Catalina Radio Club and the Radio Society of Tucson held a joint Field Day in the tall pines of Mount Bigelow, in the Coronado National Forest.  We had well-laid plans starting back in April for a Field Day with our usual generators at our usual location.  We also planned a secondary Field Day location, to activate the RMS 811R Emergency Communications Center, which we would execute in case fire restrictions require that we stay in the Tucson Valley.  With a week to go until Field Day, we were encouraged by the existing Stage I Fire Restrictions and a good soaking rain at the start of our Monsoon season.  On Wednesday, 6/19, 3 days before the start of Field Day and THE day prior to some of our group going up the mountain for campsites, Coronado National Forest issued Stage II Fire Restrictions, disallowing use of generators in the National Forest.  Immediately we modified our original Field Day plans with solar arrays and batteries instead of our usual generators.  We suffered the cold evenings and nights up on the mountain while others enjoyed the 100+deg heat down in the valley.

Other surprises during setup included a blowout of our spudgun and solar decay of our slingshots, which we use to get the antennas high up in the trees.  We cobbled together a single slingshot from the two defective slingshots, and made do.

We operated in category 5A, with 3 HF SSB Stations and 2 HF CW stations.  In addition, we had our usual freebie VHF and GOTA stations.  Some elected to operate QRP due to the Solar Array/Battery situation, others ran our usual Low Power operation using motor vehicles as battery chargers.  Solar Arrays had to be moved into the sun frequently as the trees provided needed shade for us humans.  We enjoyed additional amenities at the Gotta Go Station this year, but forgot the antenna, so we didn’t get many contacts there.

We had 77 participants coming and going up on the mountain, with the large majority joining us for our Signature Saturday Evening Pot Luck.  The operators particularly enjoyed having sandwiches delivered to them promptly at Noon, an hour after Field Day Start.  That kept us on the air & motivated!  Good food, good friends both on and off air, a full Supermoon to entertain us Saturday night, what’s not to love?  We all had a great time and are taking notes for next year!