Ham Radio - Annual Field Day Event

June 23, 2012, Sponsored by the Foothills Amateur Radio Society: http://www.fars.ca/

Tom Ohba and John Sobkowics have been encouraging us to checkout the world of Ham Radio for quite some time. Well. we got some boys out to the annual event and it was a lot of fun.

The Event was held at Scott Nalder's Farm near Okotoks and although it was a rainy day the weather didn't detract much from the activities.

First thing we got involved with was some Antenna setup activities. Need these up before any transmissions could begin. Then we watch them hook up some of the actual radio equipment. Lots of hi tech stuff here.

Then the event started at exactly 12:00 noon. We were now competing with the rest of North America in getting linked with other Ham radio operators and exchanging their Call handles. Team with the most wins.

We received a great BBQ lunch (supplied by the FoothillsAmateur Radio Society, free of charge :>)

There are a lot of acronyms, here's a few to start with: http://ww2.isys.ca/lberta/qcode1.html

Tem Members

	Karl Burndorfer, John Sobkowicz - Scout Leaders
	William Lloyd, Daniel Urquijo, Sam Lloyd, Ethan Conrad - Scouts
	Ham Radio Operators - Linda Dimate, Tom Ohba,

Photo Library

Just like setting up a tent, right?	Never used a tractor to put up a tent.	This was to be the main antenna. Needed to point it down toward California.	Steady it out, and use those scout knots to tie it down guys.
OK Tom is going to belt that antenna to the bailer shovel.	Up a bit more, there, great.	Just get this belt around and snugged up. There done!	They call these types of antennas Yagi-Uda antennas.
HQ for the bigger antennas	Some intro's and explanations around making the calls and logging the info...	Got to get a couple computer involved too.	William entering in one of the successful calls though to Idaho.
Lots of acronyms used here. The list of 3 letter ones is impressive, QST	Station 2, Tom is working his 5 watt radio. After a while all his calls seem to get trumped by others with more powerful Radios.	Tom, not out to be defeated, decided to bring out his 100 watt radio.
Taking over the Mike	OK, follow the script...	Victor, Echo... Alpha Bravo!
After a great lunch we kind of felt bad the dog didn't get lunch with us.	So we went back to sneak out a sausage or something.	He was all over that!	Sausages and Ham, mmmm... definitely go together!