2008 ARRL Field Day
06/30/2008 |
KC2TA
I haven't operated in Field Day since 1975 and truly wasn't planning on getting involved this year. Little did I know that streak was going to end.
After finishing up a referee assignment (sounds familiar to other soapboxes, huh?) and getting a chance to clean up a bit, I stopped by the Sarnoff FD site to meet up with for an eyeball with a couple of guys I had met on air previously. As luck would have it, they weren't there, but I did introduce myself to a number of the ops there and assisted K2PAT in getting a few nylon cord supports in trees for the raising of a dipole. Just after finishing a predicted thunder storm halted all operation.
Once the weather settled and my round of the site and introductions completed and with the promise of trying to make contact with them, I headed back to the cool, dry confines of the home QTH. It wasn't long before the "bug" bit, and I was in front of the rig planning to give out a few points from my "1D" station.
Having recently taken down my longwire, I was confined to the tribander and two and 70cm yagis. I set out on 20 meters tuning and pouncing, but thought better of it and put out a CQ. It wasn't long before there were in excess of 150 Q's in the log by the time I finally went horizontal on Saturday night.
Awakening early on Sunday morning and knowing there were more soccer matches to referee that started early afternoon and wouldn't end until well after the closing bell on the activity, I again made a presence on 20, followed by 15 and 10. In a little over four hours I had put in excess of another 250 Q's in the log in about 58 different sections. Over 400 Q's in the log from someone who was only going to "give out a few points!"
Conclusions? Definitely enjoyed myself. It wasn't so much the activity as an unfortunate series of events during the first two Field Days that soured my taste for the event. I had forgotten about the comraderie, singularity of purpose and reasons surrounding the event. My having an opportunity to just walk around at Sarnoff without any pressure to help or operate, pitching in if I felt like (which I did) - just to be a "guest" reawakened a long neglected part of the hobby.
Will I operate next year? Can't say for now, but I'm definitely thinking about blocking off the weekend and not taking any soccer matches. Then it'll just be a decision whether to go fishing at the beach or sit in front of the radio in the cool, dry confines of the shack - or maybe take the rig and a couple of antennas TO the beach and give out some points AND do some fishing?
Thanks to the guys and gals at the Sarnoff site for their congeniality. To the ops manning the 20 meter CW and SSB positions, sorry I didn't catch up with you. I had figured with the QRP status of the total site AND the fact you were doing the "tune, listen and pounce", you would have heard my sigs - even on ground wave. If you did call on CW, sorry if I didn't hear you, but many times the response was 3 to 5 calls deep and there was a lot of QRN on top of things. I gave a listen on 2m FM on Sunday, but found no activity in the area. -- KC2TA
After finishing up a referee assignment (sounds familiar to other soapboxes, huh?) and getting a chance to clean up a bit, I stopped by the Sarnoff FD site to meet up with for an eyeball with a couple of guys I had met on air previously. As luck would have it, they weren't there, but I did introduce myself to a number of the ops there and assisted K2PAT in getting a few nylon cord supports in trees for the raising of a dipole. Just after finishing a predicted thunder storm halted all operation.
Once the weather settled and my round of the site and introductions completed and with the promise of trying to make contact with them, I headed back to the cool, dry confines of the home QTH. It wasn't long before the "bug" bit, and I was in front of the rig planning to give out a few points from my "1D" station.
Having recently taken down my longwire, I was confined to the tribander and two and 70cm yagis. I set out on 20 meters tuning and pouncing, but thought better of it and put out a CQ. It wasn't long before there were in excess of 150 Q's in the log by the time I finally went horizontal on Saturday night.
Awakening early on Sunday morning and knowing there were more soccer matches to referee that started early afternoon and wouldn't end until well after the closing bell on the activity, I again made a presence on 20, followed by 15 and 10. In a little over four hours I had put in excess of another 250 Q's in the log in about 58 different sections. Over 400 Q's in the log from someone who was only going to "give out a few points!"
Conclusions? Definitely enjoyed myself. It wasn't so much the activity as an unfortunate series of events during the first two Field Days that soured my taste for the event. I had forgotten about the comraderie, singularity of purpose and reasons surrounding the event. My having an opportunity to just walk around at Sarnoff without any pressure to help or operate, pitching in if I felt like (which I did) - just to be a "guest" reawakened a long neglected part of the hobby.
Will I operate next year? Can't say for now, but I'm definitely thinking about blocking off the weekend and not taking any soccer matches. Then it'll just be a decision whether to go fishing at the beach or sit in front of the radio in the cool, dry confines of the shack - or maybe take the rig and a couple of antennas TO the beach and give out some points AND do some fishing?
Thanks to the guys and gals at the Sarnoff site for their congeniality. To the ops manning the 20 meter CW and SSB positions, sorry I didn't catch up with you. I had figured with the QRP status of the total site AND the fact you were doing the "tune, listen and pounce", you would have heard my sigs - even on ground wave. If you did call on CW, sorry if I didn't hear you, but many times the response was 3 to 5 calls deep and there was a lot of QRN on top of things. I gave a listen on 2m FM on Sunday, but found no activity in the area. -- KC2TA
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