy. Yeah, every job change meant more course work, a different job series and title, and new challenges. The world of the government. Working for the Navy meant I spent close to 100% of my time with men. The bad news. Minimal bathroom breaks in meetings. The good news. No lines at the ladies room.

I still get into it when we do our radio field day, but I cook instead of operate. Love watching them, but can’t sit still for hours calling “CQ Field Day”.

I haven’t lost my curiosity about numbers and facts and statistics. So, now I am intrigued by what I can get from the stats pages on my wordpress web site. Wow! Big brother is really following us around. On slow weekends, I can actually see how someone got here, where they came from, what search terms they used, and how many places they visited, plus any out bound clicks they made.

Oh, and weirdly so, I like the little world map telling me where the views are originating. South Africa! Oh yeah, they searched on “waverly hills wine farm” and ended up on my home page. I had all those terms on my half dozen posts that come up when you click on “Home”. I have no idea how someone got here with “drywall” in their search string.

Search Terms
Today Yesterday Summaries

Search
waverly hills wine farm
“cafeteria man”
mountain hills drywall

I find all this trivia fascinating. Am I the only one that finds their stats interesting?! Or, am I just bored out of my mind because I can’t drive, and can’t putter around in my garden until I get this blasted collar off!?!

dah dad dit dit dit
dit dit dit dah dah

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