Plans are under way for our club's participation in the annual amateur radio Field Day weekend.  Field Day 2003 activities will begin Friday afternoon June 27 and end at noon on Sunday June 29.

Our Board Member-at-Large, Greg Lane K7SDW, has arranged for us to hold Field Day at Byrd Hill in Newbury Park. This will be our fourth year at this excellent site.

Directions [see Map below].  To get to Byrd Hill, take the Ventura Freeway (Highway 101) to the Ventu Park Road exit. Go south (toward the coastal mountains) on Ventu Park to Lynn Road.  Turn right on Lynn Road (west) to La Cam Road.  You will pass East Kelly Rd. and Mapleleaf Ave. before getting to La Cam Road. If you pass Whitegate Rd, you have gone too far. Going west on Lynn Road from Ventu Park, turn left on La Cam Road. It is a small road that may not be marked well. As you go up La Cam, you will come to stone pillars with a metal gate. The gate will be open for Field Day. Go through the gate and up the hill. The road is paved all the way and rather steep.  At the top of the hill the road ends and there are several dirt pads for future home sites.  There will be house trailers on some of the pads.  However, there are three unused pads, two on the right and one up the hill to the left, which Mr. Byrd has allowed us to use for Field Day.

Byrd Hill is a beautiful place for Field Day. Byrd Hill overlooks all of Conejo Valley to the north, Hidden Valley to the south, and you can see the Pacific Ocean and off shore islands to the west. The sunsets over the ocean are great from up there as are the lights of Thousand Oaks at night.  Sometimes in the early morning, around sunrise, Conejo Valley is covered in fog while it is crystal clear up on top of Byrd Hill. If that occurs, the view is awesome, a bright blue sky, Conejo Valley down below a sea of white clouds, and the mountain tops to the north and the west protruding through the clouds like islands in an ocean.

We will begin setting up antennas, tents and equipment, including the CVARC Comm Van and Trailer, Friday afternoon and continuing into Friday evening.  SSB, CW, and digital stations will be set up on 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters.  We will also have stations set up on 6 and 2 meters. A few people may stay on the hill Friday night, although most will return home for a good night's sleep.  The Field Day contest actually begins at 11AM Saturday and runs for 24 hours until 11AM Sunday.  During that time we will work as many other Field Day sites in North and South America as possible.  Many of our stations will work all 50 states, and often Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and perhaps Europe.

On Saturday evening we will have our traditional catered BBQ Chicken and Tri-tip dinner.  RSVP to Jonathan Becker (KC6QOQ) phone 805-371-1333, email kc6qoq@arrl.net by June 15. Or talk to Jonathan at the CVARC general meeting on Thursday, June 12. The cost for dinner last year was approximately $12.50 per person. Our general meeting is also a good time for any of you who want to be operators during Field Day to sign up with me, Tom Stough W0UFC, if you have not already done so.

Visitors, licensed or not, are encouraged to come up to the CVARC Field Day site and join in the fun. ARES/RACES members: please wear your yellow shirts, as we plan to invite the news media. So if you have not already done so, mark the weekend of June 28 on your calendar and come on up to Byrd Hill and join in the CVARC Field Day Activities.

"Field Day is an operating event designed to test emergency preparedness in less than optimal conditions. It is the largest on-the-air operating event sponsored by the ARRL. Field Day gives both experienced operators and neophytes a chance to share new ideas and new experiences. Each year, tens of thousands of amateurs and guests join in the excitement and camaraderie." (June 2003 QST, p. 101)

Just in case you can’t attend the June 12 CVARC meeting, here are a few items about Field Day on June 28 and 29. Come out and have fun with us again!

Abbreviated Field Day rules are published on page 101 in the May 2003 issue of QST. Complete rules may be downloaded from www.arrl.org/contests/forms  CVARC members and any other hams wishing to participate in our Field Day activity need this basic information.

 If you participate at a field day site as an operator, then do not contact that FD station, for score, on your way up or on your return home.  Each FD site is required to list those participating. Your contact with a site at which you participate is not counted in the point score. Calling the FD site to coordinate with the Operations Chair, to find directions to the site, or to obtain other information that is not related to the FD exchange format is permitted.

As Operations Chair, my job is to coordinate and direct the "band captains" in establishing station layout for the event. (Please check the Web site for latest information on where your station will be placed.)  If you would like to be a band captain, please call me at (805) 373-6836 ASAP. You must supply the radio, antenna, operating table and chairs. All operations are at 5 watts battery power. If you need a suitable deep-cycle battery, I can supply up to five units--first come, first served.

However, please remember: antenna setup and teardown is a shared responsibility. For safety’s sake (as well as for camaraderie), pitch in and help erect masts. Teamwork, ladies and gentlemen!

 Be sure to let the band captain know what hours you will be able to operate.  If you want to operate on more than one band, prepare your schedule with each of the band captains so that they can expect you.

The CVARC log sheet is to assist the operator in the recording of the station contacted (call sign) to the dupe sheet.  The dupe sheet is the official entry for each station that is sent to the ARRL along with the summary sheet and other required reports.

 When helping with the log or dupe sheet, be sure the call sign is printed clearly on the dupe sheet where it belongs.  It should be clearly entered in the log sheet so that if someone else takes over the function of transferring the call signs to the dupe sheet they will be able to read it.

The bands we operate are to allow you and your helpers to tune up your listening and reporting skills.  It is hard enough to stay awake for 18 hours, let alone 24, so having enough operators for "shift" changes really helps out.

A typical voice exchange for Field Day is as follows: "CQ Field Day from AA6CV, over." "AA6CV from W0UFC." "W0UFC from AA6CV. Copy 59, Santa Barbara. QSL?" "QSL, you are 59 Kansas." "QSL and 73. CQ Field Day..." CW and data modes follow a similar pattern.

Keep it short when calling CQ. Listen a lot and attempt to give another station a call when you can hear him, especially if he is answering stations in the same "call district."

I will go over this again at the club meeting and answer any questions.  I hope you can attend, as I hope to show one or two short videos about FD that will give you an appreciation of the effort and pleasure in this annual event.

See you at the CVARC meeting June 12th.