Start of a
new era?
Returning to the same Field Day site certainly has its
advantages. So many unknowns are now
known. Where do the antennas go? Which
trees do we use? How long does it take to walk to the porta-pots? Just how dark
is it really going to be there? Will we
have interference? And best of all, this
year we knew how to stop the pesky interference we had on 40 and 80 last year
(caused by a noisy ground on the electrical system). From my perspective, I mostly worry about
getting setup and tearing it all back down.
The rest seems to take care of itself.
Especially with our star Chef’s Dave and Jules on KP. Food is one thing I never have to worry
about. Pulled pork, pit beef,
hamburgers, hotdogs, coleslaw, great desserts, drinks, snacks, (I’m making
myself hungry again). Thanks so much to
Dave and Jules for all their hard work.
I know Dave starts long before Field Day buying supplies, and he spends
a couple days cooking ahead of time.
Everyone I talked with said they had a good time and liked
the site. The food was terrific as
always. I think this was the most laid
back setup I remember, and we were still ready to go on the air at 2. It’s nice to know what you are doing. We had a good score, despite tearing down 2
hours early. About noon on Sunday
everyone seemed laid back, relaxed, tired, and ready to go, and a threatening
storm was more than enough to prompt us to pull up stakes. It was nice to get home a little earlier, and
I don’t think it cost us many points. We
did pretty well.
The trees gave us lots of shade, and we had a nice little
breeze most of the day on Saturday. It
was quite a bit cooler at the Pavilion in the shade than it was out in the
sunny areas. But it did get hot and muggy
on Sunday.
I’ve already started a file of notes for 2014. So if you have suggestions for next year, let
me know.
I’m always disappointed that we didn’t get everyone on the
air for at least one contact. We had 37 visitors to the site, 22 of which have
their license. We had 13 operators who made contacts.
We operated 4A as we have for the last 6 years and we broke
3000 points for the fourth straight year. Last year we had 3062. This year, we came in at 3100.
Click for the fulll Field Day Report for 2013
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