07/04/2009 | WR4RC Field day 2009!
WR4RC (Russell County Amateur Radio Club) set up for field day in a local park in the county seat, Lebanon Virginia. At about midday Friday we erected Bills (KI4CJC) horse fence80meter dipole in an inverted V with the peak up about 45-50 feet. It was made from a 1 inch wide multi-wire electric fencing material used for horse fences. A tri-band beam for 10-15-20 meters was erected atop a 50ft military tower. A Hustler 5-BV vertical and a 2meter vertical rounded out the antenna farm. We kept 2 HF radios and a 2 meter portable on the air until about 2:00am Saturday night and picked up again about 6:00am on Sunday morning. For about the first 4-6 hours on Saturday the bands just would not cooperate but they finally opened up and the group started making contacts. Sunday morning, Bill (KI4CJC) was burning up 75meters with 35+ contacts in 30 minutes off the Horse Fence. We had visitors dropping by to chat and ask questions all weekend. We even had a candidate for public office stop by. All in all everyone had a good time. The food was great with donated pizza Saturday for lunch and BBQ ribs and homemade Italian bread on the menu for Saturday evening. Everyone is looking forward to the next one.

James A. Scott Boyd -- KJ4HTY