| KF3M | Hanover Area Hamming Association Hanover, Pennsylvania |
Field Day 2015
Hanover Area Hamming Association
and
Baltimore Amateur Radio Club
June 27 and 28, 2015.
This year we combined our field day with the Baltimore Amateur Radio Club (BARC). We had planned to operate from a pavilion on the Pleasant Hill Volunteer Fire Company's carnival grounds. The weather forecast for the weekend was bad. And every day it got worse. Thursday afternoon, thirty hours before field day, we finally realized that operating from an open air pavilion was not going to work. Many phone calls later we had a working plan to operate from a room in the social hall. It is the same room where we hold our meetings. The space for equipment and antennas there was limited. We decided to go with only one transmitter.Friday afternoon we started setting up. The weather was hot and humid ahead of the approaching storms. We got the station set up. Our antenna was an end fed long wire from the building to tree. We were not thrilled with this but it was the best we could fit in the available space. The station worked and we made several QSOs.
Saturday morning we hooked up the generator and made a few QSOs before the contest started. Then the rain started. A lot of rain! The forecast was correct as was the decision to move inside. QSOs came slowly. We never got a good run going. About midnight we shut down. The RG-8 coax feed line with a 50 to 100:1 SWR haunted us.The heavy rain was over by Sunday morning. A few showers lingered. Overnight we found some 450 Ohm ladder line. The coax was replaced and signal strengths improved significantly.
What took us 24 hours to set up took only 45 minutes to tear down. Time for a hot shower and dry clothes. Another interesting field day is in the log.
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Al, W3TRW, says, "We are one wire short of a Field Day." We were. After installing the missing wire the station performed flawlessly all weekend. |
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Sheriff Mueller dropped by to see our operation. |
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Charlotte gets the PR table set up. |
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An on time start with Andy, KB3RFH, operating. - |
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Dave, AB3TE, logging and Al, W3TRW, operating. |
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Al, W3TRW, logging and Andy, KB3RFH, operating. |
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The social area. |
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Brian, N3VN, logging and Al, W3TRW, operating. |