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Amateur Radio operators and Santa Cruz Mountains residents -

Please consider visiting (or participating) in the Amateur Radio
Field Day site of the West Valley Amateur Radio Association (WVARA)
on June 21-23, 2002.  Our club's site will be at a member's residence
on a ridgetop near the peak of Loma Prieta in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Directions and info are at http://www.wvara.org/fd/

Amateur Radio Field Day is an annual Ham Radio event where clubs across
the US and Canada set up radio stations from scratch in tents with
generators, as if there had been a disaster.

In case of a disaster, Amateur Radio operators take the self-training they've
done as a hobby and are available to augment police/fire/emergency services
communications as is always necessary when communications get overwhelmed.
Field Day is by far the largest of many emergency drills, but also serves as
a demonstration for the public.

As the event rules say, there's 24 hours to set up the site, beginning 11AM
Pacific on Friday, June 21.  And then 24 hours of an operating contest to
contact as many other stations for points as possible, from 11AM Saturday
June 22 to 11AM Sunday June 23.

The vast majority of clubs (about 2000 or so) have one or two transmitters
at their sites.  Last year WVARA had 18 transmitters.  After the contest
last year we were pleasantly surprised to find out our site had been the
3rd largest in North America, and the largest west of Cheasapeake Bay.
Our current planning is aiming for 20 transmitters this year, though the
exact count depends on availability of volunteers.

Visitors are welcome.  Bring the family.  Some of the things you can expect
to see at the site include...
* Our site is designed around a central social area where you can meet
  and talk with people.
* You can watch or sit down to operate radios for contacts around the world
  or around Northern California.  (Different frequency bands travel different
  distances.)  If you don't have a license then a Ham can supervise and show
  you how - it's legal because the transmissions are on his/her license.
  Many people get their first exposure to Amateur Radio this way.  Kids are
  welcome to try too - we consider this an educational event.
* Packet radio contacts can be made via computer.
* We will attempt to contact the astronauts on the International Space
  Station.  There is an Amateur Radio station on board ISS and the
  astronauts/cosmonauts have Ham Radio licenses.  The main difficulty is
  that during a contest like Field Day, when the station passes over
  California, everyone in California is also trying to reach them.  Last
  year a 13-year old Ham at our site got to speak with the astronauts.
* We will attempt to contact other Ham Radio operators via amateur satellites
  and via "meteor scatter" propagation (bouncing radio signals off meteor
  trails or "shooting stars")
* We will attempt to make contacts by microwave radio and by laser.  These
  are difficult mainly in finding other stations, usually having to be
  arranged on a lower radio frequency first.  Last year we succeeded in
  finding a 10GHz station at Mt Hamilton and making contact with them.

Upcoming events related to Field Day:
* Saturday, June 1 - final "site walk" to show participants the site if they
  haven't seen it before, and finalize plans for station and antenna placement
* Wednesday, June 19, 7:30PM - WVARA monthly meeting, discuss/introduce our
  plans for Field Day, show a video from Field Day 2001
* Friday June 21 - Sunday June 23: Field Day 2002