[Elecraft] Field Day Report

[Al Lorona]

NR6TT/7, situated 1500 feet above Flaming Gorge in extreme northeastern Utah at 7700 feet, was plagued not primarily by the thunderstorm QRN, dead band conditions, or the incredible windstorm on Saturday night that undid a tautline hitch and knocked down our antenna, but by curious passers-by intrigued by the dipole hanging from two pine trees precariously close to the cliff's edge-- including the teacher from Spain touring the western states and who had bicycled up to the rim and who presented a wonderful opportunity to practice my Spanish; a ham we worked who lived ten miles away and just couldn't resist driving up to see what our operation looked like and then wanted to tell us about every trail, canyon, creek, overlook, lake, lightning-damaged tree and moose-viewing site within a ten mile radius of where we were; and the guy wearing a ten-gallon hat who almost made me jump out of my socks when he sneaked up behind me and suddenly shouted, "WHO YOU TALKING TO?!"  All combined, we spent a good four hours of our Field Day talking to these and others... time well spent, we thought, showing (as the W1AW Field Day message said) that amateur radio is "alive and well".

NR6TT/7
Al W6LX and 12-year-old Blaise
Elecraft K2 and homebrew W7EL Optimized (2.4 W)
Dipole antenna at 1500 feet effective height