Field Day 2020 is History

In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were still able to conduct Field Day at the DFRC this year, be it a scaled down version.  Under the excellent direction of Brian Mary, K3HMX we cut back to 3A knowing that we would have less participants.  This enabled us to operate from the picnic pavilion, which was very enjoyable for all.  Many of those present expressed a desire to use that location again next year if possible.

Everyone wore masks, we did a decent job of maintaining social distancing, and everyone had their temperature taken upon arrival.  Meanwhile we had quite a few new to HF operators who made contacts, and a decent number of control oeprators signed up to help others do so.  Special credit should go to Dr. Debdipta Goswami AC3EH who logged for a large number of those folks, and made a decent number of contacts himself.  .   

Special thanks go to Ted Rudie KC3LMV for making sure our network worked, and it dd.  David Rawlery N3AT for getting the Rocket Launcher up and down.  And Kelly Fast N3XUJ for seemingly being everywhere during setup and tear-down.  Eric Berman KC3GDV made sure everyone was signed in, signed out and that all equipment went back where it came from.  Jim Myrick W3JLM ran truckloads of supplies up and down the hill. 

We used two masts and a Rocket Launcher to hold up a 40/20 fan dipole, a 40 meter delta loop, an 80 meter inverted-V and a tri-band beam.  Special thanks to Catherine Bowes KB3URV without who's help those masts might still be on the ground.  We started only 30 minutes late this year, and we had more participants use CW than in the past few. 

On the down side, we found we didn't have sufficient generator power to operate the digital station effectively, so in early evening Safety guy, John Bowes KB3YLY brought us his 2KW generator, and solved the problem, at least for the last few hours.  I am sure our chief digital guy, Chuck Tanner K3ACT, will be releived if we start with more power next year. 

And of course we stayed past our advertized quitting time with KB3YQK making our last contact at about 12:40am local time.  The rigs and other expensive gear left the grounds that night, while the remainder was put away by the tear-down crew Sunday  morning and early afternoon. 

We are still working on the score.  Watch this space for details.