Field Day 2013

Field Day 2013 dawned bright and dry for the White Rock club this year.  We were to set up near Ruth Johnson Park at the Centennial Arena this year, a new site that we had not used in the past.

Shortly after 9AM, Jim, VE7UVL and Eric, VA7NX were at the site along with Deme, VE7CRT and Ralph, VE7OM setting up equipment, antennas and just enjoying the activities.  Jim set up his camper and dipole, and Eric put up his long dipole that he used for his backcountry operations.

As we got up and running before the start time, Stuart, VA7QB showed up with a supply of coffee to help the operating get a ‘wet’ start.  The bands weren’t quite what we would have expected, and the opening contacts were hard to get.  Deme used his Elecraft™ KX3 to make a few contacts on 20 CW, and Jim went onto 40 SSB.

After the opening hour or so of the contest, we found that the band just wasn’t what we would have hoped, and thought that perhaps a change of antenna might be worth it.  Ralph had brought his Buddipole™ and was able to set it up as a vertical with wire counterpoise and was able to make a number of contacts with it.

Joining the group during the morning operations were Eric’s wife Carolyn, VA7CDA; Ross, VA7OW; Dave Paulin, VE7TDG    and Ken, VE7KBN.  Ken spent some time pounding the brass with a straight key and made a number of contacts on 20.  Ralph completed the day by spending an hour or so working 20CW using Eric’s IC7000 and the BP vertical.

We did better than last year, the number of contacts were up slightly - 76, and the rain held off giving us the knowledge that we can set up a fairly rudimentary operation and be successful at it.