The Montgomery Amateur Radio Club (MARC) 2008 Field Day location was Montgomery College, Germantown Campus in Montgomery County, Maryland.

The club operated a 2-radio, low-power (Class 2A) operation in the event. In addition to the 2 main radios, we also made available a "Get on the Air" (GOTA) station for new-, inactive-, and non-hams who wished to participate in a less formal, assisted environment. Don't miss an account of a new ham's 2008 MARC Field Day experiences at KB3RGW's journal.

The following antennas were available:

• 80 meters: Shirley NVIS (NVIS theory)
• 40 meters: 3 element binomial array + NVIS Jamaica
• 15 meters: 2-element vertical dipole array
• Full-sized G5RV for the GOTA station

Knots we found useful for guying vertical masts included the taut line and the bowline (and another bowline example) (h/t to W3TDH). Another useful knot page is Animated Knots by Grog (h/t to KA1NCN).

For a full explanation of GOTA and other event information, see the 2008 ARRL Field Day rules. Wikipedia offers background on the concept of Field Day. In the December 1999 issue of QST, K3RA provided a fascinating history of Field Day (PDF).

Main station results:

Band	CW QSOs	SSB QSOs	CW Points	SSB Points
80	3	301	6	301
40	259	571	518	571
20	5	12	10	12
15	0	105	0	105
10	0	48	0	38
6	0	2	0	2
	267	1039	534	1039

GOTA station results:

Band	CW QSOs	SSB QSOs	CW Points	SSB Points
40	0	8	0	8
20	0	182	0	182
	0	190	0	190

QSO Point Totals

• Grand total QSO points: 1,953
• Power multiplier (*2): 3,906

Bonus points

• Two emergency-power transmitters: 200
• Media: 100
• Public Location: 100
• Message Origination: 100
• Message Handling: 100
• Solar: 100
• W1AW bulletin: 100
• Web submission: 50

Final Score: 5,156

The MARC 2007 Field Day submitted score was 4,746.

For comparison, some early reported scores from other 2A operations include:

• W8AV: 5,538
• AK9D: 1,352
• KH6EJ: 4,572

For for additional claimed FD scores, visit the 3830 Mailing List. You can find other entries in our class by searching 2A LP in the search field at the top of the 3830 page.