Thanks for Field Day for 2017 !

This event is the largest and most attended event of the year. It is a special time when we get to work as a team and deploy antennas, radio and computer equipment, networking, lighting, sanitary needs, and electrical power in a place that has nothing. We have to also figure out how to feed 30+ hungry Ham operators for the duration of two days. 

Despite the weather and swarms of flies we had a great time and scored lots of points. I witnessed some pretty awesome operators that really showed what they could do under sometimes uncomfortable conditions.
 
We had a very successful GOTA station with over 80 contacts logged. Thanks goes to Dave Crandall (W4DTX) for sticking with it the whole time and being an excellent coach to new hams and first comers alike.
 
As always, the food was awesome! Plenty for everyone and really great. Thanks to James James (KE4HMS) for his hard work and dedication to making this a first class event, and to those who also helped with hospitality.
 
Those that helped with the antennas are greatly appreciated. It is hard work getting all them strung in unhospitable places, like a swampy creek. Thanks to Bob Chambers (KK4JPM) for heading up the antenna team.
 
We had the mayor of Holly Springs and his son visit the site. The son worked the GOTA station and got a taste of ham radio.
 
The raw scoring for just contacts was 984 QSO points. That was made up of 182 CW, 294 Phone, and 163 Digital. Truly awesome results. Total scores will be calculated next week when we add in the bonus points.
 

The GOTA station can be a real fun thing to work with. Volunteers helped to introduce people to Amateur Radio.

GOTA is an acronym for Get On The Air !

More pictures to follow in the coming weeks.

Position	Owner(s) and Needs
Field day Chairman	Martin Buehring  KB4MG (VP of CARS)
Public Information Officer	Jim Millsap K9APD (President of CARS)
Safety Officer	Matt Pesch KK4NLK
Computers, Networking, and Logging	Tony Yonkers KM4JKS, Chris Atkinson KM4JER, Stephen Price KK4YQV
Antenna planning and deployment	Hal Miller KC4ZYP, Bob Chambers KK4JPM(Captain), Stan Ham WB9GFA
Hospitality	James James KE4HMS (Captain), Joseph Ladd N3NNU, Robin Everritt KN4BUA, Stan Ham WB9GFA cook, serve, clean up, and be available for whatever come up.
Power Distribution	Paul Columbo KA8DYD, Roy Stegall AJ4MM+ volunteers
GOTA Station	Dave Crandall W4DTX, Darren Duff KK4AHX
Lighting, Gazebo setup and tear down	Don Coltrane KJ4UC, Hal Miller KC4ZYP, Paul Columbo KA8DYD
Band Plan and Frequency coordinators	Martin Buehring KB4MG, Jim Millsap K9APD
Logistics	Ken McIntyre KJ4PQX, Tom Olley KG4VUB, Bob Cheek N4RFC
Security	John Lovell  KM4KRK, Wendell Abernathy N4VLK
Photography	Paul Columbo K8DYD,  Paul's Site