Here Is A Special RANDOM ACCESS THOUGHT For Saturday June 25TH, 2011! All The Action At The Schenectady Museum Amateur Radio Association's Field Day!

Here Is A Special RANDOM ACCESS THOUGHT For Saturday June 25TH, 2011! All The Action At The Schenectady Museum Amateur Radio Association's Field Day 2011! Among The Usual Gang, The Quiet Tim W2QAC, Crush W2CCR, Tony W2BEJ And Dave NF2G! 20 Meters! PSK31! Cheese Fixes, Knitting Looms, Antennas! A Good Time Being Had By All! AND! AND!! The BuckEye Bullet Too!

http://soundcloud.com/the-buffetline/ratp110625-smara-field-day

AMATEUR RADIO FIELD DAY ON THE MIGHTY MOHAWK!

This Saturday, Zach and I made the scene at the Rotterdam Kiwanis Park in lovely Rotterdam Junction, New York for the annual Amateur Radio Field Day. The Schenectady Museum Amateur Radio Association (SMARA) had established an in-the-field multi-operator ham station which ran entirely on emergency backup power, in this case, a basic every day gasoline-driven generator. Among those on hand were: Tony W2BEJ, Chris (Crush/Crash) W2CCR, Dan KC2VEX and Tim W2QAC. There were many others participating but I was not able to secure their names or call signs. Several vertical antennas along with a wire dipole were raised and while we were on site, a multi-band Yagi antenna was being constructed. Computers were linked via a wireless router.

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The weather initially left a lot to be desired as it poured big time but eventually the clouds and precip gave way to a sunnier sky. Herewith a handful of still shots take at the 2011 Amateur Radio Field Day with all the guys and gals at the Schenectady Museum Amateur Radio Association.

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1) Heavy rains have brought the Mohawk River to uncomfortably high levels but the guys and gals at SMARA forge on with Field Day 2011!

2) Just below Tim W2QAC and a fellow ham scrutinize one of the station setups at Rotterdam Kiwanis Park operating under the club call sign W2IR!

3) Chris W2CCR works the PSK31 position, having just worked W1AW, the amateur radio station of the American Radio Relay League, on 40 meters!

4) This tent houses the SMARA GOTA (Get On The Air) station for interested visitors who might have an interest in becoming an amateur radio operator!

5) While the Quiet Tim W2QAC works Field Day on 7 MHz, My Number One And Only Son Zach KC2VWY works Link and The Legend Of Zelda on one of those amazing Nintendo 3DS devices!

6) Here, Dan KC2VEX works Facebook on 800 MHz/1900 MHz!

7) I came across a cornerstone for the Rotterdam Kiwanis Park with a date of 1939 on the face plate. The shoes are mine!

The Random Access Thought Covers KIDS DAY 2010!

On Sunday, January 3rd, my number one and only son Zach and I made the yearly pilgrimage to the Schenectady Museum to participate in KIDS DAY. KIDS DAY is a nationwide ham radio event sponsored by the American Radio Relay League and covered on the local front by the Schenectady Museum Amateur Radio Association. On hand to greet visitors young and old alike, and to show them the mysteries of amateur radio, were Mike KB2VQS, James N2UZQ, Jerry WA2IWW, Daniel KC2VEX, along with Zach KC2VWY and yours truly Bill N2FNH.
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Armed with my trusty cheap forty-nine dollar Radio Shack audio cassette recorder, otherwise known as the C49DRSACR, I was able to secure what I like to refer to as audio snapshots. These audio snapshots were then clipped, trimmed and rolled up into a neat seven and a half minute Random Access Thought special feature currently posted on TWAUDIO and soon to be heard on an upcoming This Week In Amateur Radio. Zach did the hosting chores while I got in close, microphone in hand, with some really amazing kids who were equally amazed by everything they saw and heard. Factored into the mix too are some vintage late 1950's animation sound effects. A RAT is not a RAT without some of those!
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So! Check out the SMARA webpage at http://www.smara.com/ for more on this ham radio club's special events activities. Likewise, click on http://www.twiar.org/ for all the latest amateur radio news and views.
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What follows are some mug shots of the usual suspects:

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THE MIKE DEVICE KB2VQS!
JAMES N2UZQ!
JERRY WA2IWW!

DAN KC2VEX!

THE Z MAN!

THE SMARA DISPLAY TABLE!

ZOOM DAY! ZOOM INTO TECHNOLOGY! That's the Subject...!

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ZOOM INTO TECHNOLOGY! is the theme of this week's Random Access Thought, heard exclusively over This week in Amateur Radio. ZOOM INTO TECHNOLOGY! is a special event for children sponsored by the Schenectady Museum and supported by the Schenectady Museum Amateur Radio Association.

MNOAOS Zach and I, with my trusty C49DRSACTR, made the pilgrimage to the museum to capture and document the extemporaneous thoughts and comments of the children who came to visit the museum and specifically to the SMARA Club Radio Station.

Club President Mike KB2VQS had the primary HF station set up to emphasize digital PSK31 communications while James N2UZQ had a straight key rigged to a computer to not only hear the Morse letters tapped out but also to see them on a monitor. Tony W2BEJ was the official greeter, host and refreshments guy who steered the kids into a state of high caloric wonder.

While the kids were mesmerized by the ham gear (Remember, they've never seen this stuff before so it's new and absolutely amazing to them!), I slipped my cheap RadioShack microphone in close to preserve any gasps of wonderment!

Zach is the host of this week's ZOOM DAY Random Access Thought which can be heard via podcast, shortwave radio and maybe even over your local repeater on This Week in Amateur Radio and This Week in Amateur Radio International.

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So download this week's This Week in Amateur Radio Ham Service and the TWIARi Broadcast version, or even better connect to http://www.twiar.org/n2fnh/RATParts Look for file number RAT081112_ZOOM_BCQ.cab or RAT081112_ZOOM_HAM.cab, right click and "Save Target As" to your hardddrive. Use your WinZIP or IZArc to extract the select RAF audio WAV file inside!

Kids' Day at the Schenectady Museum!

This week's Random Access Thought for the week ending June 21st was recorded on location at the Schenectady Museum back in early January of this year. The Schenectady Museum Amateur Radio Association sponsored Kid's Day 2008 which was held at SMARA's big ham station inside the museum. Children and their parents were invited to drop by, have a look at all the gear and then give the kids a chance to see what amateur radio is all about. Zach and I made the pilgrimage: Zach got a shot getting on HF 40 meters while I canvassed and interviewed the kids for this special Random Access Thought.

In the associated RAT promo, Zach and his pal Bix Nix are exploring the incredibly high-ceilinged and heavily darkened halls of Big City Museum. This promo also featured the debut of Cigman Krasnov who apparently does recorded announcements for Big City Museum. In the meantime, be sure to download the podcast for TWIAR edition #793 and TWIARi edition #178 right away!