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Old 06-17-2016, 02:30 PM   #1
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Default Field Day and camping trip

As it turns out 2016 Field Day lands smack in the middle of a little camping trip we have planned.

I guess I'll drag the HF radio along and see if anybody can hear me on a couple of different antennas. We'll be a 1B GA.

Haven't done a field day in years...

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Old 06-17-2016, 03:08 PM   #2
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I'll miss Field day this year. I'll be in North Carolina at The Greatest Camp On Earth, North America's largest annual martial arts training camp, of which I'm a director. We hope to have video streaming available from Thursday through Saturday so y'all can watch Greatest Camp activities.
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Old 06-17-2016, 10:23 PM   #3
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I will spend a brief time at our club's field day. I am directing a huge community garage sale that will take most of my Saturday and Sunday.

We will be operating as W7AVM and will also be a NPOTA station from Ebey National Historic Reserve, Washington. Hopefully I will get on the air for a while.

W7DAF formerly KG7JCA.
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Old 06-18-2016, 07:30 AM   #4
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W7DAF formerly KG7JCA.
So is this an upgrade, a vanity call or both?
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Old 06-18-2016, 07:48 AM   #5
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1B GA.. Where in GA? (I am in Townsend, near Dairen 3 miles north of the Darien Mall) There is a nearby club but since I'm busy that Saturday I'll be working, not on radio.
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Old 06-18-2016, 08:35 AM   #6
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I'll be in NH with the club as a gota station with my camper.
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Old 06-18-2016, 12:57 PM   #7
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1B GA.. Where in GA? (I am in Townsend, near Dairen 3 miles north of the Darien Mall) There is a nearby club but since I'm busy that Saturday I'll be working, not on radio.
About a 30 minute walk from Alabama.

I'll be at Holiday Park on West Point Lake.
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Old 06-18-2016, 06:14 PM   #8
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Wade, check out Holiday COE for me. DW has to have TV reception, more than GA Public TV. One of my favorite COE campgrounds is Service Park, Silas, AL but very limited TV receptions so DW puts it down but for me it is as another camper said, "Best place to be to do nothing". Let me know how many OTA channels you can pick up. I assume you should be able to get Auburn, a maybe for Columbus, to far for Atlanta. Check out good camp sites also. I was going to go there his week but will be going to our old standard McKinney Campground on Lake Allatoona. Have you been to Holiday before? I read on one of the forums that someone thought Whitetail campground was better.
Are there gators in the lake? I will assume there probably is since they have been sighted in the Hooch in Atlanta. I know they are in the Alabama River around Montgomery at Gunter Hill campground and they are in the Tombigbee River where I like to go. The story goes at the Service Park campground boat ramp there is a gator that hangs out around it, probably because people clean fish there. (We were warned about it the first time we stopped there) But, there was someone throwing a frisbee out over the water for his dog to fetch. People warned him not to do that because of the gator but he ignored them. Guess what, the dog was a nice snack.
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Old 06-18-2016, 08:51 PM   #9
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I'll take lots of pictures and write up something for ORR.net when I get back. Holiday is adjacent to Whitetail so I figure they're about the same. This will be our first COE camping. We're going there because it's close, cheap, next to water (makes Sweet Wife happy) and came recommended by the French horn player in our church orchestra who is good friends with the principal flutist, whom I am married to.

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Old 06-18-2016, 08:55 PM   #10
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Quote:
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So is this an upgrade, a vanity call or both?
I upgraded to general a little over a year ago but recently decided I wanted the vanity call. The call is Washington 7 and my initials. Great that it was available.

Next step will be to get it on my license plate.

Dave
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Old 06-18-2016, 09:22 PM   #11
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Corps of Engineer campgrounds and state parks is what I love the best. Lots of room between campsites, usually quiet and most have good shade. We go to McKinney campground 2 or 3 times a year, likewise for beautiful Gunter Hill on the west side of Montgomery, just make sure you get a site on the Catoma loop as they are full hookup, not usually found in COE's. Like I said, my favorite is Service Park, Silas, AL with 14 pullthru's on the bank of the Tombigbee River with lots of barge and other boat traffic to watch. What is great for us old folk is the America the Beautiful pass that give us a 50% discount on camping. For McKinney our site is $15 because it is lakeside but if not lakeside it is $13. I think all the sites at Holiday are discounted to $13.
Oh, by the way, they will want your truck license tag number when you check in so have it handy. Since I no longer have a ham call vanity tag I can never remember what mine is.
The comment about Whitetail was that the writer said there were no "Bad" campsites as opposed some possible ones at Holiday.
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Old 06-19-2016, 11:36 AM   #12
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Quote:
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Since I no longer have a ham call vanity tag I can never remember what mine is.
Funny, I have the exact same problem!
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Old 06-19-2016, 02:30 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio
I'll be at Holiday Park on West Point Lake.
That would be a bit of a hike from here.. As i said I'll be passing out groceries to the needy that day. Something we do monthly where I hang out.

Oh, on the good news front. Got home yesterday and my "Free" radio was on the table. Got it programmed up and installed (only the software does not work) and took it with me to church today.. Though I did not have any QSO's it did receive a repeater ID or two once I got out of the RV park (Nothing works here.. Well HF works, nothign over 50 MHZ)

Thankfully it is fairly easy to program from front panel/mic, Frustrating, and instrucitons suck, but it works.
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Old 06-21-2016, 07:20 PM   #14
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Yeah, we're on for the trip, ya'll mind the store for a few days while we are away starting Thursday...

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Old 06-27-2016, 02:34 PM   #15
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Didn't go to Field Day, but had a great time at Judo camp in NC. We had about 200 kids and 150 adults, youngest Camper age 4, oldest age 88. I spent most of my time on an examining board, and we promoted several black belts, highest 4th degree, lowest 1st degree, and some brown belts and lower. Only had one fail (first degree black), and he retested next day and passed. Also Board-of-Directors meetings (I'm parliamentarian for two national Judo & Jujutsu orgs), took 117 photos, and in between all that I got to spend some time on the mat with little kids. That's the best part.

Maybe next year Field Day and The Greatest Camp On Earth won't be on the same weekend.
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Old 06-27-2016, 06:48 PM   #16
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Well we had fun and ate well but the band gods did nothing for us! Any thing above 20 just was not there.
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Old 06-28-2016, 01:26 PM   #17
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I stuck with the call i'd had for nearly 40 (38 I think) years when I upgraded.. Did not see the need to change since I'm not a contester. (Save for FD and then under a club call).

Since it is the LAST SATURDAY and that is food bank day where I voulenteer I spent Saturday (9:"30 to 4:30) out in the 90 degree plus heat passing out groceries with Cindy (Who is the titled head of the program) only taking a couple of breakes to go inside the not all that well (80's) air conditioned store with Sherry who acaually runs the program,, We passed out around 150 of the 200 bags of food we had ready.

Then I bought dinner cause I was too tired to cook,, Went hom, Ate, CRASHED.. I hit zero on the energy reserve.. Napped a couple hours. Fed cats, Went to bed offically, got up showered, breakfasted went to church, then up to Ms. Sherry's to hang a decoration (Solar Light Up Butterfly) and change a light bulb in her porch light (Could not find new bulb) and by that time FD was over. Long weekend I'm still in recovery.
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