Entry received at: 2026-07-02 20:37:50

Call Used: K2DLL     GOTA Station Call: KG2H     ARRL/RAC Section: ENY     Class: 3A

Participants: 20     Club/Group Name: Saratoga County ARA

Power Source(s): Generator    Power Multiplier: 2X

Preliminary Total Score: 3,542

Bonus Points:

  100% emergency power                            300

  Media Publicity                                 100 – Documented

  Public location                                 100

  Public information table                        100

  Formal message to ARRL SM/SEC                   100 – Documented

  W1AW Field Day message                          100 – Documented

  Formal messages handled (11 x 10, max of 100)   100 – Documented

  Site visit by invited elected official          100

  Site visit by invited served agency             100

  Educational activity                            100

  Youth participation (1 x 20, max of 100)         20

  Safety officer                                  100 – Documented

  Social media                                    100

  GOTA Station                                     40

  Entry submitted via web                          50

Total bonus points                              1,510

Score Summary: (Cabrillo log/dupe sheet file: K2DLL.dup)

                  CW  Digital  Phone  Total

   Total QSOs    161    163     368

 Total Points    322    326     368   1016  

Claimed Score = (QSO points x power mult) = 2,032

 Submitted by: Jim Polewczak, KG2H   KG2H@OUTLOOK.COM

 Band/Mode QSO Breakdown:

               CW       Digital      Phone

              QSOs         QSOs       QSOs

       40m     114           27        119

       20m      47           39         96

       15m       0            0        138

        6m       O           97          7

      GOTA                               8

     TOTAL      161          163       368

GOTA Bonus: No GOTA Coach

Name/Call           QSOs  Bonus Points

Eric Dumas, KE2HZV    8        40

Members made quick work of assembling the tower and antennas

The Clubs 2025 ARRL Field Day is in the books, the tower, antennas, rigs are back in storage . Jim KG2H has submitted the K2DLL entry to the ARRL which is included later in the post. Everyone had fun, got to operate, perhaps try a new mode, and learn new skills. Most importantly socialize and enjoy some good camaraderie.

KG2H’s Soapbox comments:

• We handily beat last year’s QSO count of 275,
• On top of all that, everything went swimmingly.
• All three stations were pretty much manned at all times we were operating.  In addition to the 3A category stations, we also had a 6 meter station running and a GOTA (Get On The Air) station contributing.
• The weather cooperated for us.  NO RAIN ON OUR PARADE.  The only weather glitch was that we closed down early at 9:30 Saturday evening because of nearby lightning strikes.
• The antennae all worked from the get go, unlike last year where we had to raise and lower the tower several times to fiddle with the beam.  We did have a slight problem with the triplexer. Brian tore the box apart and fiddled with some solder joints and to clean off some rosin off a few chip capacitors.  BTW, a triplexer is magic box with let us have 3 stations use the beam antenna simultaneously, one on each band 20, 15, and 10)
• The food was a step up from previous years. We got takeout from Auggies restaurant in Ballston Spa.  There was a nice green salad, a tray of Chicken Parm, and a tray of Ziti and Sausage. Also some nice bread came with it.  There was plenty left over.

The Sun well did allow some good propagation, however I noticed a lot of QSB Saturday afternoon on 15 meters a strong stations signal would fade into the noise and then back to prefect copy. Here is a screen grab from the reverse beacon network showing where our 15 meter signal was being heard on Saturday. Not surprising is the reports from VK (Australia) and ZL (New Zealand) as the beam was pointed in their direction. What is surprising was that at the same time K2DLL was being heard in Great Britain! Not sure what kind of antenna the G4 station is using but it is possible this was an example of “Long Path” propagation.

Photos of the K2DLL operation. Photos provided by N2MBX, K2DAA and NJ1F

The K2DLL Field Day 2025 results:

Field Day 2024

Hey, do you know about your ham radio club’s Field Day?
It’s “ALL HANDS ON DECK,” and you are requested to attend.

Field Day is an annual amateur radio exercise encouraging emergency communications readiness, and there’s no better way to prepare than Field Day. In the US, Field Day is the largest emergency preparedness exercise with over 30,000 operators participating. It’s always the fourth full weekend of June, and this year it begins on Saturday, June 22th and continues for 24 hours to test operators’ abilities to provide emergency communications.

Field Day is a test of rapid deployment of radio equipment in conditions ranging from tents in remote areas to operations inside Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs). Emergency and alternative power sources are highly encouraged, since electricity and other public infrastructures are often the first to fail during a natural disaster or severe weather.

