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Well, SSB Field Day is nearly upon us and we're just about ready for the event. The generator and caravan are available and the site at Margam Park, PortTalbot has been booked.
24 hours spent in the vast area of the park, along with the wild deer can be a daunting thought, but...........We wont have much time to think about it. Once the generator and the rig is fired up at 16:00 on Saturday it'll be work work work - Working the world in a wonderful contest like no other contest I know about.
Firstly, the site has to be setup within 24 hours of the event kicking off, So the antennae's, rig, caravan, generator and tower all have to be taken from the clubhouse to the contest site, out in the wilds, away from any form of civilisation or mains power
It's 18:00 on a warm sunny Friday september day.
First, We erect the 80ft mobile tower complete with a 5ele triband beam and check it for resonance with a frequency analiser, If the reading is'nt correct then the tower will have to be winched back down....all 80ft of it and the beam adjusted and tested again, While thats going on, Other members are erecting the 80m and 40m dipoles which will be strung between some trees which are some 400ft apart and about 80ft high. Stevie's to the rescue with a fishing rod and a weight, He casts over his shoulder and the 4oz lead flies over the narrow crown of the first tree, Some 80 foot high, We all scramble about the undergrowth and bushes for any sign of the weight untill it's found and a rope connected to the other end. We pull the rope up very carefully as stevie had only filled the reel with 20lb line and it was cutting into bark
After all of the dipoles had been strung, The clever task of pulling the both antennae so that they were taught and high enough in the air, We attached the end of one antenna to a car and pulled the shooting match over the tree and secured the rope at the base.
The 12 kv Generator was started up for the first time and seems to be running very well with no problems and at 22:00 made our first contact with a local station, Because as usual the bands were dead, So we decided to get some sleep and carry on in the morning.
As the sun come up over the horizon, We found ourselves surrounded by the parks herd of wild dear roaming about, amonst the patchy clouds of mist and dew. The kettle was put on and the barbaque was lit for breakfast, burgers,sausages,bacon and eggs, Pretty much the same for lunch as well.
At 16:00 the contest kicked off and we were working 4 stations a minute, Everyone was alive and bursting with enthusiasm, "cq contest cq contest MW0AGE/P " . We worked all through the day, Night and the following day.
We made hundreds of contacts, But we should have worked more, If only the generator had'nt broken down for a few hours, Or the amplifier had'nt blown up, But thats half the fun of this great outdoor radio event, -The unexpected.
Well, we did'nt win the event, But we did come 9th, Which is'nt so bad after all..................And there's always next year !!!!!