07/04/2009 | N4S It was a HOT weekend. Temperatures soared into the triple digits. But for the N4S group it was expected. We were saved by being within 500 feet of the ocean and a portable A/C unit furnished by Carl, KC4UHM. Our National Guard tent was designed with A/C vents. As long as the tent flaps remained closed, especially during the night, the tent was a comfortable place to be. We want to thank the Brunswick National Guard for the use of the tent over the weekend.

Our local newspaper published a wonderful "local interest" article on the Tuesday before FD and that resulted in lots of visitors and a number of inactive hams in the area who stopped by to see what was going on. One reader was Eddie, WA4JXL, who had not been on the air for some 35 years. He had a ball working 20m SSB during the night. And he promises to stay active and attend our monthly meetings. So thank you Mary Starr, local reporter, for writing such a great article.

One of the great highlights occurred when Rita Brookshire, Red Cross Emergency Services Director, sat down and with coaching made her FIRST ham radio contact on 20m SSB. She was ecstatic. The whooping and hollering in the tent probably could be heard for miles when she completed the contact. Thank you, Roy, WK4Y, for making her one very happy lady; and she is now committed to get her ham license. Your QSL card closed the deal.

In addition to Rita's visit, Mayor Bryan Thompson, Brunswick, GA, stopped by and was impressed with what he saw. More than once he commented on how organized we were, how efficiently we were making contacts, and the set-up of antennas really impressed him. Guess we fooled him. Captain Jay Wiggins, E.M.A. Director for Glynn County and his wife also stopped by; and like the mayor, he was very complimentary about our operation. He does have a Technician license but has never been active as an amateur. He promised to come to our next meeting. As a fairly new E.M.A. Director he stated he needs to know more about our ham radio capabilities.

We want to thank the Coastal Georgia Historical Society for the use of the Maritime Museum site to set up for FD. In addition, the local Pepsi Bottling Co. and employee Butch, K9AVA, for donating the water and soft drinks. They were very much appreciated because of the hot weather. Also the local firehouse for donating ice to keep our drinks and food cool.

Our group decided to keep three transmitters active this year. And with the increase in club member participation over last year, for the most part we managed to keep all three on the air at the same time. Since many of our members are not experienced HF operators, this was again a great opportunity to improve skills in making contacts in crowded and noisy band conditions. QRN was a constant source of irritation. If we go back to the Coast Guard Station next year, we need to find out the source of the noise.

One innovation we made this year was the training session on Saturday afternoon before FD officially started. Jeff, N4XGI, conducted a session on RF/Electrical Safety at Field Day. This was clearly timely and appropriate training for FD. We intend to repeat this training each year.

Overall, we made almost 650 contacts in the 3F category, working all 50 states and six Canadian provinces. This was a big improvement from our 2008 effort; so we feel we accomplished a lot this year and are looking forward to 2010. Several club members are making recommendations on what we can do better next year. See you in 2010 and 73 from Jeff -- K8CQ