We had another successful field day this year even with a last- minute change of venue and a new choice of food for the weekend. Thankfully Nan Araway, NK1A, generously volunteered to host the event at her home so we could all enjoy field day. Doug, N1WRN, arranged for the food from ‘What the Fork’ so we could all be well fed and energized to make contacts during the day.
Friday night we had a good-sized group of volunteers to help scout out and place the antennas so we would be ready to operate at 2:00 on Saturday.
The dipoles were placed using a drone this year which worked out really well, with a minimum of problems getting ropes in the trees. This was a method I had not seen before so it was great to
see a new way of hoisting antennas, Thanks go to Dwight Doane, KC1WXT, for the use and skilled operation of his drone.
In all we had over 30 people attend the event….
Saturday operation started on time, and we began to make contacts after a slow start.
We ran full-time on emergency power using a generator supplied by Peter Norden, N1ALO, so we could receive an extra 100 points.
Slowly but surely, the map of states began to be populated with new contacts as everyone had a chance to get on the air and operate.
The porch area was a cozy spot to sit and make new friends from people within the group who had never met in person before. We shut down operations around 9:00 and began again early Sunday
morning.
In all we had over 30 people attend the event and the weather turned out well with no rain this year. We earned 562 points from QSO’s and 880 from bonus activities for a total of 1,442
points! Many of these were from FT8, CW, and SSB, so many different modes contributed to the total score.
The activity ended promptly at 2:00 and the antenna take-down crew began bringing down the dipoles and tower to be stored away under Nan’s barn for next year. The Billerica EOC had asked for all the BARS equipment to be removed so we needed a new place to store the tower and tribander.
The weekend ended with many good memories and the satisfaction of a job well done by all. I want to thank everyone for participating and making this year’s field day another success. It wouldn’t have happened without the help of all involved.
Written by: Mark Nelson, KA1INE, Field Day Coordinator