[CQ-Contest] Field Day is a Joke...

[ACE]

Field Day here in the Dayton, Ohio area is no joke.

A number of clubs pooled their resources this year and set up some pretty
impressive stations.

I was involved with the University Of Cincinnati Amateur Radio Club, W8YX
and set up a Novice/Tech station using my callsign, N8QNP on ten meters. I
upgraded a month ago and decided that I could help get some of the newer
guys interested in upgrading by giving them a chance to work the event with
my station.

Murphy even paid a visit to the site. When we placed the SWR meter in line
to check the load on the antenna, it showed a very high match. After taking
the antenna off line it was determined that it was shot. One of the guys
had a Hustler 11 meter mobile antenna in his truck so we wound up using
that mounted on a twenty ft. mast. I was able to make a number of contacts
with stations in Florida, Nevada, Arkansas, N. & S. Dakota, Northern &
Southern Texas, and Iowa. I didn't think this was bad considering I was
running 25 watts into the mobile antenna. I listened for a while for CW and
even sent out CQ Filed Day for around a half hour, but didn't get any
reply. Oh well, I'll try this week from the house. I am still looking
forward to making my first CW contact.

I also brought along the Portable Power Station, just in case something
should happen to the generator that we were using. I didn't need it to
power the radio equipment, but it did come in handy when one of the
operators van would not start. All he got from it was a clicking sound.
There wasn't any room to bring a vehicle close to his van, so I suggested
we use my Power Station. A few of the guys looked at me like I was crazy,
but that soon changed when the Power Station was connected up to the jumper
cables, and with one turn of the key the van started right up.

I will post the scores once I receive them from the club official.

Hope ya'll enjoyed Field Day as much as I did.

73, Ace






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