07/07/2003 | W4BPH "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Charles Dickens. We had the best food ever! We had the worst weather ever!
Herb, Peter, Udo, (we4hc, w4gto, kf4kul) and all their helpers out did themselves this year. The Field Day Feast started with wings from kg4jsz. These helped us with setting up. Then, for the main meal, we had ribs cooked on the grill by Peter and deep Fried turkeys, a favorite, by Udo. I got to show off my skills with a meat cleaver, while working off a little anger about band conditions. We had many different kinds of pasta salads, and some things that looked suspiciously like fruits and vegetables, which I steered clear of. For dessert, we had gourmet cheesecake. Late night snacks, which we sorely needed after Mother Nature's violent display, were cold cuts, bread and left over turkey. Jeff, kf4gqw, showed up before the crack of dawn with donuts and brewed us some fresh coffee, which kept me going until the relief operators showed up.
Around 9:00 AM, we had a huge breakfast of scrambled eggs, bread, sausage and grits. With the event finally winding down, we had a lunch of hot dogs, hamburgers, and backed beans. By this time, I could barely force myself to eat anymore, and had to settle for just one cheeseburger.

The technical set up was:
Sparc was running with their usual Field Day set up; Donn's 40 foot tower and the 3 element beam set up for 20 meter SSB, and the famous Sparco generator and a Kenwood rig (ts870) supplied by Neil, k4nhl. They also had a VHF rig set up for 6 meters, using a quad donated by wv4ed, and run by Paul, kd4ydy.
Down at the metro end, under the pavilion, Dave kr4u had his excellent rig and antenna set up. For the second year in a row, those operators lucky enough to work this set up experienced ham radio heaven in that they were able to work every station they heard, and only have to call them once. This set up consists of a homebrew vertical antenna for 20 meter CW, which is pretty much just a 17 foot 1 inch aluminum pipe with a half dozen radials that double as guy wires. The rig is a beautiful ten-tec Jupiter using deep cycle marine batteries. This was dedicated to 20 meter CW. Dave was using a set of vibroplex paddles, the biggest set of paddles that vibroplex makes.
Our second CW rig was brought by Roger, k4shi, and was the same one we used on the K4E expedition. We originally had it hooked up to a hamstick dipole, but, in the rain, the swr became jumpy. We temporarily hooked it up to a Tar Heel screwdriver antenna on the back of Ken's (w4ken) truck while we looked around for a better solution. Well, Neil had brought along an extra G5RV. Ken pulled it up into one of our favorite antenna trees using a fishing pole and I brought out the tuner that I had included in my Field Day supplies for just such an eventuality. This was the setup we used for the rest of the contest, first on 15 meters, and then on 40 meters all night long, and then back to 15 meters during the last part of the event. I operated this rig and used my Code Warrior Jr. magnetic paddles, which is the smallest key that vibroplex makes. Ken took turns operating one rig, or the other, or logging. A new feature at this year's field day was all computer logging. It was reasonably successful, except for a few weather generated problems.
We also had one other rig set up in the pavilion area. A ts450 from Herb (we4hc) This rig was hooked up to a 40 meter Windom hung in our other favorite antenna tree. It was to be used for daylight 40 meter SSB, but fate had more in store for it. Peter (w4gto) also operated SSB from his RV using an ic-706.

Now, we were prepared for bad weather, we had tarps, and a whole roll of visquene, divided into two halves. We were prepared, but we weren't quite ready for what Mother Nature threw our way.
It had been a beautiful day; we had a little rain and wind, but not very much at all. After the sun went down, 40 meter SSB dried up, and I moved my rig (ic-706) from 15 meters down to the 40 meter band. Kenny and I were alternating running the rig, or logging. Dave was quietly accumulating 20 meter qsos.
About 10:30, Kenny had to leave. That left me, Dave, and my grandson, Bill, who was napping in the pavilion. A very mild light rain was visible falling on the water.
Suddenly, without any warning at all, we were hit with gale force winds and sheets of rain being driven so hard before the wind, that we might as well have been out in the open under the sky, instead of under a roof. We immediately jumped up and started to cover the equipment, stating with Dave's station, as it was directly facing the storm front. Covering the equipment was easy, but keeping it covered was another thing entirely. The wind was so intense that the tarps and the plastic blew up and tried to take off like hot air balloons. They seemed to take on a life of their own, I distinctly remember seeing the white plastic wrapped around Dave like a malevolent python. It wrapped around his head and I thought he might drown because of the intensive downpour. With Dave and Bill both holding the covers down for all they were worth, I picked up the ice chests, and set them on the plastic, followed by the fans, and the storage tubes. Finally, Dave and Bill moved a table and set it down on the plastic too, and that finally did the trick. I took the other roll, and wrapped an end around the other operating stations table legs and covered the ic-706, tuner and the computer that way. I laid the heaviest things remaining on it. We then moved to the 450, which was toward the back of the pavilion, but was still being hammered. I emptied some plastic bags out and bagged the rig and the power supply.
During this short period of time, we were freezing to death and half blind because we were soaked to the skin immediately and Dave and I, who wear glasses, could not see at all. As soon as the rigs were as secure as we could make them, we ran for the vehicles. Dave ran for his van, and Bill and I made it to our car. We climbed in, I had a big beach towel on the back seat, so we took off our shirts and dried off. Since I had on shorts, they weren't too bad, not too much to get wet.
We made it to the car at 11:00 pm, and it was 45 minutes before the lightning, rain and wind let up enough that we could run into the building. We found the survivors of the Sparc tent already there. I found out that the antenna had been knocked down and the tower was now resting in a tree at about a 22-degree angle to the ground.
Dee and I kept looking out the window checking on the weather. I was determined to get back on the air! Finally, at 1:30 AM the rain was still coming down, but the wind was back to normal. Bill and I made it back to the pavilion and uncovered the ic-706 and the ts-450 and powered them both up, being careful because of all the water. The icom was ready to go. I had to retune the G5RV, and I was again logging contacts, but without the computer, which would not run again until after daybreak. One of the hams from the Sparc site (Paul, kd4ydy) came over and I asked him if he wanted to work a little 20 meter SSB using the 450 and the 40 meter Windom. He said sure, so we tuned it up, switched filters and he started logging qsos on paper also. The 20 meter vertical, the 40 meter Windom and the G5RV had all survived the bad weather with no damage, so had all of the HF rigs. I logged about 80 40 meter CW qsos after that and he logged about 50 20 meter SSB qsos. Around sunrise Dave and Kenny showed up, relieved me for a little bit, and put the Jupiter back on the air. By then, the 20 meter SSB activity had died out. After the sun came fully up, the Sparc boys pulled the antenna out of the tree themselves, using muscle power, set it up straight, and went back on the air. The antenna had suffered a little damage, but still got out good. We didn't need the fire department, or rescue personnel.
After the sun was fully up, 20 meters awoke and Dave and Ken had one giant run. I switched back to 15 meters and logged a few more qsos on that band. We continued until 2 PM. Tear down was uneventful.
And that's the story of the worst weather ever.

We may not have all the appointed officials, we may not all have the weather training, and we may not have all of the high dollar rigs and 70 foot towers, but we have what counts; the technical know how, the operating skill, and the courage to survive mother nature's KO punch and keep on communicating. -- KU4BT