11/17/2009 | AE5B The infamous Buena Suerta ARS had a very successful Field Day operation this year. No one fell out of their chair, no serious RF burns, and even more important, no one was arrested. We did have some setbacks. The group originally had planned to operate from Angels Roost Mountain high in the mountains of the Callahan County Divide but we had a little setback on our trip up the mountain. We discovered that the site was now a gated community. No one had a key to the gate. We retreated down the mountain and regrouped at Bubbas Feed Store and BBQ to reorganize. By closing time, we had a new plan and headed out the door. Unfortunately, the plan was on one of Bubbas table cloths. He didnt charge us much. It was already stained. We were offered a new site by the leaders of the community of Pueblo. Thanks to a government grant, they have renovated an old goat shed. The shed, also known as the Pueblo Open Air Pavilion, was offered to us for FD 2009. Original plans also involved operations on all HF bands with multiple 4-square vertical arrays and a massive radial system. Unfortunately, the clubs treasure trove of aluminum and copper along with the clubs Treasure seem to have disappeared. We were left with a single six-meter beam. The Buena Suerta ARS reformed as the Buena Serta Sixers and, with the help of a bottle of Midland ARCs famous Generator Go Juice, 239 VHF contacts were made. Conditions were great to the west with most of our contacts in 6 and 7 land. We participated in an experiment to test the effectiveness of linking West Texas clubs on VHF SSB under emergency conditions with limited success. Bottom line is that our VHF effort apparently won the coveted WTX Section Dead Band Award and disproved the often heard theory that a dedicated VHF FD station is not worth the effort.

Look for the Buena Suerta el Radio Societie in Field Day 2010. We plan on a special QSL featuring the Goat Shed Pavilion. But remember, you will only find us on 6 meters.

ARRL Field Daywhere hams get serious about having fun.

Field Day Coordinator -- AE5B