2024 ARRL Field Day
WINDHAM, ME – The Wireless Society of Southern Maine’s 2024 Field Day was a big undertaking, but thanks to all the members who contributed their time, energy, and unique talents to make it happen, it was an even bigger success.
Shortly after last year’s Field Day, Club Secretary, Peter Fulton WO1J, proposed the idea of conducting this year’s activities during Windham Summerfest, which usually takes place during the same weekend as Field Day at the Windham High School Campus. There was ample space available, and it would be a great opportunity to present amateur radio to a larger public audience.
During the next few months, Peter WO1J and Rick Fickett K1OT attended Summerfest Committee and Town Council meetings, walked the grounds with town and school officials, and gradually came up with a plan that would satisfy both parties. The club was welcomed with open arms, and was invited to be an official part of Windham Summerfest.
We would setup in one of the outer athletic fields, which allowed us to spread out enough to avoid interference. The distance posed some potential challenges when it came to power access, but we were able to make it work.
During a meeting last winter, Rick K1OT showed off pictures of a custom tower trailer that he built specifically for the SSB station to use for Field Day. Other plans came together for an exclusive digital station, that would use an HF vertical. Rick K1OT, Peter WO1J, Paul Alberghini W1IMD, and others supplied additional gear and marketing materials to make sure we had everything ready to go.
Brad Brown KC1JMH planned to setup a GOTA station on the midway of the festival, and Waylon McDonald KC1HJN was brainstorming ideas for a parade float. Operators were scheduled for each station, and several members planned to tackle at least one task on the bonus point list.
The only thing out of of our control was the weather. The Thursday prior to setup saw extremely heavy rain, and light rain continued Friday, but somehow lightened up just in time to setup the stations and antennas.
Windham Summerfest, which is a town festival, complete with concerts, food vendors, games and activities, and a parade, would take place just for one day of the weekend (Saturday), while Field Day would continue through Sunday.
The WSSM team operated as 3A, deploying 3 full time stations – one dedicated to CW, consisting of an enclosed utility trailer, complete with 40ft tower outfitted with a 40m yagi, a tri-bander, and a dipole for the low bands. A SSB station was setup in a large tent, accompanied by the new tower trailer, outfitted with a tri-ban yagi and 40m dipole. The third station was dedicated to digital, using an HF vertical. A fourth “free station” was setup by Charlie Shepard W1CPS for 6 meter ops.
More rain passed through overnight on Friday, but lightened up a little by Saturday morning. The fields were quite soggy, but otherwise, everything was ready to go. On Saturday morning, some early arrivers helped with final preparations, including setting up laptops for logging and testing rig control and SWR.
GOTA station and table display Saturday night.
Brad KC1JMH, Eric N1RXR, and Tim KB1HNZ helped setup the table display, EZ-up, and antenna for the GOTA station.
Shortly after, Zach KC1SES, Waylon KC1HJN, and Tim KB1HNZ started to decorate a float on a trailer that Waylon brought. At around noon, with Waylon driving and his little brother riding shotgun, and Tim and Eric perched in the back of the float, they took part in the annual parade, which wound through the center of Windham. By the time they got back, it was almost time to get on the air!
The parade float
Once on the air, the stations performed very well. Brad had a steady flow of visitors at the GOTA station, and Tim maintained a run on 20 meters for the first few hours.
Fireworks!
The smell of hot sausage grinders and fried dough permeated the air, and concert music could be heard occasionally between QSOs. Another round of heavy rain moved in at around the 2 hour mark, and lasted into the early evening, but it cleared up enough for the fireworks to go off as scheduled.
The Midway
Ops continued without issue throughout the evening, with Greg W1GF, Joe K1JB, Rick K1OT, and John K1ESE, operating the CW station between 0600 and 1400 UTC, Jim KB1SDK and Chuck K1CAD kept the SSB active, and Peter WO1J continued on FT8.
Joe K1JB operates Saturday evening.
By Sunday morning, without the festival crowds, the place was eerily quiet, unless you poked your head into the SSB tent or CW trailer. Zach and Peter were still going strong on digital, and Steve K1MV was busy calling CQ on 20m SSB.
On-Air!
By late morning, Stefania K1GJY started a 6 hour stint on SSB, that would last until the end of Field Day, and Greg W1GF and Rory KB1PLY took turns on CW.
The digital station.
We finished with a total of 2,139 QSOs (1,202 CW, 485 SSB, and 452 for Digital), and nearly maxed out on the bonus points, but most importantly, everyone felt a sense of accomplishment, we introduced a lot of new folks to the hobby, and made a good impression with our hosts.
Thanks to everyone who helped make our 2024 Field Day a success, and also thanks to the Windham Summerfest Committee and their supporters, for allowing us to be part of their event.