07/27/2003 | KC0AHN The Boeing Employees Amateur Radio Society of Wichita, KS setup their field day station at the ranch of KA0MR, Bob Bailey, between the Central Kansas towns of Moundridge and Hesston. This field day marks the 7th consecutive year that the BEARS/Wichita, KS club has participated. 25+ members, friends, and family members set up the 5A Kansas stations. This year we erected 5 screen tents for each of our stations. We ran a 15m vertical, 20m beam antenna, 40m vertical, a DX-LB+ for 40m and 80m PSK-31 and voice, and a 6 element beam on 6m. For our satellite station we had a 4 foot dish for the 13cm downlink on AO-40 and a pair of circularly polarized 70cm and 2m antennas.

The sky was quite colorful with the reflection of the burning wheat fields reflected in the smoke and Kansas dust.

As we setup for field day, we noted a thunderstorm forming about 2 miles to the south - it moved away from us and turned into a severe line of thunderstorms. Dodging that bullet, we all smiled; but we weren't so lucky that night. A line of storms raced down on us as we protected our equipment and took cover. Unfortunately the storm was with us from about 2 AM throuh 10 AM - with a steady downpour of rain. With rain puddles everywhere at the ranch, we decided running 120 volt AC to everyones tent was not the better part of valor... We closed our field day early.

Our preparation and participation resulted in a higher score this year than in any previous year - even though we were actively making contacts only half the time! Everyone decided that although the rain put a damper on field day - we still had a good time and we were already talking about next year! -- N0LD