Ham radio Field Day...

Ham radio is one of my hobbies, one which really came about in 1990 because a communications sergeant tried to tell me it was of no value to the unit for him to go to the field with us because the equipment we had didn't work. At that time I didn't know any better, but I suspected he was flat out lying and I couldn't prove it. That bothered me, so I took up the hobby, took the classes to get licensed, and then scheduled another field exercise. I told that sergeant to get all his gear packed up in his trailer and get in the convoy line-up. Following the usual line of excuses and my direct order, he complied. When we got to the field, he again told me the equipment wouldn't work, especially the antennas. I then showed him my brand new FCC license, and pointed to where I wanted the antenna sited. The look on his face was priceless. To make matters worse, I then took an hour of my time to show him how to hook up all the equipment and how to connect the balky antenna. Needless to say, he was impressed. Furthermore, now that he knew he could never give me any more trouble about communications and field duty, our commo got quite good.

I've enjoyed being involved in amateur radio over the years and have even upgraded my license to General Class. With the higher level licenses one can do so much more. You also get to meet some pretty interesting guys and participate in some fun things as well as some valuable community service events. And that leads me to the subject of Ham Radio Field Day. This annual 24-hour contest, which was held this past weekend, is one in which Hams simulate operations during a natural disaster and try to make as many "contacts" as possible. Benchmarks clubs try to achieve are (at a minimum) -- contacts in all 50 states, at least one contact in each Canadian province, at least one contact in the various island locations (V.I., Puerto Rico, etc.) and then other countries, if possible.

The contest is broken down into various categories of operation: field locations, fixed locations, commercial power, emergency power (generators and batteries only), and mobile operations. Teams get different kinds of points for different kinds of contacts, and double points for contacts done thru Morse Code.

Guys work a few hours at a time and get to use all their skills at tweaking that hard-to-hear distant station. I worked a total of 7 hours and was hitting it for about one contact every two minutes for about an hour or so. Grant (right picture, N8KZL)the president of the club, said the goal of the really good guys is 2 contacts per minute, so I've got some work to do yet. In any event, I was proud of the time I spent, especially since I did get a contact with some island out by Hawaii. I didn't get to think about it very long as Grant said "keep going."

Our club does real well in this contest. Grant said it was because of the amount of really good equipment, and the kind and quality of our antennas. We've got some real smart guys who really know about this kind of stuff. I'm kind of a rookie in this arena, so I've got a ways to go to earn my pocket protector.

Every time I turn on the power to my Icom 735 and start tuning the dial, I wonder who I'll be talking to, what their story is, their experiences in life, their expectations. I wonder what they look like, do we have anything in common other than this hobby. I marvel at my ability to travel by air waves into the living rooms and radio shacks of people I will never know otherwise. To enjoy ham radio requires a spirit of adventure, a creative mind and an adventurously open mind.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. (Mark Twain)

Hooah