07/01/2008 | N9OQT My husband (N9OQT) and I (W9MAP) have a small group of ham friends that operate as the Mobile Ohm Volunteer Examiners based in Urbana, Illinois. As our name implies, we like to move around (Mobile Ohm) for Field Day and try our luck operating from different locations.

The Mobile Ohm group, along with a few other ham friends, operated FD 2008 from Fox Ridge State Park near Charleston, Illinois. We started out the weekend with some serious thunderstorms on Friday evening. We expected "Noah's Ark" to show up as the tents and campsites were floating in about three inches of water and mud. During the night our air mattress sprung a serious leak, and between the storms and the bad gear we did not get much sleep. A trip at 5:30 a.m. to the local Wal-Mart to get another air mattress, followed by clearing weather, helped our dispositions improve and start off a successful Field Day event.

This year, our friend, James Watkins (N9PKX) helped operate the station - his first Field Day event. James enjoyed learning how to operate HF on voice and digital. His XYL Denise enjoyed the event, and helped staff the information table. Additionally, N9SME helped set-up the operations tent.

We had one radio and four operators this year, N9OQT, N9OQU, N9PKX, and W9MAP and were able to operate for 22 of the 24 hours. We held a small competition between ourselves to encourage participation and making numerous contacts. Several hams from the local Charleston area came out to visit, including K3BY, N9BZQ, and AG9W whom we had not met before (they saw the press release in the local paper). We were encouraged that they wanted to participate in future Mobile Ohm events, and that was our biggest success of all ... to have a friendly group that attracts others to ham radio! -- W9MAP