Able Archer 83\Davidsonville 2019
The annual Able Archer 83 event is an opportunity to set
up and operate military radios from the sixties, seventies and eighties and make
contacts with other Ham stations during a twenty four hour period. The event has
a special issue call W3A and takes place at a former Nike Missile site
(W-25) in Davidsonville Maryland.
Although we are hosted by the Anne Arundel Radio Club we
do not use any of the modern equipment that’s located at their club station. All
equipment is brought to the site and set up that day.
Walt, KB3SBC on twenty meters.
I departed Salisbury around six in the morning to arrive
at Davidsonville just after eight. Two things I wanted to accomplish were
working the MMRCG Net on 7296 (USB) at ten and the MRCA M&S Net
on 5357 (USB) at noon.
Checked into the MMRCG Net with no issues and did copy
all stations. I used my call for the MMRCG net and not the W3A call sign at that
time. At noon using the W3A call I operated as net control for the Moose and
Squirrel Cold-War Clandestine and Long-Range-Reconnaissance-Patrol Net. This was
also the unofficial kickoff for the operations at Davidsonville with the W3A
call for this year.
Walt (KB3SBC) arrived around eleven that morning and set
up a push up mast system for supporting the VHF antenna for 51.0 that provided a
great way to get the inverted V antenna higher off the ground then my fiberglass
poles. We installed the inverted V and used that on forty for an hour or two
before we were allowed to occupy the AARC building. They were doing a VE session
and we were not allowed to use that space until it was over.
Being forty meters tends to be a band that most Hams
insist on using LSB and the GRC-106 is USB only I had a KWM-2A and we set that
up just above the GRC-106 in the mutt and Walt operated around a dozen stations
using that set up. I was able to complete one contact on 51.0 and
that was to a local at the site using a PRC-77 that Walt brought. Later in the
afternoon Walt decided to operate on twenty meters running the GRC-106 into the
whip antenna on the mutt and I decided to drag the KWM-2A out and set it up on
the hood of the mutt and we were able to have two stations operating at the same
time.
Around three or four that afternoon we were allowed to
set up the main operating position in the AARC building. With great difficulty
we drug the Harris RF-350k into the building along with the Collins KWM-2A and
set the radios up using a Windom antenna connected to the big Harris.
I spent much time before the event playing around with a
pair of analog four wired field telephones. Had to do some repairs along with
finding a bunch of D cell batteries and all that with the idea of setting up a
phone system between the mutt and the main operating position in the building.
The problem was by the time we were able to set up in the building it was
getting late and I was planning on departing before it got too late so the phone
system was never put into operation. I did set it up so we were at least able to
play with them and several of the people at the event got to talk on them. But
did notice that the one that had a bad connection on the receive side that I
thought I had fixed had started having issues again so looks like I will need to
do more work on them.
Around five that evening I loaded up the mutt and
departed the site leaving Walt and the crew to carry on for the rest of the
event. I did return around noon the next day to collect up a radio and was told
that they did at least another thirty or so contacts overnight. That gave us a
total of just under a hundred contacts for the event, but it is important to
understand that’s it’s not about the number of contacts as much as it is an
excuse to drag out all the radios and play with them.
What aspects of the project work?
The M151/GRC-106 set up worked great. This time the
VRC-43 (RT-246) worked and did not fail although we did not have much activity
on that other than one contact and calling CQ.
What didn't work and why?
Think the biggest issue is getting others to come out and
take part. It’s a twenty four hour event and I was only on site for around ten
hours. If we had more people take part I am certain that we can push the contact
count way up. Back when this was on top of a mountain up in Hamburg PA they had
a larger turn out but moving down to Davidsonville has resulted in a smaller
turnout and additional operators are needed, It would also be an opportunity for
people to bring out and show off their radios in a field environment along with
demonstrating operating skills, and we are located right between Baltimore and
Washington but none of that crowd shows up.
Hardware failures were limited to small things like the
field phones and a short problem with the push to talk switch on the Collins
needing a field repair. And there were poor band conditions overnight.
What would you change if given a second chance?
Unlike Gilbert MRCA and the Aberdeen MVPA shows we use
shore power or battery power so no generator noise but I could have used another
hundred feet of extension cord. Also I use an external AC power supply that
feeds the mutt twenty eight volts for running all the radios and may look at
adding an AC power outlet to the big power supply so any additional equipment
like the KWM-2A that may show up can be powered. Ended up using a modern plug
strip and that takes away from the base idea of the event seeing a plastic plug
strip.
Side panels for the mutt may be good for keeping the wind
and cold out, know that the back window dose help so may add a panel or two on
the sides.
And maybe the idea that if we added a backpack or field
exercise that would generate additional interest? Its nice country around the
site and would give the opportunity for all the people who have PRC-25/77,
PRC-74 or 104 sets or anything else a chance to take the radios out in the field
and use them.
Ray F/KA3EKH
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Nov 19