Due to late planning, many choice locations were not available. Field day temperatures in Amarillo were 110° and an indoor site would have accommodated more of our elmer participants. However, the Don Harrington Discovery Center was gracious to allow us to set up in their front lawn overnight. The Discovery Center is a youth learning center geared toward science and history (Dinosaurs!) and proved to be a great public location which was evidenced by the GOTA results. Our phone operators picked up a W5WX record number of single point contacts, but we only had one primary digital operator, and virtually no CW operators. We also lost some bonus points for things such as an educational activity or VIP visits. With early planning, hopefully we will be able to book an indoor/outdoor site next year to accommodate both our armchair operators and our outdoors adventure types as well. All who were able to withstand the heat seemed to enjoy the competition. I believe the star of our Field Day was a 13 year-old young man named Caleb from Guthrie Oklahoma who was visiting the Discovery Center with his parents and younger brother. Caleb made his first contact on the GOTA station and begged his parents to let him continue. He didn’t stop until he met his 20 contact goal. His parents promised him a radio if he passed the test. I am excited to get his 20 Contact W5WX Certificate in the mail to him!

Overall, those who were able to participate pulled together as a team well and operated under extreme temperatures and conditions to make a record number of contacts for our club.