Message from Mick W9BE

I am pleased to report to you that the 2024 SVARC Field Day is in the books.   As you know we decided to have the event at the club due to circumstances, and everyone who attended agreed that it was a good call since the late summer heat came early this year. 

We operated the club stations as 2D and everyone who wanted to operated got a chance to give it a go. 

Quite a few folks were interested in FT8 and used the opportunity to see how easy it was on the Flex radios.   

Everyone who came contributed to the success of the event and I thank you for allowing me to be the head cheerleader this year.  Several people brought food for the event and made my job far easier.   People stepped in to help when the need was seen and no one had to be asked.   

I want to thank in particular John and Elizabeth Cottrell,  WD4GEK / W4EHC for their contributions of guidance and food that they brought.   They went way above the call of duty to ensure that I could focus on the guests.  

I also want to thank Gary Fortun, K4GJF and John Foote, W3GX for their outstanding set up of the stations.  Most folks don’t realize just how much time Gary dedicates to the craft of station building.  I know he spent at least one week making sure we had a top notch station to work with.  John was there working with Gary, and without that effort it would have been much more difficult to pull off the Field Day event.  

I also want to thank Tom Sherwood, KW4CW for taking some of his time and helping to coordinate  the event.  As you are all aware Tom is taking care of his wife after surgery, and for him to reach out to me to make sure the club was ready to go touched me and speaks volumes about how much he cares about the club.

Now that the event is over it is time to focus on the SVARC Berryville Hamfest. 

I want to say thank you to the club for allowing me to be a part of the success of this great club.  

Mick Stutler, W8BE
SVARC VP
SVARC Berryville Hamfest Chair
w8be.us@gmail.com