“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals when it was checked by a violent gust of wind and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness…”

This opening, from the novel "Paul Clifford", with my apologies to the author, Edward Bulwer-Lytton for taking liberty with his prose. I found that this incipit phrase was somewhat appropriate to also describe the weather at our 2019 Field Day location this year.

The Boulder Amateur Radio Club's (BARC) Field Day WØDK (3A CO) operation is always an outdoor event that takes place in the nearby foothills of the Rockies in Boulder, Colorado. Our Field Day location for the past 15 years was once again at the beautiful Betasso Preserve at ~7000’ ASL in the hills above the iconic Boulder Valley below. A Field Day site that provides not only outstanding scenic views but allows us to view wildlife up close and in person. Deer, coyotes, foxes, bears, skunks, raccoons and even rarely seen mountain lions make their home in these hills. There are numerous hiking and biking trails to be used there as well.

At this locale, there is a large open-sided log shelter and BARC constructs SSB and CW operating tents that provide the ham operators with some additional cover from the elements. The weather in June at this elevation can be hot or cold, sunny, chilly, rainy, snowy, windy, cloudy. Some combination, or even ALL, of those pre-described weather conditions could happen during this 24-hour operation. Mountain folk know that they must dress appropriately for any possible weather conditions and that they should dress in layers. Bring sunscreen, a hat, rain gear, extra shoes and socks, sweater, scarf, coat, gloves, boots, etc… You just need to be prepared for anything Mother Nature decides to throw at you within any 24 hours.

Temperature’s here are historically around the mid-’80s with sunny and dry days on this Field Day weekend in June with typical lows in the 60’s. But, this year the high temperature was only 57° (briefly) and the low was 40° with periods of heavy rain showers interspersed with occasional thunder, lightning, and high wind gusts. On the positive side, nary a mosquito, bee or any other nasty biting bug was to be felt or even seen throughout the time we were there.

Once again, our tried and true Field Day crew was up to the task of raising the 55’ retractable tower, assembling and mounting the SteppIR 3-element beam with the 30/40M loop atop the rotator for the SSB station. Then they shot a line over a couple of 40’ Ponderosa Pine trees for the 450 Ω open-wire fed 80M dipole for the CW station. All antennas went up easily and went up safely. The SSB rig was a brand-spanking-new Yaesu FTX-101-D still in it's unopened box! The new Yaesu radio was easy to operate and worked superbly throughout the 24-hour operation. Logging was done on notebook computers at each station utilizing the easy to use and versatile N3FJP Field Day program.

This year we added a digital station running an FT-817 into an AlexLoop to amass some FT-8 contacts as well as having Heimir, W1ANT demonstrate this mode to those hams not familiar with this low-power digital mode. We also had a GOTA station (KEØIGH) in use on 6 meters during a few good openings with Arie, KEØIGH as the GOTA station mentor. One newly Technician-licensed ten-year-old ham made his very first ham radio contact on the GOTA station!

Our CW station ran for the entire 24-hour operation with Carey, KXØR and Mark, W7UM doing yeoman duty. Then, a new (to the Boulder area) ham showed up and asked if it would be OK to operate. It was the experienced DXpeditioner, Eric, K3NA who jumped in the CW ‘saddle’ and banged away as only a seasoned DXpedition CW op can. Welcome to BARC Eric! 

As per usual, the SSB station managed to hold any frequency it was on throughout Field Day. We utilized the 15M band as well as 20M and 40M. A lot of brand new Technician Licensee's showed up at our site to operate on HF for their very first time! Attention Denver HRO… expect some new HF rig sales once these hams upgrade, which they swore they would do ASAP.

A catered dinner was once again provided by the BARC club (and by an anonymous, generous BARC member donor) for those hardy operators who were present… consisting of BBQ ribs, chicken and pulled pork alongside some vegetarian entrees served with all the fixings. A hearty breakfast of carnitas (Mexican slow-cooked pulled pork), accompanied by fresh tortillas and green chile, etc…, homemade by our #1 Field Day operator (and primary Field Day equipment provider), Allen, KØARK to warm up our innards after a long, cold night of operating. There were always numerous (healthy and not-so-healthy) snacks, sandwich makings and soft drinks provided throughout the event for all ops who were there. 

As always, camaraderie is the foremost byproduct of this annual event. This year was certainly no exception with many tales being told of ham radio adventures as well as numerous technical discussions on just about any subject one wished to discuss. BARC members are probably the most diverse, both technically and socially, group of hams you may ever encounter in any one given place. Many BARC members are from other areas of the world. The equally diverse group of people with varied backgrounds and socio-economic status made for a weekend filled with tales of interesting experiences and spirited discussions. Among the 175+ BARC membership are found engineers of all disciplines, IT professionals, technicians, electronic business founders/owners of nationally-known electronic companies. Lots of telecommunications, aerospace and software designers, scientists from NIST and NCAR, professors and students from nearby Colorado University, well-known writers and authorities on many ham radio related subject matters, etc… Doctors, lawyers, nurses, educators, sales & marketing types, tradesmen and on and on...A cross-section of humanity for sure!

Of course, there were still a few of us "old-timers" around who could fill the bystanders in with our tales of the past 50+ years of electronic hardware and software developments. Boast of our work on the early military projects and space programs that we had a part in. Marveled at the advances in medical electronics and biochemistry, etc... And, we were more than willing to provide the eager listeners (read 'captive audience') with many interesting and entertaining "war stories" from those golden and olden days of electronics because... we were there! 

Despite weather delays and the generally morose band conditions, the WØDK Field Day team still managed to garner approximately 1500 raw QSOs. The results for the participating 72 Field Day stations in Colorado, as printed in December.2019 issue of QST magazine, placed WØDK in the top 5 rankings of ALL classes and categories and placed us 2nd in the 3A category with 4.828 points. 

BARCs 2020 Field Day plans are already in the works. And, if we can get some cooperation from the weatherman, this year's operation should be even better! So, if you happen to find yourself near Boulder, CO during the last full weekend in June, drop by our site and plan to operate!.