Field day has come and gone… but the memories burn brightly! (just like my sunburn.) This was my first FD experience, which is crazy since I’ve been licensed since 1994. At some point during the FD planning in our club, when the question was asked for someone to step forward to lead the transportation team, the smart ones took a step back except me… so I won that prize, so to say. I thoroughly enjoyed the planning, and the lead-up to actually executing the plan. Being relatively new to the club, trying to wrangle how to mobilize the club equipment forced me to reach out and meet a bunch of members – because this job would require teamwork. To the members who stepped up to lend a hand, their trucks, their truckin’ skills, and most importantly their time… THANK YOU. The Nashua Area Radio Society had an impressive operation, none of which could have happened without the equipment on site, organized, and delivered in an efficient manner.
Starting on Thursday afternoon, the transport team began hooking trailers, loading them and making the delivery to the site – but not until after 8 PM local, which was nice, because we got to stop for dinner on the way to the site. The next morning, the transport team met again at 8 AM local at various locations to finish the move of equipment, so the site teams could finish the setup. Finally, all the gear was on site, and a small tent city was starting to emerge from the football field at Hudson Memorial School, complete with towers and antennas.
Friday night, before FD started, John, KB1EEU and I were on site keeping the site secure, and that Tribander on top of that 60-foot tower was calling our names! I had never heard such little noise on 20 meters until that night. Crystal clear skies, down to about 58 degrees, we donned our sweatshirts and hooked my Yaesu FT-891 up to that Tribander… and we were into Honolulu on 20 meters. Not bad, right? It got better. We then tuned in an op who had an accent that was clearly not from New England… we were into Sydney Australia, and both of us worked some DX. My first DX, my first Field Day.
Fast forward to Saturday night, the site was humming with activity, the day shift had been hitting the bands hard. I really enjoyed operating in a team environment, and once I figured out what was going on, I jumped onto a logger and while Jerry K1OKD was running, I was trying to keep up with him, getting those QSOs into the log! The night shift was my favorite time to operate.
The operators of N1FD did a fantastic job, and my hat is off to the experienced hams – you guys and gals make it look easy! Staying up as late as I did put sort of a damper on how many hours I could operate while keeping my eyes open, so next year I’ll be sneaking away to grab a nap when I can.
Lessons were learned that will make FD 2019 even better, including where we can improve logistics, operations, and resource management. But isn’t that the point? Sure, there is a radio sport flair to it, but aren’t we pulling all this gear out of storage, setting it up, activating, and then reversing the process to improve our ability to provide good communications? I’m glad I was involved in FD, and I hope others will come out next year and try it if they’ve never done it before. Let’s just hope FD 2019 we don’t have to pack it up and haul it back Sunday night in the pouring rain!
Many thanks to the Transport team:
Charlie Pentedemos, AB1ZN
Charlie Dunn, W1CBD
Trish, N1LOI
Jeff Lalmond, KB1EXO
Craig T. Bailey,
N1SFT