To gauge the effectiveness of each participating station, Field Day is also a contest among clubs both regionally and nationwide. We’ll operate for twenty-four hours straight, requiring scheduled relief operators to keep stations on the air. We’ll need hams of all ages, on all bands, in all modes – voice, CW, digital, etc. at all hours. There’s even a “Get-on-the-Air” station for hams who have never participated in Field Day before.

This year, our Field Day will again be conducted at the Saratoga County Fire Training Center located at 6010 County Farm Rd, Ballston Spa, NY 12020. That’s just down the road from the Fairgrounds where we have our hamfests – and next door to the county Animal Shelter. There will be food – dinner on Saturday evening about 6pm.

Antenna setup begins on Friday the 21st at 2:00 pm and takes about three hours. On Saturday morning, we complete the antenna setup and begin setting up radios, generators, laptops, and other equipment. Once the equipment is tested, antennas positioned, and radios tuned, we wait — until the official start of Field Day at 2:00 pm Saturday June 22nd.

At 2:00 pm, the fun begins — all of our radios come alive, with operators calling “CQ CQ CQ” making contacts with other FD stations around the country. Contacts are quick with a very brief exchange and continue until 2pm on Sunday afternoon. It’s an exciting time! On Sunday at 2:00, all operations cease, the gear is packed up, the antennas taken down and the log files submitted to the ARRL for processing.

Does this sound like fun? IT IS! Come join us at Field Day this year. Spend an hour or two with us, hone your operating skills, and show your love for ham radio and your ham club.

Field Day is coming this weekend!!

Come and join us from our site at the Wilton EMS building.

Setup starts on Friday. We will begin to gather at noon to start the preliminary setup. This involves mainly the tower and antennae. Usually, we work until about 4 or 5 PM and break for the day.

On Saturday the fun starts. The stations are set up and lunch is served. Then at 2 PM, for 24 hours we will be exchanging “3A ENY” with as many other stations around the country as we can.

Help Wanted!

We need help on Friday afternoon to start the setup.

We need help on Saturday morning to finish the setup.

We need help Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon to operate.

We need help Sunday Afternoon to disassemble and clean up everything.

Come on down, help out, and have some fun.

Jim KG2H

Good Evening.

It’s a big weekend coming up, Field Day !!

We need you to come on out to help with operating, setup, and teardown. It’s all happening at the Wilton Emergency Squad building, off of Jone’s Road in Wilton. Here’s the schedule:

Friday (tomorrow 6/23): Please show up at the beginning of the setup: We will be starting around Noon and will work for a few hours, most likely we will quit around 4 or 5 PM (or until the spirit stops moving us)

Saturday 6/24: We will start in the morning between 8 and 9 to finish up the setup of antennae and stations. Lunch is served around noon, cooking by Dave NR2J. The actual field on-air operation starts at 2 PM. we are planning on running 3 A, so we will have main 3 stations operating, one extra GOTA (get on the air) station for new hams who want to dip their toes, and one other additional station running on VHF, (primary on 6 meters). that means we have 5 stations that you can operate on. This goes on for 24 hours until 2 PM on Sunday. We need a lot of operators over the 24 hours

Sunday 6/25: Starting at 2 PM, the on-air portion stops, and we take it all down, it usually comes down a lot faster then it goes up!!

FOOD: as I indicated above, we are having barbecue Saturday at noon, and Saturday evening. We are asking if you can bring a salad to share with the group, it would greatly be appreciated.

I hope you can come out and join us for at least a few hours over the weekend.

Thanks,

Jim KG2H

Dear OMs,

Jim McKnight and I have decided to activate the Wilton EMS HQ for Winter Field Day this weekend, January 28-29, 2017. Our equipment rarely gets exercised, and we need to be sure it works if/when it is needed for an emergency. We’ll set up one (maybe two) station(s) using the club’s IC-706s, TS-440, and/or TenTec Omni. Of course we’ll try out our tri-band beam at 180-ft, and we’ll have a Comet vertical for 80 and 40 meters when 20/15/10 close down at night…

We see this as an abbreviated FD event, the main purpose of which is to test equipment and give out points to real outdoor FD stations. We don’t plan to operate for 24 hrs; a few hours on Saturday and a few more on Sunday. FD runs from 2pm Saturday til 2pm Sunday.

If you’d like to come and play, please join us. It will be a relaxed, low-pressure event that anyone can enjoy. We’ll be inside where it’s warm, and we’ll probably be using battery power for a few bonus points. We plan to arrive around noon on Saturday, and who knows on Sunday.

Let’s see how this works! If it all falls apart, we’ll have learned something anyway.

73,

Peter – W2BEW