06/30/2007 | WC4M The Covington County 2007 Field Day Exercise was a joint effort of the Opp Amateur Radio Club and the South Alabama Radio Club. We were located in the beautiful Frank Jackson State Park in Opp, AL. With simple dipoles and batteries, we were able to work 46 states this year. (Missed Idaho, Wyoming, Alaska, and Hawaii)

The event started for our group on Friday morning with homemade biscuits and a breakfast cassarole made in dutch ovens and on charcoal. We were invited to a local radio station for their morning talk show to talk about Amateur Radio and Field Day. We made several antennas during the day for those who needed them. We also tested the solar panels that acted as our battery charger.

Friday evening meal was a "Low country Boil" consisting of corn on the cob, sausage, potatoes, and shrimp along with some fried mullet, hush puppies, french fries, and all the fixings. Following the meal, we spent several hours sharing stories and just having a good time.

Saturday we started our operations in ernest with (2) local radio stations doing "live" remotes from the from the Field Day site. Although it was hot (99.5 ), we did have several visitors attend and we shared info on how to get started in Amateur Radio.

Saturday evening was another good meal consisting of Grilled Chicken Quarters and Pork Chops, hot dogs, sausage dogs, potato and Pea salad, baked beans, turnip greens,and fresh sliced tomatoes.

Desserts included pecan and peanut butter pies, homemade cookies, a peach cobbler baked in a dutch oven on site, and homemade vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

Operations went well Saturday night other than it was hard to stay awake with a full stomach. Take down on Sunday also went well.

In summary, I am sure that most Clubs had higher contest scores than our group this year but I doubt seriously if any group anywhere ate any better or had more fun than our group from Covington County Alabama. -- KE4HIE