This year The Central Virginia Contest Club will be participating in the ARRL Field Day under the "CVCC Banner". The dates are Saturday, June 27th, and Sunday, June 28th. Actual on the air operations will begin at 2:00 p.m on Saturday and cease at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. You and your guest(s) are cordially invited to participate with us. Our 2009 Field Day site will be located at the "Short Pump Park" on Pump Road, Western Henrico County as it was last year. We plan to enter the 2A category complete with GOTA and VHF stations.

As a contest club we treat this operating event as a contest and try to maximize points but we keep in mind the true purpose of Field Day which is as stated by the ARRL, "to demonstrate the communications ability of the amateur radio community in simulated emergency situations. First, and foremost, Field Day should be a fun activity. Field Day serves as one of the biggest introductory “drawing cards” we offer in trying to expand interest in the hobby."

While we will try to maximize QSO points we will also strive to maximize "bonus points" generated by informing the general populace and public officials about the capabilities of "ham" radio as well as getting generally inactive amateurs back on the air. If your forte is in these areas rather than operating we can use your help and support.

We especially need help at our GOTA (Get-on-the-Air) station. If you participated with us last year in this area and are still generally inactive, you can do so again this year. If you are a licensed operator who has not been active for a time this is your chance to revive your interest in amateur radio. If you have friends or family who are not licensed operators but who would like to see first hand what ham radio is all about by actually making a few contacts, our Control Operators and GOTA coaches will guide them along in this respect. We could use some youth participation also. Youth is defined as a participant 18 years or younger. We will strive to make this our best Field Day event ever and have lots of fun doing it!

We can also use someone who can set up and man a satellite station. This is good for bonus points as well as QSO points and can be a very interesting to the public at large. This can help demonstrate the fact that "this in not your grandpa's ham radio" but that "hams" are indeed on the forefront of communications technology.

We will need volunteers to make this a successful effort.
Our schedule for operators is Chaired by W1ZA - Duke Brown
Our antenna crew is Chaired by N4LSP - Mike Baker
Our equipment setup is Chaired by W4MYA - Bob Morris
Our power setup is Chaired by KF4QQY - Barry Twigg with assistance from W1HZ- Jonathan Payne

If you have the desire to help with these tasks and/or plan to operate,
please contact these individuals.

The following email addresses are for your convenience for contact.

W4PM - Puck Motley - hmmjr@comcast.net - CVCC President & FD Cordinator
W1ZA - Duke Brown - W1ZA@comcast.net - Operator Scheduling
N4LSP - Mike Baker - mlbwingborn@msn.com - Antennas
W4MYA - Bob Morris - rsmorris@nelsoncable.com - Equipment
KF4QQY - Barry Twigg - barry_twigg@wildblue.net - Power

You will shortly be receiving an e-mail from Duke, W1ZA, who is handling scheduling of operators for this event. If you want to operate please respond to his e-mail. We need to fill all the slots and keep the rigs hot the entire 24 hours!

We also need lots of help setting up the field day operation. We will be meeting on Saturday, June 27 at the Gaskins Road Cracker Barrel for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. followed by the commencement of set up operations at Short Pump Park at 9:00 a.m. We can use all the help we can get.

The CVCC looks forward to hearing from you and seeing you at Field Day 2009. Feel free to contact me by e-mail or phone if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Howard "Puck" Motley W4PM
President & FD Coordinator
Central Virginia Contest Club

Phone: 804-550-3423