There are a lot more people out there now who know that Ham Radio operators practice for emergencies that had never heard of field day or ham radio.

Thanks to Rick, KA0KZB, Ralph, KV0R, John, KC7KML, Marvin, NS7T, and Jean, W4CIH for getting W7ASC "on the air" for Field Day. W7ASC operated (2D AZ) with special certificates for the kids. A special Field Day Brochure was generated by the Science Center that explained about Field Day and Amateur Radio participation in emergency communications. A First Class product!

Aside from the regular '2D' operation at the exhibit, we had a special Hospitality table in the main lobby to attract attention with two rigs tuned to field day. Since the lobby is below ground level the "ground wave" propagation did not make for good reception. With the help of the ASC staff we were able to get a wire long enough for some of the traffic on 20M to be heard. But even with a 20 foot wire strung from the second floor balcony (slightly above ground) to the lobby floor reception was barely readable.

Actual contacts were made in the W7ASC Ham Shack. The Ham volunteers made several contacts with the help of the guests and had good traffic most of the day. To bring in a few more guests we had a video Kiosk set up in the hallway showing the ARRL "Amateur Radio Today" video.

Kids are a little shy about getting into the middle of a field day pile up and a contest concept. We did have 10 kids actually make field day contacts. More time was spent explaining the reasons for Field Day and its concept than actually getting on the air.

Before we got started we had a visit from Channel 12 TV News, Ralph Craner made quite a show of explaining our effort. Not very many contact points, but max'd out on the public demonstration allowances. Channel 12 spent about 20 minutes there on Saturday and W7ASC was supposed to be on 6 o'clock news. Don't think it made it. Oh, well. The same happened Sunday with Channel 3 spending almost an hour in the W7ASC shack. Ralph had the photographer convinced she needed to get a Ham license! The channel 3 segment was supposed to be on the 5 to 5:30 news but the Diamond Backs game went overtime and the news was abbreviated.

The General license class is scheduled to start July 15th at the Arizona Science Center Boardroom "A". The class will be for 7 Saturdays with Morse Code included. As of this time we have 15 signed up. The next Tech class is planned to start at MCC October 7th.

We continue to need volunteers for W7ASC, especially for this fall after Labor Day! Spread the word at your Ham Club. Call Bob at 480-961-1109 and volunteer now. A Volunteer sign-up page is available at ww.w7asc.org