07/01/2003 | K3FT K3FT, 1A-Com'l, 668Q's, CW only. K3FT/AA3SC/WB4FDT, MDC section. LP.

Field Day was.. as it always has been (and I daresay will
continue to be so) A fine time!

Murphy paid his visits - some were LONG, some were short
but he came and visited all, I'm sure.

One thing Mr. Murphy did for us ALL this year - from border to border
and coast to coast - was give us a GREAT BIG HEAPING HELPING of very
active geomagnetic activity!

I have queried others who operated all over the Country from
Hawaii to New England, to Southern United States to the Central
States and they ALL tell the same story.

10M was quieter *for most* than a receiver with the RF gain turned
down and the antenna disconnected.

15M acted like a kid at his first mixed dance who was trying to
work up the courage to ask someone to dance. It made some feeble
attempts to be active but stayed in the background and only became
active for a very very short time.

20M and 40M were like the supermarket during a sale. Busy, full
of signals, and always hopping.

80M was like your first car. It worked OK for a while but tended
to not run all that well and would simply quit for hours.


In short.. 10M was AWOL.

15M was spotty at best.. and when it was active it was short lived.

20M/40M tended to be the 'meat bands' and were usually active
(but 40M was the big band on campus)

80M.. in the later evening/overnight/early AM (till the D/E layers
fattened up after sunrise) was fair and generated a decent amount
of activity.


Anyway.. it was a great FD!

Next year should be fun with the sunspots numbers continuing to drop
and the 80/40/20M bands become the favorite places to be.

73
Chuck K3FT -- K3FT