Howard Cripe (N0AZ) mans his solar-powered digital station just inside the Peg Barn
Approaching showers forced members of the Santa Fe Trail Amateur Radio Club to begin the tear-down process a couple of hours early during Field Day 2025, but by then Howard Cripe, NØAZ, had already managed to rack up 20 important contacts - count 'em - using his solar-powered digital station located in the Peg Barn at Ensor Park and Museum in Olathe. Pictures from the event may be viewed in the Club Picture Album under the Field Day folder.
According to Field Day co-coordinator Jim Andera, KØNK, the presence of Howard's station enabled the club "to help fill in some operating gaps" Saturday, June 28 and Sunday, June 29 while allowing it to receive credit from the American Radio Relay League for having made some solar-powered contacts.
Information compiled by Mike Stewart, NØTU, for Jim put the total number of contacts for the 24-hour event sponsored by the ARRL at 672. The three stations responsible for the club's 3A classification this year, a single-sideband station, a Morse code station and a digital station, collectively accounted for 632 of these contacts.
The SSB station was positioned on the front porch of the historic Ensor home where amateur radio pioneers Marshall Ensor, W9BSP, and his younger sister Loretta, W9UA, grew up, while the continuous wave (CW) station was set up just to the west of the two-story house.
Meanwhile, the conventional digital station, operating FT8/FT4, occupied the club trailer, which was parked at the south end of the parking lot relatively close to the driveway.
In addition to the SSB station, the CW station and the digital station, the club operated a six-meter station beyond the north end of the parking lot and a Get-On-The-Air station on the front porch just around the corner from the SSB station.
Between the SSB station, the CW station, the conventional and solar-powered digital stations, the six-meter station and the GOTA station, club hams "remained pretty active," Jim reported recently. In fact, he noted, more than one station was on the air "into the wee hours of the morning" on the 29th.
Jim also reported that hams across North America were "disappointed" that the ionosphere didn't support communication "very well" on frequencies above 21 megahertz (i.e., 15 meters). As a result, employing the club's call sign, KSØKS, club hams relied on 20 meters, 40 meters and, at night, 80 meters to do "the bulk of the work" in getting messages to or from other operators. That said, they still recorded some contacts on 15 meters.
According to Jim, some overnight rain and a morning gust of wind left the CW station "a bit wet" and sent its protective canopy "cartwheeling away," respectively.
But the 50-foot tower trailer for the six-meter station "performed well" when Field Day commenced at 1 p.m. on the 28th, as Larry Hall, KDØRIU, the vice president of the club, and Tom Apalenek, WA2IVD, had already put in the necessary effort to ensure that the tower could be raised and lowered "smoothly." The tower trailer was "pressed into service" by the club for the first time only a year ago.
Referring to visitors, Jim described the turnout for Field Day as "good" and said several hams showed up at Ensor Park and Museum and subsequently participated in the operation. He also said several non-hams dropped by to observe the activities in progress.
The latter group included five Army reservists from Belton, Missouri. They spent at least an hour at the site with the goal of "becoming more familiar with radio communications" in mind, and most of them even took full advantage of the opportunity to give the GOTA station a try.
Finally, Jim related that again this year there was a "great turnout" of club hams on the morning of Friday, June 27 and the morning of the 28th to assist with the time-consuming task of setting up the various radio stations and the antennas they require.
Field Day 2025 Results:
Summary:
Entry received at: 2025-07-20 19:34:47
Call Used: KS0KS GOTA Station Call: W9BSP ARRL/RAC Section: KS Class: 3A
Participants: 41 Club/Group Name: SFTARC (Santa Fe Trail ARC, Olathe, KS)
Power Source(s): Generator, Battery, Solar
Power Multiplier: 2X
Preliminary Total Score: 3,747
