06/24/2007 | K1KI/M Sure had an enjoyable tour of Eastern Massachusetts Field Day sites! Drove about 450 miles and hit nine locations: Framingham ARA - W1FY, Algonquin ARC - N1EM, Wellesley ARS - W1TKZ, Boston ARC - W1BOS, Police Amateur Radio Team of Westford - WB1GOF, Nashoba Valley ARC - N1NC, Philips ARC - W1HP, Cape Ann ARA - W1GLO, and the North Shore ARA - NS1RA.

The Framingham ARA had big plans for a Saturday picnic and BBQ, and the radio operating would come later. Nice QTH in a state park.

The Algonquin ARC was set up in the Marlboro MA EOC. When I arrived they were just finishing up the station setup as FD started.

The Wellesley ARS had the gazebo in a public park converted for several operating positions and information for the public. The big event was to be Saturday night dinner.

A hilltop south of Boston was the Boston ARC QTH - the same one they've used for many years. They've gotten to know the trees that were one saplings and are now antenna supports. The view of downtown Boston in the distance was a bonus.

The crew at PART of Westford took a different approach, president WA1QYM explained that they had so many new hams and upgrades that they designed FD around a serious of seminars and mentoring sessions, instead of just making QSOs. They didn't dissappoint!

The Nashoba Valley ARC was set up on conservation land near the MA/NH border - in the middle of an old apple orchard. They even had some aerial photos of last year to use for planning - and this year's aerial photo team had just flown over.

The Philips ARC (used to be HP) was located on the corporate campus in Andover MA. They've learned over the years that the have to arrange for the automatic sprinklers to be turned off.

It was just after sunset when I arrived in Rockport MA to look for the Cape Ann ARC. It took 20 minutes of searching to find their sign (who expects visitors when it's dark) and joined a team in their RV for a nice chat, trying to avoid the swarm of mosquitos outside.

Now it was getting pretty late, but I pressed on to find the North Shore RA - I hear they had 80+ people to a BBQ for dinner earlier! Not sure how I found it, but I turned on the right streets and ended up hopping over a stone wall to the park where all of their tents and operating positions were active. Found a couple of people rummaging through the leftovers in the food area, signed the guest book, and found the action was inside the operating tents. Nearly knocked over one antenna when I "found" a guy wire on the way out!

Didn't make it to the Billerica/MITRE group or the combined Worcester ECT/Central Mass ARC effort at the Worcester EOC - by now it was 11:30pm and I was done for the day!

All in all, a nice drive, and saw a lot of well organized FD efforts. Even made forty or fifty CW QSOs while mobile between FD sites.

See you next year --- Tom/K1KI/m -- K1KI