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W7NUW on 2008-07-22
Having just regained a license late last year, this was my first Field Day since 1959. I set out on Thursday June 26 in my sailboat, headed for an anchorage on Lopez Island, in the San Juans, about 60 miles and two days travel north of Seattle. I anchored fore-and-aft pointing south, then rigged the antenna -- paralleled 40 and 20 meter dipoles made from speaker wire -- from the top of the mast to a buoy anchored about 50' to the east. This gave me a mile of seawater in all lower-48 directions. What a difference compared to my behind-the-hill QTH in suburban Seattle! If I heard them, they heard me! 272 CW QSOs in about 12 hours, mostly with 50 watts on 20 meters, but switching to 40 after dark. Great fun being W7NUW/MM.

WA7PRC on 2008-07-18
Like years past, I teamed up with longtime friend Evan N7MCG. Unlike years past, we operated 2E (2 transmitters, at home on emergency power). We felt that because FD 2007 had only 24 entries in this class, we should place well. So far, there are only 14 logs received for this class, this year (out of 1197 entries).

Evan used my TS130S on fone (137 Qs), and I worked 'em using my TS120S on CW (315 Qs). I was sorry that Evan had so much trouble making contacts on fone, because I was having a blast on CW. I almost felt guilty!

As it turns out, we worked my friend & coworker Brian N7RVD (1D) four times. I worked him 5 minutes apart on 80m and then on 40m! hi

Summary and a few photos here: http://www.geocities.com/bswadener/fd2008/

vy 73,
Bryan WA7PRC

VE6PKR on 2008-07-10
I decided that I would set up my own 1B station in my
back yard. I assembled 8 of those 2"O.D. x 4' fiberglass
military tent poles into a make-shift 32' tower (guyed at
4' from the top and midway up). From 2pm on Saturday
until 10:30pm, I had a full wave delta-loop running 100W
from my 706mkii on a deep cycle battery (I fed the loop
with an 8' piece of RG-58 connected to the loop with test-
lead clips. Propagation was rough at first, but it picked
up at about 8pm for me, especially into US 4-land. By
10:30, the band started to close, so I took down the 20m
loop and replaced it with a 40m loop (also delta). Well, I
had a good little run on 40 until about 1am, pushed onto
80 for a few more, and then hit the sack. At 9am, I put
the 20m loop back up and planned to run right 'til 3 (since
I didn't set up until noon on Saturday), but right at noon,
everybody said 73 and it was all over. Great time!

N8TJC on 2008-07-10
Our club setup in a member's open field and used batteries for power. Saturday afternoon we had two strong thunderstorms come thru the area. The first one was short and we just covered the equipment. The second one was very intense and the radio equipment had to be placed in our vehicles. The shelters survived due to a dedicated group of hams. While the rain blew horizontal to the ground and the wind was over 50 mph we held our ground and saved our shelters. We were a cold, wet group but we overcame mother nature
and after a break we set back up and continued on with FD. Sunday was perfect and we made many contacts up to the very end. Our club "Rode the Wave" and we survived. We had a great time making contacts, had some good food and enjoyed the time spent out in the field. We believe that for our FDs we should be able to improvise, adapt and hopefully overcome any problems we would encounter.

NX8J on 2008-07-09
This year, was invited to help reactivate a club callsign that was long absent from FD, WA8UXP. Split my time between primary club's W8AL (2A) and WA8UXP (1D). Always lots of work getting stations, tents, antennas and generators set up. A very important person to FD success is the kitchen boss. Thank you Tina! Not one, but two heavy rainstorms (one with high winds) made for an interesting weekend. Slept 12+ hours Sunday. Next weekend, felt directionless. I wished it were FD 2009 already. Good friends, good food, hard work and radio. Life is good!

KI6LO on 2008-07-09
You haven't done FD unless you've done it in the Mojave Desert. Welders gloves to put up antennas because any metal outside gets hot enough to burn skin, 1st degree sunburns, you can drink gallons of water and never having to go to the restroom, near blindness after sitting outside for biggest part of 2 days and gale force winds usually to test every structure. The list goes on and on.

I really get a chuckle from reports of clubs running 20+ stations. Given the size limitation on antenna placement, it must really get crowded trying to find a place to operate in the multitudes.

Yes, I agree on the masses to set up and no one but the operators to take down the gear. Or better yet the ones that show up for the mealtimes and then disappear.

All in all its fun, but I'd personally like to have a couple of weekends spaced out in the year to get some different experiences due to wx cndxs, etc. If the folks up North can play golf in the snow, surely they can operate in the snow. After all, not all emergencies happen at 105 degress Farenheit :)

N2QQF on 2008-07-09
I enjoyed this years field day exercise much more than last years. I participated in a club event that I was not a member of but was treated like one. A few friends got together and joined the LIARS club out of long island, NY. They are a simplex club that operates on 147.575 (simplex), they had a wonderful field day setup at the historic RCA radio site just down the road from the Marconi site in rocky Point, NY where they operate the special event station commemorating Marconi.

They had multiple generators running the event utilizing three (3) HF stations and multiple 6 meter & 144MHz stations. They had a customized trailer converted to an on site mobile radio center. This trailer is used for field day and all club events and is capable of working as an emergency station just about anywhere. They had many antennas and portable masts setup everywhere with Beams and wires mounted on them.

They managed to make a few 6 meter European contacts that day in addition to the many others. The LIARS (Long Island Amateur Radio Simplex) club worked 80 meters through 144Mhz. I had such a great time and was so thankful to be a part of the event. This event was the better of the field day event I have participated in and I look forward to doing it again. I want to thank the LIARS group for truly understanding the meaning of field day and maintaining the true spirit of the the amateur radio hobby.

RADIOROY on 2008-07-08
Had a glorious time, with the best turn out in many years for our club. Two portable towers and emergency power, and we were up and running. WOW was the food good too. Newbies and oldies alike worked the bands. Just a great time, along with about an inch of rain on Saturday night made conditions ideal. Looking forward to many more , better than ever.

73 de W5ROY Roy Creiglow E.N.M.A.R.C.

K4ZA on 2008-07-07
Twelve hours of 20M SSB, split between W3LPL & myself. The 23A entry from W3AO @PVRC/CARA appears to have set a new scoring record, despite some of the worst propagation we've ever experienced. Without a proper home station of my own, ANY operating I get in is always great fun for me!

K3SI on 2008-07-07
Operated from our clubhouse with generator power. Hot humid weather made puting up antennas (we don't have any permanent antennas due to the fact the clubhouse is on an airport)a real enegy killer. Thunderstorms Sat. night stopped us from operating until Sunday morning. Most of us getting to old for this foolishness.

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