HOTARC 2012 Field Day Results
by Jim Jud KA5QKL
Along with a typically hot summer day in Waco (106° & 107° highs!), HOTARC was sizzling this year, despite having to give up the pavilion for a large part of Saturday (due to a scheduling snafu). The hams working in the HOTARC trailer made over 1100 phone contacts, with Keith W5TTL amassing nearly 400 contacts all by himself. Way to go Keith!! In total, we contacted nearly ALL sections in North America.
On the CW side, John Curry K5IMC was "running hot" in the Chinook with nearly 800 contacts! Clint AE5CA tried to keep up with John on CW, but fell a little short with 32. :-) But that was 32 more than the rest of us put up! Way to go Clint! With the 2012 Field Day, John has participated in 56 consecutive Field Days! Wow! And maybe an ARRL record! So we had a record-making photo op with Vice Director Stratton of ARRL's West Gulf Division, who arrived at Hewitt Park on Sunday morning, and stayed about two hours visiting with us.
Other VIPs in attendance included "Doc" Anderson, our State Representative, Rusty Smith (Robinson Police Chief), and Frank Patterson (Waco McLennan County EMC). We also received a nice letter from Ken Starr, Baylor President who thanked us for his invitation, but could not attend since he was out of the country.
And not to be outdone, we had new members Amy Oakley KF5PGB, Mike Hancock N5TCC, Bob Tarbet KF5RMT, and others working the GOTA station, totaling an impressive 120 contacts. Like the trailer station, they also contacted nearly all USA sections. Way to go!!
Overall, it was a great radio weekend for HOTARC: lots of radio-activity, no heat-related health problems and, to my knowledge, no injuries. Our submitted W5ZDN 2A NTX 2012 Field Day score (thanks to Clint's diligent math work), totaled 6828 points and almost 2400 contacts!! This may very well be a HOTARC record!! Bravo team!
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