07/05/2003 | K4NRW NEW RIVER WIRELESS ASSOCIATION.
This year's Field Day was interesting. We ran 3A VA from the top of Big Walker Mountain just north of Wytheville Virginia. Saturday started out like any other day then the clouds and wind rolled in. We did manage to get everything set up and get on the air by 2 PM. About 3:30 the generator made a loud boom and started to sound like it was going to blow up. A quick change to the standby generator and we were running again(always have plan B in place). This year we ran the N3FJP Field Day Network logging software. We had a total of 7 computers networked and running when the generator went. No problem, everything was ok when we fired up the generator. By the way if you haven't used that software check it out, it's good! Dave, W4DGR rang the supper bell about 4:30, boy that was mighty fine eatin'! Around 5 PM it started to rain and the wind started kicking up. It continued but that didn't stop us from making contacts. Several times I wondered if the canopies we were using to cover things up would blow away. Overnight a heavy fog developed and it rained a little more. The bands were in BAD shape this year. Last year 15 meters was open most of the night. This year it was all we could do to make a few contacts. 80 meters was about the same.
All in all though it was another great Field Day experience. Thanks to everybody who helped us squeeze out those Qs! -- K4IJ