The San Bruno Amateur Radio Club

Field Day 2023 was once again held on Narita Plaza between the San Bruno City Hall and the Library. Last year we were able to put up just two stations and made almost no contacts. This year we increased the number of active stations to six stations from 2 meters to 40. Unlike last year, the weather was cold and miserable unfortunately and made it hard for our members to stay focused on making contacts but we did go through a lot of coffee along the way and yes a boxful of donuts.

As mentioned above, the weather this year was not ideal. In fact, it kinda sucked. We'd hoped to visit with other folks from San Bruno and explain what we do, but it wasn't to be. Just to be sure we checked with the library and they confirmed that it was even a very slow day for them as well. On this topic, as we all say "Maybe Next Year" we certainly hope so.

During this year we've been able to use the Emergency Operations Center for some of our meetings for the first time in several years due to the pandemic. The EOC is located just steps away from Narita Plaza and is a reminder to all of those participating that one of the reasons we participate in Field Days is to sharpen our skills for the day we'll have to show what we can do.

On hand this year to see what we could do and visit with visitors included, Steve Paganelli - K6YUA, Matthew Rappaport - KD6KVH, Pierrot Couch - N6NSY, Joe Fenech, David Harding - WB7WBB, Siddhartha Jain - WV6U, Cesar Katada - AB6BN, Janet Lutus - WB6WGN, Mike Yamamoto - KI6OID, Larry Hardy - KJ6AMP, Chris Christensen -K6SF, and Dave Dornlas - KN6KOO.

Once again, we sent post cards out to local Hams who we'd never encountered with good results. Our postcard effort produced two new members including one who while licensed had never owned or used a radio. Our posts in various social media outlets produced at least three members of our community who had always been interested in Amateur Radio, but never did anything about it until our field day event gave them a chance to visit and ask questions.

As always, we appreciate the support of our City Council. This year Council members Micheal Salazar, Marty Medina and Mayor Rico Medina were good enough to find a few minutes to stop by and see how we were doing. Once again, representatives of our served agencies stopped by as well. Battalion Chief Scott Waldvogel was able to catch up with us as well as the Red Cross's Mike Yamamoto. We thank all those who helped us once again including our Fire Department and our friends at the San Bruno Public Library. Thank you all.

The goal for 2024 is to build on the lessons of this year's event and continue to work to better serve our community.