WOODVILLE – The Tyler County Amateur Radio Association (TCARA) circled the U.S.A. and poked into Canada making about 200 contacts across almost every state during the annual Field Day hosted by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL).
TCARA was very thankful to Pastor Tony Moye and the fine people of Calvary Baptist Church for allowing use of their excellent facilities and tall trees, even a benefit to the whole county. The few dozen members of TCARA are scattered all over Tyler County, and there are several other ham station operators beyond TCARA.
Field Day Coordinator Charles Petri was joined early by Chuck Anderson, a retired engineer by trade, as they strung two dipole antennas among the trees. One was oriented on a nearly east-west axis, the other on the north-south axis. That meant they had coverage going in all four directions.
Though a hot day, the weather was great for “propagation,” the term used by operators for good radio wave sending. They kicked off at 1 p.m., or zero hours Zulu, on Saturday, June 27, and ran through the night until 4 p.m. Sunday, with a break for church services.
There were a few technical difficulties that Petri had to work through.
James Wedgeworth dropped and recalled TCARA’s old days when they would have about a dozen or more on Field Days. Soon he was at a station like an old hand making voice contacts.
Virginia Maness, KJ5QIY, just earned her license and whipped up the chicken fettuccini alfredo for the crew.
Gerald D’Entremont dropped by, too, an old Ham from the 1960s and shared a few radio war stories, and he wanted to make sure we said “hi” to his good friend Chris Edwards, the local editor of the Tyler County Booster.
Petri and Michael Maness held down the radio fort all night. For Maness, still new to this art and science, learned much as they tackled a few challenges.
Sponsored by the ARRL, this is the largest Field Day in the world, and the ARRL is the world’s largest Ham organization with a multitude of training, networking and lobbying for the art. About 174 national amateur radio associations serve as members of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). The ARRL is the one from the U.S.A. There are many more international associations, and it is estimated there are about 3 million operators worldwide.
Most of the connections made by the TCARA were digital using the very popular FT8 mode, a bit too hard to explain to non-hams and a rather recent development, released in June of 2017.
They had two radios going all night, with a few other tablets displaying connections.
Points are awarded for completing various tasks during Field Day, as both radios operated off the grid, and one through batteries fed by a solar panel.
More points are awarded if certain kinds of elected and government officials visit. TCARA is a service to the community, especially if emergency communications are needed in black outs and grid failures.
Extraordinarily, two dipole antennas over 75-foot long were roped up between two tall trees.
According to experts, dipole antennas are among the cheapest, easiest to set up, and are among the most reliable. Literally, a long wire of a specific length is “cut” for a specific band of radio frequencies, and an apparatus connects a coax cable from that to the radios—simple and fast.
One can create an antenna for about $20. Petri has an air bazooka that he made from PVC pipe, which is called “home brew” in the ham lingo, for many operators take great pride in making their own equipment. There are even kits to make a nice radio that reach round the world. Resistors, inductors, and more can be made by hand and through kits. Petri’s bazooka was made in his home radio shack. POW—there goes the fishing line attached to a light pellet-like projectile over a tree 40-60 feet high. Fishing line pulls a rope with one end of the dipole line, and, shazam, an antenna is raised that can reach around the world. A mounted fishing reel retrieves the fishing line afterwards—ingenious!
They reached almost every state and few Canadian provinces. Importantly and part of the raison d'être for the whole exercise, Field Day practices communication totally off the grid as well as practice in radio problem-solving and the fun of touching others around the country.
Petri is a certified teacher and examiner, holding classes and tests as new hams test and get licensed. The ARRL was established in 1914 and hosts 27-hour Field Days every summer for mostly North America. ARRL’s goal is to “work as many stations as possible on any and all amateur bands … and to learn to operate in abnormal situations” (ARRL.org). 11
Many hams join ARRL to support the art, learn more about the science from experts around the world, and for a host of other benefits, like a regular newsletter on developments, forums for special training, learn proven techniques for radio propagation, locations of licensing school and ham vests, radio “contests” going (like connect to every state, every continent, each radio band, and perhaps a hundred or more. The ARRL also allows the purchase of specific insurance for radio gear.
The TCARA meets every first Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Calvary Baptist in Woodville, Texas, located at 911 N. Magnolia Street, and TCARA can be found on Facebook.
