Did you participate in Field Day this year?

[Radio]

The question is binary. If you showed up and drank coffee (and did nothing else) or just made a contact or two from home...did you do anything with Field Day this year?

[w6pea]

I haven't even turned on my rig for a week.

[w7wv]

Out of the 10 or so active I have had in ham radio I have participated in 3 if I remember right.
The ARRL does not consider it a contest but with the clubs I was with that's all it was and I did not enjoy it.
I don't care for "quickie exchanges" in any contest. The only goal seems to be awards which I am also not interested in.
Since I returned to ham radio after my long absence as a Novice in the 70s I have only been involved in on FD and it was the same as those when I was a Novice.
I guess you could say I was just involved with the wrong clubs at the time. I am sure there are more fun type clubs out there that take things a little less seriously I could have enjoyed the event with.
As fallout from 3 clubs that I was members of, I won't join another. I also found out while a member of those same clubs that unless you were one of the FD regulars that they were not interested in your input on much of anything. So be it.

[Richard Stouffer]

Sorta. I took pictures of a local club's Field Day this morning. Does that count?

[Andy N1ORK]

Had a great time with our Club, the BEARS of Manchester, CT. We worked 8A CT, no big towers just dipoles hung in the trees and a few yagis on the vhf bands. Our site was an old Nike missle site given to the town at about 550' elev. I was working 10m SSB with a 10m dipole about 25' in the air. Managed to get 215 contacts and still enjoy myself with great comraderie and food donated by the club and pot luck brought in by the XYLs and others. I had about 5 new Hams help me with my 10m station and they assisted the others also by logging, operating and checking the dupe sheets. The WX was hot but bearable and no rain until after we had all dismantled and were leaving for home. Hope to have as much fun next year!

[w7wv]

I monitored for a little while after it first started after testing my antenna out just before.
I was surprised at the numbers of CW stations on 20 meters!
You want to pass that really narrow filter???

[TXiceman]

Had a great time with the club, I was there at 0800 to help set up, did a tech session and ran the SSb station from 1700 to 1900 on Saturday. Back again and ran the SSB station from 0900 to 1100 and was back on for the last half hour and then tare down. Cleaned up and out of there by 1430.

If you did not go out to help...you missed a lot of fun.

W7WV, sorry you have not had any sucess wit the clubs. I went to a few meetings in a rural area in NE Oklahoma and it was not much...too much politics and fighting. NARS here in Houston (www.nars.net) is great. They make sure the hobby is fun and all that participate have fun and promote it to new hams.

Ken

[Rvdreaming]

This year's Field Day turned out to be a good one. The club W5SSV took a little different approach this year and operated 3 Delta (CW, SSB & PSK31) from the club house. We normally go from about 75 - 80 people at peak time (lunch) down to 3 - 4 operators left by 8 pm to make the rest of the night. This year we had 15 operators still working the bands at 2 am. Most were new hams and the best part was watching how excited they got every time they made a contact. We didn't set any records but everyone had a good time and is looking forward to next year.

[Radio]

Originally Posted by Rvdreaming

We didn't set any records but everyone had a good time

And that's the point, IMHO.

[k3mp]

Remember we are not there to set records...we are there for training exercises...and the more younger or newer hams involved the more our ranks will grow...to many people use this like a contest...it's there to train the new hams and old alike that don't often get involved...I had a great time from my 5th wheel in the Pocono mountains and intend on doing the PA QSO party from my camper also....I will operate all bands, mainly SSB and CW from Wayne County, PA...not many of us hams up there...

[w7wv]

See that's my point.
All FD activities I was a part of were very contest/point oriented and very serious.
The last two the clubs wanted to be in the top 5 if not #1 for the category they ran.
Life has so much more to offer.

[bikerman]

We held our club field day event again in my fields for the 15th year. We operated 4A from NFL using members call W4CW. I myself operated CW on 40-15-and 10 meters had a great showing and loads of fun check out our website for pictures www.suncountryars.com

[Radio]

That's cool!