From: (Ian Kluft KO6YQ) Subject: WVARA FD history To: fd-l [at] wvara.org (WVARA Field Day list) Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 17:08:19 -0700 (PDT) [...] In 1994 and 1995 we were still just another 2A site. Our FD coordinator was Paul Nguyen KD6OCZ, who was in high school at the time (he's a network engineer today), who helped the club rebuild its ability to hold a FD site at all after things pretty much fell apart in 1992-1993, probably due to California's extended recession at the time. We tried hard and I think those years planted the seed that got a lot of us thinking that a bigger site might be even more fun than it is more work. I think it also established our Field Day effort as a chance for young Hams to be actively involved. Daren Bowlby AC6NS was an Extra at 14 and did 25-40wpm code, making him our star operater all through his high school years. Other teens Steve Selberg KE6GDA and Mike Lyon KE6MRE helped organize and operate at the event. (Last we heard from them... Daren went to college, Steve went to the Marines and Mike remained in the valley, now a network engineer and volunteer firefighter.) In 1996, many WVARA members caught the vision of trying a larger site. We didn't know if our little club could do a big site. Planning started in January instead of May. We sort of benefited from another club's troubles. When GEARS (Golden Empire Amateur Radio Society) in Chico began severe infighting that involved lawyers, their whole club fell apart. I convinced a friend from college who had also recently moved from Chico to San Jose who had been participating with GEARS' FD, instead to coordinate WVARA's FD. Of course, you all know who he is - Mike Polkinghorn then-KD6PUD now-K6PUD. At first, the plan was we eventually wanted a big site but we'd start with a "solid 2A" in 1996 just to get our act together. But when member Mike Sunseri AB6CW merged his 1A site with our effort, suddenly everyone took us seriously and started volunteering stations. Mike had to freeze the 1996 plan at 6A since it was so much bigger than anything any of us had ever done. Remember, every 1 or 2 stations had to have a generator so it was difficult to grow from 2A to 6A in one year. But we did it. It exceeded our expectations of turning FD from a lot of work and frustration into a lot of work, a lot more fun, and a proud achievement. There were more chances for people to just drop in and operate or learn. Good food too (a larger effort than any station.) It was an unqualified success. 1996 was also when previous years' efforts bore fruit and got us into the Foothill Flea Market rotation. Some in the Perham Foundation (who organize the flea market) were a bit skeptical that our little club was up to the task. Fortunately, they never regretted letting us in. With the 6A FD followed by one of the better-organized flea markets there had been (credit to Glen Lokke KE6NBO for coordinating that effort concurrent with the FD planning), we surprised everyone again. Adding a significant annual fund-raiser was a necessary part of sustaining the plan for more large Field Days. So as many members had been wanting for years, WVARA wasn't just a little club any more. It was a fun coincidence that former WVARA member Rod Stafford then-KB6ZV now-W6ROD became president of ARRL in 1996, and mentioned WVARA in his biographical info. (He served until 1999 and is currently ARRL's VP of international affairs.) And 1996 was WVARA's 40th anniversary since its incorporation. Quite a good year overall... In 1997, the previous year's results and experience made it easier to do again. Mike K6PUD was the coordinator again. We inched up the FD site to 7A. We even had a couple spare generators. One generator actually did fail just after FD started and we just swapped it out. It dawned on us that we recovered easily from a problem that would have shut down 95%+ of the FD sites out there. We learned more - Mike began to talk about writing a handbook for the band captains to add on to the success we'd gotten from giving a checklist to the band captains. We were the largest FD site in the Bay Area this time. In 1998, we kept the site pretty close to the same size. But a clarification of the rules on counting VHF stations led to previously uncounted stations being added to the total, putting us at 10A. Mike K6PUD was the club president that year. Tom Nichols KQ6OT was the FD coordinator. A common response we started hearing during the contest was "how many alpha?" :-) We became the largest FD site in northern and central California this year. In 1999, we inched up the