Another year, another Field Day! Yeah, we're in a rut -- same place, same folks, same basic setup. Not much changed from the Field Day 2003 writeup. Well, we've gotten older, and my son Alex (KG6MOV) has grown, a lot!
First, thanks to Mike and Mary Jo for the continued hospitality! If you're looking for a great place to stay in the California Gold Country, Querencia is hard to beat.
Even Murphy seemed to cooperate this year -- the weather was cool, hardly above 80 degrees during the day, and the only time the winds really whipped up were when we were putting up or taking down antennas! We had a brief scare Sunday morning; we run on solar power (8 solar panels charging 4 golf cart batteries) and it was overcast! We weren't sure if we'd get enough photons to run the show! But the sun was out in full by the time Alex got up (he's a teenager).
Oh, we had the usual problems, hardware working itself loose and escaping during the drive up, things left on the workbench back at the house, that kind of thing. Charlie had his "newer" truck, with more room and a much more comfortable ride. I was glad it was cool, as the air conditioning crapped out on mine.
Each year we fine-tune things a bit. This year we replaced more hardware on the beam and the vertical with stainless and nylocks. When we packed up, we used most of my velcro cable wraps securing things. For next year, I want to try a different support for the NVIS, and maybe use something other than a clip lead going to a fuse holder for the antenna switch. Alex wants to try some of the digital modes, so we'll play with those during the year. Maybe Charlie will get the 40 meter kit put on the beam.
If those things happen, great. If they don't, as long as we make it back healthy, that's the important part. For us, Field Day is an opportunity for relaxing and having fun.
The contest? Contacts? Yeah, we made those. But as I said, we have fun. We take breaks for meals, for sleeping, looking at the stars, for more meals (Mike and Mary Jo are superb cooks). Worked Alaska early Saturday, on 20 I think. Picked up MDC (Maryland-DC) early as well (21A! Sounds like work!) Nevada is usally a tough one -- too close and over a mountain range. Charlie picked up Nevada on 15, and I seem to remember working Nevada on 40 with the NVIS. Tried to copy one of the W1AW bulletins, but a bunch of clowns were rag-chewing on top of it. Didn't hear Maine, and I think West Virginia, the Dakotas.
You really learn about propagation working contests like Field Day, how propagation shifts during the day, and what your antennas will do! Still convincing Alex that power isn't everything -- those solid contacts with the QRP stations in San Diego and South Florida helped. If propagation is good and they can do it on 5 watts, we can do it with 100!
I spent most of my air time having fun on 40 using the NVIS, and some time on 20 and 10 with the vertical. Charlie used the beam, working mostly 20 and 15. Alex hopped around, working 40, 20, and 15. 10 meters sucked -- think we made 5 contacts total on 10! Don't think we did much sniping this year; that's where Alex or I try (and try and try) to work someone on the vertical, and finally have Charlie work them with the beam. We also worked a lot of other stations signing SJV -- and all of them we talked to were glad it was cool this year. Two years ago it was over 104F during the day! Last year, I think it was (only) in the mid 90's.
Listen for us again next year -- AE6FD, 2A SJV!
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