posted 6/27/12
IOOK Vice President Bill - WZ1L has submitted the following:
Well, we had a few glitches at the beginning but we made it
to the end.
Friday, we attempted to set up the "Main Tent"; (which normally holds
one SSB Station, The Digital Station, The GOTA Station and the
Server for the Field Day laptops which we link using NIMM Contesting Software);
The Storage Tent, and the Food Service Tent.
Well, they had the tents set up and staked down. The weather changed quickly and
the Field Day site endured a very quick and furious thunderstorm with winds over
40 mph, and the tents sailed off into the sky and were luckily restrained by the
outlying fence line. They were in shambles and bent piping unfortunately
prevented them from being put up again. :(
Seems luck was with the set up crew, after the tents were put up, everybody went
to dinner and one guy stayed behind to watch the place while they were
gone. He said he held up in his pick up truck, eating a McDonald's
hamburger meal and could only watch on with horror and mixed emotion as the
storm began. When the others returned, they were able to gather the ruined
tents and place them in a pile for disposal on Monday.
I had to work Friday night and Saturday night until 9pm. Therefore, I did
not get to the Field Day Site until 7am Sunday. I understand
that there was another group of thunderstorms which caused a halt to the
operations around 7pm and lasted until about 11:30pm Saturday night, which the
people gave up and went home and did not come back until after 9am Sunday.
The place was dead when I arrived at 7am! I found that the generator was
out of fuel, and there was a radio which had a blown fuse and another radio
which would not tune with an acceptable VSWR until we changed the ground wire to
a ground strap.
Okay, here are the pictures.....
This picture shows the G5RV Dipole, and 40M Dipole attached to a flag pole, Blue
Tent was used for sleeping, Brown Tent Housed the Digital Station and a SSB
Radio. In the rear, we have the 6 Meter Beam on top of 3 lengths of tower
sections and rotor.
This picture shows the full group of tents, including the
6M/VHF Radio, the farthest tent held the 7500 Generator which powered most of
the radios.
This picture has the Food tent in the foreground, the CW
Tent is to the right of the medium Green Box to the rear right. Our "Porta
Pottie" is located at the far corner of the parking Lot (Right).
Another Photo of the 6M/VHF Tent, Antenna and Generator
Tent.
Meet our Club Secretary, Dean Burgess, KB1PGH, who spent
more time on the 897 Radio than others who volunteered to make contacts.
Well, you are not gonna believe it. I got a call from
our CAARA VE Team Coordinator. I was tasked to run to the
Commuter Rail Station down the street and tasked to pick up a young lady which
sent an email last evening stating she was coming to sit for her GENERAL CLASS
exam.
The young lady taking her "General Class" License comes from Hamilton, OH and says she has relatives in Dayton and surrounding area. The young lady is a product of Boston University where she is taking graduate classes in Physics. Her name is Chelsea Bartram, KD8HNZ. You will be happy to learn, she PASSED and was immediately transported back to the Commuter Rail Station for her return trip back to Boston.
We always take a photo where a member of the VE Team
congratulates and hands the CSEC to the testee. The photo will be
incorporated into our Newsletter and sent down to ARRL with our Field Day
report.
Just in hot off the cutting room floor.... :)
Well, there was this gentleman from an Internet Radio station from Cape Ann here
in Massachusetts, I did a quick walk around
with him.
Yours truly was the guide for this man's introduction to Amateur Radio.
P.S. I had my IOOK hat on. ;) Cheers!!!
You can click on the link provided below to see the YouTube version of the video.
I am sure that your Field Day Report will be less exciting.
73,
BILL POULIN, WZ1L
Congratulations to the CAARC for overcoming the adversity of their beginning of their 2012 Field Day event.
Many thanks to Bill - WZ1L for submitting the photos and commentary!
