[K6NCG] Field Day report.

[Desmond Crisis]

Hi All!

We had a lot of fun yesterday.  Andy, KI6ARA and Michelle, KI6ARB 
brought a mobile office truck and a large canopy that made things 
very comfortable to work from, thanks to those guys for all of the 
effort they put in!  They were setting things up when I got there and 
worked hard to make sure everything was right.

The station was a combination of two missions  The Coast Guard 
Auxiliary (I'm a communications officer there) was running nets on 
government frequencies for propagation test and there were a number 
of fellow auxiliarists here for that.  We were calling it a 
"Demonstration Station" because it's main purpose was to show new 
operators, hams and auxies, what HF was about.  We were able to get a 
number of people on the air and we were able to work our sister 
station in Souther California on only 5 watts (forgot to turn it back 
up after tuning - pleasant surprise!)

For Field Day, it was great to have K6NCG on the air again!  We were 
a 2A station and took it pretty easy, mostly staying on 20m.  There 
were some power issues and ground-plane issues but overall the Yaesu 
FT-897 and Tarheel 300 antenna setup worked great after we worked out 
the bugs.  With just Pete and I on HF spending most of the time 
showing new people around we were still able to make about 20 
contacts.  Lots of stations in Louisiana, Texas, Idaho Connecticut 
and even a maritime mobile in Rhode Island.

I will try to get the station back up this morning at the Yacht 
Club.  I don't expect that we'll submit the logs for the contest so 
lets work the call while we have it here!  We picked 14.292 because 
it was mentioned on the list a month or two ago, I'll stay there and 
drift only about 5KC in either direction around QRM.  I'll get the 
station back up in a little bit.  They're having a breakfast at the 
Yacht Club and I'll at least set up the car and probably be on the 
air from 0900-1200 local.  (we'll get that extra hour because we 
didn't start until later and things will be quieter after 11:00)

Remember, all of you are invited to let me know when you'll be in 
town and we'll have you over to the Yacht Club whenever something's 
happening there.  We should get a reunion at some point (I can sneak 
in an RV or two in our lot for an overnight if you're brave enough to 
try it on our off ramps!)

I'm hoping for more of you and a bigger station next year out here, 
let's start planning it.

73 FD de Desmond, KC6VHG