On June 23 and 24, 2001, the Dade Radio Club and the South Florida FM Association got together to put on Field Day 2001.   The event was held at the brand new Miami-Dade Emergency Operations Center.   

Hot off the cameras... pictures from a very successful Field Day Operation.   While it may have rained a lot, we had a good shake-down event for the new radio room, we got to educate members of the public and CERT teams. And we ate like kings for two days.  

The press coverage was great with a Sunday article about the event.  Click here to see the Miami Herald story from Julio, WD4JR

To see the generators that were providing power to the operation, click here.   Also, for a full tour of the new EOC, check this link.

Report from Joe, AC4TV

FIELD DAY SATURDAY June 23 2001

Field day has arrived, and we had a GREAT turnout. I was at the EOC from 0900 till 1700 and I saw at least fifty people present. The radio room was being put to good use, the HF rigs were busy, we had an APRS monitor going to show who was where, and the VHF rigs were also quite active. We had a good turnout of new hams as well as some of the older ones. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. LEE N4TCW had cooked up a few pots of his famous chili and barbecued meatballs for lunch. There was also a table with cakes and cookies, soft drinks
and of course coffee. Food serving was being handled by RONNIE KG4DBI. When I left, Ronnie was setting up dinner which looked like it was going to be a sumptuous meal. A fried turkey was on the menu. Judging from the warm-up
trays with STERNO for keeping them warm, a lot of food would be available.

JASON KE4KYY had a class going on emergency communications with about fifteen participating. We also had a group of eight amateurs who were being instructed on how to build quarter wave ground plane emergency antennas.

We also had a couple of the news media present, (Miami Herald) one a photographer, who took pictures in the EOC and the radio room, and the other one was a reporter, Lila Arzua, who interviewed a few of the members who were in the radio room. A number of the membership FM ASSN and DADE ARC were going to spend the night at the EOC and communicate. I guess there will be a little partying going on during the night. Some of the scuttlebutt that I heard was that CASTRO died, but unfortunately was not true, and the second bit was that a merger of the FM Assn and the DADE radio may take place. This was a very successful field day complete with all modes of communication, but minus the heat, water and bugs.

 These pictures are from Robert, KE4MCL.

My truck yacked

Alf

Antenna go kit bag

APRS tracker

Armando at the hf

Armando at the hf2

Bill and his truck

Bill with scout venturing crew

Bryce (call sign pending!)

Building a ground plane

CERT display

CERT display 2

CERT students at radio course

Contemplation crew

Crew working on front lot antenna

Darn Chevy window

David with erv (Who is Erv and why don't we see him?)

Deployment vehicles

Disgruntlement at men's room

Ernesto with APRS

Harry making contact

HF station at EOC

Hollis at the HF

Ivan at the HF

Jason doing show and tell with FRS

Jason explaining the spectrum

Jason teaching CERT folks

Jason with an Ericsson product

Jeff attracting lightning

Joe AC4TV

Joe at the HF

Lee 27's truck

Lee, FD 2001 coordinator

Matt & Ivan working on guy wires

Media entrance at EOC

Bryce making one of his first contacts after passing his amateur test.   Not many Field Day's can end with more hams that it started with.  

Ain't that a cute radio

Old EOC sign

Picture squared

Putting up antenna

Ray fixing beam

Red Cross crowd

Ronnie the cook

Sally and Bryce studying on QRZ.com

Sally with Bryce and Gissell in the pit

Shade area between the sticks

Telescopic mast demo

The pit

Tom

Invitation

Field Day Information

On 23 June 2001 to 24 June 2001 the Dade Radio Club/South Florida F.M. Association/Disaster Communication Assistance Team (D.C.A.T.) will be participating in a nationwide emergency/disaster communications drill. It will be held at the Miami-Dade County Emergency Operations Center (MDFR Headquarters) from 12 noon on Saturday to 4 PM on Sunday. Entrance will be on the west side of the building (Media Entrance). We will be using a variety of radio communications equipment to provide local, regional, national, and international communications. There will be both base (EOC) and field stations set up. We will be using voice, data, and video to communicate. We will have on display some of the newer technologies available for emergency/disaster communications. A number of disaster communications groups will be on hand with demonstrations and information.  Metro-Dade CERT, American Red Cross, and D.C.A.T. are scheduled to be attending. You will even have a chance to talk to another Field Day station somewhere else in the country or the world! At 1 PM on 23 June 2001, we will be giving a training session on how to communicate effectively and efficiently on any type of radio communications system, concentrating on FRS. If you have FRS radios, please bring them ready to use (instruction manuals also if you have them). Any questions contact me at n4tcw@yahoo.com or 305-992-5978.

I would also like to invite you to our meetings. The Dade Radio Club meets at 7:30 PM on the first Tuesday of the month. The South Florida F.M. Association meets at 7:30 PM on the second Monday of the month. Both of these meetings are held at the Emergency Operations Center (MDFR Headquarters). Park in the rear and enter through the rear entrance. The guard will direct you.

Leon S. Ciereszko III, N4TCW