Our big topic for this month will be Field Day. John, K3OLE found a wonderful place for us to have our Field Day setup at the University of Maryland’s Horn Point a few miles west of Cambridge. We had a large pavilion to operate out of and it was right on the banks of the Choptank River with a beautiful grassy area for us to set up our tower and antennas.

In all the years that EARS has been in existence, I believe we had the best turnout and most equipment set up for Field Day that we have ever had.

We had a total of 13 members who attended this year, W3PAW, K3OLE, K3RUQ, KB3HVE, KB9MEJ, N3OUE, N3TAF, KB3HYJ, KB3HSJ, W3YRS, KB3HYX, and KB3HGP. Stephanie, KB3HYX was having her wedding shower the same day as Field Day but she came down for a quick visit on Saturday.

She said she would be with us next year! Paul, W3PAW was our “star performer” for Field Day. He really spent a lot of time and money making everything happen for us. At his metal shop he made a base for the 40’ Rohn 25 tower we installed and made guy anchors. He also made nice metal covers for the picnic tables for the equipment to sit on which also gave us a good writing area at each station. Paul brought a stake body truck with two Lincoln generators and another truck full of equipment for us to use. The 40’ Rohn tower we used was lent to us by Marty, W3YOZ. We had 4 HF stations set up and a separate 10 meter station as well as slow scan TV that Chris and Lucas operated…We had two notable visitors at Field Day, W3TOM, Tom who is the ARRL Mid Atlantic Director. Also visiting was N9GG, Bob Penneys from HRO in Wilmington who came to operate for a while. Lee, KA3HYJ did a great job on the grill cooking the food which was paid for the club. The Daily Banner did a wonderful photo article on Field Day, with a long detailed account which mentioned our EARS web site for possible new people who would like to become hams.

Lucas, KB9MEJ gets the award for staying up the entire 24 hour period and operating, and Chris, KB3HVE only had a few hours sleep!

Mike, N3OUE said that we have received our $500.00 check for providing the communications at the Triathlon and that everyone was pleased with the communications from our club. Brett, KB3HGP suggested that we have a VHF Marine radio next year so we could also monitor on that as well.

John, K3OLE said that our club’s liability insurance has been paid for the year.

Chris, KB3HVE was presented with a fancy hat for his good service as Tuesday night net control. The hat says “KB3HVE E.A.R.S. Net Control”
Please remember to check in our Tuesday night net at 7 PM on 147.045.

Brett, KB3HGP says that there will be no more RACES meeting or drills until September.

At our June meeting Marty, W3YOZ talked about the W3SO contest station in Altoona, PA where club members W3YOZ, W3PAW and K3RUQ helped operate the June VHF contest along with about 10 other W3SO members. Marty said that the score this year is the best yet in the 7 years they have been operating from on top of the mountain.

The last couple months have really been busy for our EARS club. We have now completed our hamfest, triathlon, and Field Day events all with flying colors. There are about 15 club members who have made these events “happen”.

The next club event will be our ham radio classes which will start in September.

Hope to see everyone at the July 15th meeting.

Tinsley Meekins Jr K3RUQ
EARS Secretary
410 228 8888
k3ruq@arrl.net