07/29/2006 | K1TMA During the Field Day of June 2006 we had experimented with the idea of using a 6-wheel drive amphibious all terrain vehicle, the Max II by Recreatives Industries in Buffalo, New York. It uses a 14 HP 2-cylinder, 4-cycle gasoline engine by Briggs & Stratton, similar to those used by John Deere in their larger lawn movers. It is a very reliable and quiet engine, making substantially less noise than most lawn movers, I think. My wife and I can actually participate in a conversation at normal speech level while inside sitting on the seat
and, we soon discovered, operate radio equipment without fatique.

My wife and I use it for recreational purposes, such as going up in the New England mountains for day-long picnics. We thoroughly enjoy ourself in these day-long events.

However, it had occurred to us we could incorporate my amateur radio hobby into this new hobby by installing several pieces of amateur radio gear: 10 meters all mode, 2 meters, 1 1/4 meters and 70 cm. When done, I decided to develop a blogspot for this new hobby. See the URL address: http://k1tma.blogspot.com

It was about that time we decided to take it with us to Field Day on top of Blandford Mountain (about 1,500 feet above sea level) at the Blandford Fair Grounds in Blandford, Massachusetts.

A small group of dedicated hams, making up the Western Massachusetts Ham Radio Group, un-incorporated, visit this site every year, for the last few years, during Field Day and other events. See the URL address: http://wmhrg.blogspot.com for further details.

It was our objective to test it as a rover going up and down the mountainous terrain. To our delight, it worked out very well. In spite of the bad weather, the consistant and heavy rainfall and threats of lightning and thunder, we managed to make some important contacts although they were not included in the final score for Field day. We may include them next year.

In the first digital image, take by my Nikon D-50 digital SLR, you will see our Field Day Rover Team, minus the photographer (Art Geary, WA1ART), unfortunately, standing alongside the ATV Rover. They are, from left to right, Freddie Bellinger, Alvah Buckmore, K1TMA, his wife, Lolita, and Art Geary III, the son of the photographer. All of the other images do not require further comment. They are self-explanatory. -- K1TMA