Regular business to be followed by a presentation on “Hex Beams” by one of the FARA members.

We look forward to seeing members plus guests Thursday evening, September 9, 2010. See the link above for directions.

GOTA Station and Visitor Area and the K2 Station (right)

More pictures available in the Gallery.

Statistics available in the members area – http://www.w4va.org/fda_2010/

Our score this year looks to be about 6,394 including 1,430 bonus points.

We had many visitors to the site in response to our postcard invitations. One couple joined us for the pot luck dinner. Thanks to the visitors for stopping by to our Field Day.

A special thanks to Gail and Duffy for the Sunday morning hot breakfast, coffee and conversation.

Ham Radio Demonstration

In the Fauquier County area, the Fauquier Amateur Radio Association (FARA) will be demonstrating Amateur Radio at Crockett Park on June 26 and 27th. They invite the public to come and see ham radio’s new capabilities and learn how to get their own FCC radio license.

With over 650,000 (and climbing) Amateur Radio licenses in the US plus more than 2.5 million around the world, we hope you will stop by and see why this is not your grandfather’s radio anymore.

A Get On The Air (GOTA) radio station will be available to enable every guest to make at least one contact with one of the hundreds of other Field Day stations around the US and Canada.

Youth groups including:

• Girl Scouts,
• Church,
• 4H,
• Boy Scouts,
• etc.

…are especially welcome. Contact John at 540-341-4188 to schedule a custom presentation for your group.

Our location at Crockett Park provides the visitor with many activities beyond our Amateur Radio display including:

• Boating
• Fishing
• Picnic shelters and grills
• Geocaching – our event is co-located with GC1MWCK *
• and Hiking

Visit their web site for more details.

Our event begins Saturday afternoon at 2 pm and continues for 24 hours straight. Custom presentations for groups begin at 3 pm Saturday.

We will be in the field just to the left as you enter the park. Believe me you can’t miss us.

* For you Geocaching folks out there who wonder why we don’t make this an official GeoCaching “Event Cache,” the Geocaching rules do not permit Event Caches for gatherings not specifically related to Geocaching. Oh well. If you are compelled to find us using your GPS, here are the coordinates: 38 37 18.5 N 77 43 16.0 W.

.

John KX4O was elected Field Day chairman and presented information on prior FARA Field Day’s and plans for the upcoming 2010 event. It was decided we would return to Crockett Park this year but plan to investigate other locations for 2011. Also it was decided we would enter the 3A category this year. Please come visit us on FD weekend June 26/27 at Crockett Park and experience Field Day first hand.

RF Propagation Prediction Resources

At the April meeting Andy K1RA presented information and links to various online propagation resources, including published long and short term HF, VHF and UHF propagation predictions, RF propagation prediction software and various real-time CW, PSK and WSPR beacon projects. The information included real-time map displays, DX cluster web sites and free software used to both transmit and receive various beacon modes and formats.

You can download the Powerpoint slide presentation (8MB) by clicking here.

FARA members use many methods to score big in VAQP

The Fauquier Amateur Radio Association prepared for and participated in the 2010 Virginia QSO Party. The members mostly operated Fixed, but several intrepid Mobiles hit the streets looking for QSOs. Most Mobiles worked VHF+ and HF bands.

Propagation conditions were good and the weather was fantastic.

Techniques ranged from ZS6BKW Wire to Magnetic Loop Mobile antennas.

Software Define Radio Presentation

During our March 2010 meeting Andy K1RA presented details on SDR’s or Software Defined Radios.

The presentation covered a brief history, a technical overview, commercial and DIY SDR hardware, freeware software and a live demo.

Andy brought in his Softrock RXTX v6.3 SDR along with several software applications including Rocky, SDRadio, WinRad and PowerSDR. Both a live 40m and prerecorded 75m band demonstrations were shown. Rich K1HTV and Frank W4NHJ both brought in the Softrock Lite II and FireFly SDR’s respectively for show and tell.

The entire Powerpoint presentation (11MB) is available for download here.

A example of Rover and Portable VHF Contest Stations

During our January 2010 meeting Andy K1RA presented details on VHF Contesting.

The presentation focused on the K8GP Grid Pirates group who used busses loaded with gear to head to remote locations for participation in the ARRL June VHF QSO Party and other VHF events during the year.

The details presented were an eye opener to many as some discussed their own VHF Mobile Rover operations in 2010.

The entire Powerpoint presentation (83 MB) is available for download here.

FARA Christmas Party 2009

Members of the Fauquier Amateur Radio Association enjoy fellowship during the annual Christmas Party at the Airlie Smokehouse.