The South Carroll Amateur Radio Group participated in Field Day 2012 using callsign N3DUE.  Four amateurs were invited but only two were able to participate, Alan N3DUE and Forrest WA3FAE.  The station operated class 2E using a mixture of fixed antennas and temporary wire antennas.

                Anticipating openings on 10, 15 and possibly 6 meters, a Par EndFedZ antenna for 10M and an inverted vee for 15M were raised, along with an existing AV620 vertical for 6M.  These bands were quite disappointing with a combination of high noise and alternating congestion and a lack of stations.  This made the start of FD slow for the SSB station while the CW station worked 40M and piled up the contacts.

                Weather was not a factor this year, with the severe thunderstorms politely occurring the day before without inflicting any damage to our setup.  The outside temperature was high but not oppressive in our garage location.  Floor fans supplied the “air conditioning” and coffee the stimulant.  Atmospheric noise was summertime high but not full of thunderstorm crashes.

                Radios used were old staples, an Icom IC-756 Pro III for SSB, an Elecraft K3 for CW and an Icom IC-706MKIIG for backup.  Laptop computers used FDLog and wired Ethernet for logging and some CW generation.  An APC UPS connected to a generator ran the radios in order to keep the operation going during generator refueling, which occurred once.  The Honda EU6500i generator will run around 12-14 hours without fueling.

                Dedicated ARRL Section Manager Jim Cross, WI3N, showed up at 3:30 AM to visit our station.  He gave us reflections of what he had seen at other FD sites and provided a welcome interruption and conversation to wake us up.

                The antennas are put away, the radios back in place and lessons-learned written and filed.  It’s now up to the sunspots to supply a good time for FD 2013!  73, WA3FAE.