06/26/2006 | K5BZH Weather forecasts, poor propagation, and a few other factors influenced us to decide to work Field Day 2006 from our cozy garage shack at the home QTH. I noted a lot of others also operated at home this year.

Score high points for the meteorologists, the forecasted storms did occur as predicted. As to band conditions, 20 meters turned out to be pretty decent, 40 was noisy, 15 opened for a while, 10 meters opened for a very short time.

K5BZH made 266 valid contacts, 138 on CW and 128 on SSB. Rig used was a 100 watt Heath SB-1400, antennas were a short wire in the attic on 40 meters and a 12AVQ for 20-15-10.

I made 253 of the Qs, Carol (XYL) made 13 of them, she was only able to operate a few minutes due to having the responsibility of watching 3 grandkids most of the weekend. She worked the Virgin Islands, but wasnt successful at breaking a pileup a Hawaii station had going. She also got K2VOA and VE5NN, plus W0MXW in Minnesota, a club that includes one of our old friends from the Austin area. She definitely noted the comments in pileups like, "We heard a YL, please come again."

As to ARRL Sections, only ones we missed were ME, WMA, ENY, NNY, DE, AK (USA) and MAR, NL, QC, ON, NT (Canada). Worked all states but Alaska, Maine, and Delaware.

On the positive side of working Field Day at home I am not scratching chiggers today, had air conditioning, hot coffee all day and night, a comfortable chair, and a nice bed nearby. Also noted that prior to FD I needed AK, CO, ID, NM, ND, SC, and SD for a SSB WAS. Worked all but AK. Hope all participants had a memorable time at Field Day. Next year we plan to be in the woods. 73, Jim -- K5BZH