size of the site again to 12A. That's approaching the limit for sites with separate generators for each small cluster of stations. Mike K6PUD was in his second term as president. Dean Wood N6DE was the FD coordinator. It was convenient to be able to say that we were a "dozen alpha" during contest exchanges. We were again the largest FD site in northern and central California, and the Pacific Division. In 2000, we made some breakthroughs which allowed us to grow the site some more. (Though we only inched up to 13A while we figured out the potential.) Svend Jensen KF6EMB brought in experience from the construction industry and powered the whole site with a single generator, placing a transformer near each cluster of stations where a generator had previously been. His Field Day power grid got the nickname of the "Svend Power and Light Company". With Bill Ashby N6FFC as presindent Mike K6PUD returned to being the FD coordinator this year. We were surprised that we broke into the largest station in California, passing the TRW Radio Club in Los Angeles. Ironically, this was done with the help of members of the amateur radio club from TRW's Sunnyvale division. But 13A also broke out our geographic territory again, the largest FD site west of Michigan. [...] Gary Youngs WB6G made a video of FD 2000, which helped recruiting more than we could have imagined. Now we could show people what Field Day was like, not just try to describe it. 2001 was already turbulent even before September 11 turned a bad year upside down. The economy had been showing signs of weakness in 2000 and crashed in early 2001, hitting Silicon Valley like nowhere else as the speculative bubble of the dot-coms burst. Some people's nerves were more frayed than others, and WVARA lost its newsletter editor (twice) and then its president just before Field Day. Vice President Dean Wood N6DE stepped up to the presidency and quickly picked up the pieces. Field Day proceeded in spite of what could have been a disaster. Mike K6PUD was again the Field Day coordinator. Ron Garcia KG6BRT was the videographer. Mike had completed the Band Captains' Handbook he had been wanting to write for years. Having it all written down made his job as coordinator so much easier, he wished he had done it sooner. We grew the site to 18A, which turned out to be the 3rd largest FD site in the US and Canada, and the largest west of Chesapeake Bay. We even had a visit from ARRL Santa Clara Valley Section Emergency Coordinator John Wray KM6GE specifically to see how we built a small power grid and powered 18 stations with one generator. A sign at the entrance said, "West Valley City", and "elevation 3200 population 200". Some members (Svend Jensen KF6EMB, Bob Iannucci W6EI, Ben Loomis KG6BNL) had been experimenting with the idea of a site-wide data network. Though many had skepticism whether the effort was worth it in the field, they were allowed to proceed. Experiments found that Cat5 ethernet cables longer than 6 feet cause and accept interference with 10m amateur radios. That could have been a disaster except that Svend had another rabbit in his hat. He had gotten lots of fiberoptic cables and network switches from dot-com surplus. So that became the backbone of the network - all Cat5 cables kept 5' or less. The network was on an experimental basis in 2001, checking for interference. It passed that test, allowing any of the 18 stations' computers to browse the Internet, chat with each other, print on a networked printer, or upload pictures of the site to WVARA's web site. WVARA director Chuck Kamas AD6CL, who works at a fiberoptic networking company, was surprised to see "fiber to the tent" implemented just for a weekend while marketing people at his work were still trying to figure out whether "fiber to the curb" or "fiber to the house" was the next thing coming. Ben KG6BNL (then 15) was the network administrator. I'm pretty sure we'll have great things to write about Field Day 2002 by the time it's done. Once again, we have proceeded in spite of a disaster that came just weeks before the event. Marc says the plan is currently 22A, which is amazing. The site is now so big that no one can know everything that happenned - we have to talk about it for weeks to piece together the whole story. :-) But one thing which has contributed a lot to our success is that we make sure to help credit people for their work, since we know we're all volunteers. Help promote the accomplishments you notice others doing and it makes the whole event more fun for everyone. If we keep this up, soon we'll have to elect a mayor. :-)