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2009 ARRL Field Day

07/01/2009 | K5WHD Wild Horse Desert Hams ARC
Field Day Report 2009

Once again, the Wild Horse Desert Hams ARC set up shop to participate in Field Day. Our kind host again this year was the Kingsville Convention and Visitors Bureau allowing us to set up at the Visitors Center on Highway 77 in Kingsville, Texas. Director Carol Ann Anderson is pleased to have the hams at the visitor center after hours to also assist visitors to the community. We get extra visitors at our Field Day event and the Visitors Center is the liveliest place in town for the weekend. So we got in a good word and demonstration of Amateur Radio while making sure visitors to Kingsville had the information they needed about our community.

This year we had an informal antenna committee hard at work for several weeks preparing the antennas that we would be putting up for our Field Day-2009. They prepared a record number of antennas for this year: a refurbished 10 meter vertical, a G5RV, a DXEE, a Trapped Dipole, and an 80/40 Dipole. Bright and early at 8:00a.m. we arrived at the Visitors Center to put up our antennas. The Visitors Center has two flag poles and this year we decided to put them into use. We hung the DXEE from between the two poles. The north pole had the Trapped Dipole and the 80/40 Dipole raised. Our G5RV and 10 meter vertical were on a push up pole behind the Visitors Center in the seldom used parking lot. We hung yellow caution tapes all around to make sure no one strayed back in that area.

The Visitors Center parking lot is not quite big enough for the G5RV and dipoles so the clubs vice president, Charles Allison, WB5IZD, got permission from the Kleberg County Sheriff to extend the legs of the antennas over the fence of the county impound center and tie off on the impound buildings. WB5IZD is Kleberg Countys ARES EC so this was a great chance to get acquainted with the Sheriff. Charles and previous ARES ECs Joe Guerra, KD5CZM, and Bill Pate, KB5YAI, have spent years building good relations with the county.

Saturday morning we worked in 100 degree weather to set up the antennas in time for the big kick off of Field Day 2009. At the very last minute the final antenna was attached and the rigs were fired up. We ran as a 3A station this year. We also had a GOTA station set up. Band conditions for us at the start of Field Day were terrible. The folks manning the rigs were all fired up for some serious radio action but the ionosphere had other plans for us. Rigs and antennas were double checked, but most all we heard was static. It wouldnt be until after dark that the magic started in the Wild Horse Desert.

Club president, Ken Woods, N5GAA, and several club members took turns on 15 and 20 meters phone. The brass pounded went home for a nap to prepare for an all night marathon at the CW station. The evening hours brought in a good number of contacts on 15 and 20 meters considering the poor band conditions and lack of sun spots. We had every intention of having logging computers linked by a wireless local net connection but some technical glitches put the nix on that and we fell back to paper logs. Our group likes paper logs better, anyway. There is something comforting about a yellow tablet and a #2 pencil.

We had a large percentage of our small club AWOL on business trips and family vacations. They missed all the fun but the rest of the crew turned out in force to operate and demonstrate for visitors.

Prior to Field Day we had a very nice article published in our local news paper. We also, for the first time ever, had the media actually visit us on our Field Day. Talk about a bunch of happy hams!! We are looking forward to a post Field Day article as a nice conclusion to our event.

KD5TXD pounded brass from about 10:00p.m. to 8:00a.m. and fell 10 short of doubling the number of contacts made for the weekend. Too bad that is all slow code. Maybe next year KD5TXD will be able to copy and send a bit faster. Each year is progress for our whole club on all fronts. We have a gem of a picture of the team at about 3:00a.m. to share. Our alert brass pounder snapped this pic of the phone team in the wee hours of Field Day.

Sunday morning had the whole club back at the Visitors Center to catch those last contacts and entertain visitors. We had a welcome visit from our ARES DEC, Mark Mireles, AD5CA. Mark made a special trip out from Corpus to visit with us. However, considering his mode of transportation that morning he may have used us as an excuse for a Sunday morning ride in the country. We showed off our set up and bragged on our experiences to Mark. Mark is a member of our greatest Field Day competition, STARC, in Corpus Christi. They are the big guns for Field Day in this region. But the competition is all in fun.

The end of Field Day 2009 rolled around. We were relieved and sad and looking forward to next year all at the same time. The antennas were taken down, the rigs packed away, the Visitors Center returned to its peaceful atmosphere with a quick vacuuming and trash pickup. You know the old saying about take only pictures and leave only foot prints, well, we couldnt even leave foot prints. But we take with us fun Field Day memories and lessons for the future. Now our little club has to prepare for the big 4th of July parade next Saturday. As everyone knows, Kingsville was born on the 4th of July so our local parade does double duty in celebration of the birth of our great nation and the birth of our small community. See yall next Field Day!! 73!! Pat KD5TXD

P.S. If you are visiting Kingsville, TX. please stop in at the Kingsville Convention and Visitors Bureau and greet our hosts. Let them know you are Amateur Radio Operators. -- KD5TXD


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