2023 Field Day
Summary Report
The Big Bend ARC (K5FD) held the Field Day event at a PUBLIC Picnic Pavilion 6 miles south of Alpine TX on Highway 118 South. The facility has a large parking area and restrooms. It was spotted on the ARRL FD Locator.
Twenty one club members attended and we greeted twenty seven visitors during the event. Three expressed interest in attending an upcoming Technician class and eventually joining the club.
We held a VE testing session onsite and one Technician upgraded to General class.
We operated as Class 2A (PH and DG transmitters), with a 6m station and a GOTA station. All stations operated on EMERGENCY POWER (diesel and gas generators) for the full 24 hour period. We operated at LOW POWER (100w or less) at all stations.
Club and ARRL literature was available at an INFORMATION BOOTH, located near the GOTA station.
We posted location information and details of the event on SOCIAL MEDIA (Facebook) as well as alerting the public to a live 20 minute radio interview (KALP, KVLF) on June 21st , where Bob WA5ROE and Charlie N5CET explained Amateur Radio, the ARRL and the FD event.
MEDIA PUBLICITY included an article published in the Alpine Avalanche newspaper on Thursday before the event, fliers were posted at 35 businesses in the four county area, as well as two sandwich boards placed at the local hardware and grocery stores. There are no TV stations within 200 miles.
We invited both ELECTED OFFICIALS and AGENCY OFFICIALS to the event and Brewster County Judge Greg Henington and County Commissioner Jim Westermann participated, as well as Brewster County Emergency Coordinator Stephanie Elmore. They all took a turn at the GOTA station and DG station.
We sent a Radiogram via NTS to Dale Durham, W5WI (WTX Section Manager) and received a Winlink confirmation response.
We handled 10 WINLINK ICS 213 traffic messages during the event.
We were able to capture the ARRL FIELD DAY MESSAGE.
Stephen Cook KE5WCP performed the role of SAFETY OFFICER and signed the ARRL checklist.
Our daytime GOTA COACH was Lonny Hillin K5LON and Charlie Troxel N5CET coached the night session. The GOTA call sign was KI5ZVK belonging to Roy Herrera, who recently earned his license.
We prepared and served meals on Friday evening, three on Saturday and two on Sunday.
We dedicated the event to Ike and Sue Roberts (SK) who participated for many years with us by preparing meals for the events. We invited their family and shared our Saturday evening meal and good memories.
I will submit supporting logs and documentation via the ARRL WEB APP.
/s/ Charles E Troxel, Jr
N5CET – President BigBend ARC