The general impression seems to be that we had one of the best Field Days in recent memory!

For one thing the WX was very nice. There was a threat of rain on Saturday but the precipitation never materialized, and Sunday’s WX was absolutely beautiful.

I know of only two problems, both of which had only minor impact. The club’s FT-1000 appears to have suffered a failure, but was quickly replaced with another rig (sorry, I don’t recall right now who supplied the replacement — perhaps someone can post a comment to fill in this information — update: it was Paul, KI4GKW).  Something came up at the last minute that prevented me from participating on Saturday which was a great disappointment for me, but I was able to make it on Sunday.

The new trailer and mast were available and put into service with the club’s tri-band Yagi thanks to a lot of hard work by a team of volunteers from the club. Many thanks to all who contributed to this project!

Everyone who participated and contributed deserves our gratitude, and I would like especially recognize a few individuals. I do this somewhat reluctantly only because someone will probably be left off the list through oversight or carelessness on my part — there were so many members made an extra effort to make this year’s Field Day a success. Here goes:

Thanks to Bill (KY2O) and Lynn (KI4NRJ) who did such a magnificent job on the food again this year.

Thanks to Mike (KY4OEM) and Paul (KI4GKW) for the great support from the Office of Emergency Management, including more generators than I have ever seen in one place at one time.

Thanks to Steve (AI4ZL) for supplying computers and for setting up and maintaining the logging program and the on-site network.

Thanks to Beth (KI4ZAK) for the great public information display, including a bit of “nail biting” and lots of follow-up with ARRL to make sure the materials arrived on time.

Thanks to Bill (KU4RC) for handling the press releases. Although the Paducah Sun badly mangled the information that he sent in (my impression was that they printed every other word of every other sentence) it appears that their interest was sufficiently piqued that they sent a reporter and photographer on Saturday with the result that we got great coverage on page 2 of Sunday’s front section.

Thanks to John (KO4XJ) for the great interview he provided to the Paducah Sun reporter, which resulted in that great article.

Again, thanks to the team who got the trailer and mast completed on time for Field Day.

And finally, thanks to Ed (AB4IQ) for organizing the club’s Field Day effort and making everything come together.

If anyone has anything to add, please do so in the “Leave a Reply” box below or just click on “Comments” (depends on whether you are viewing just this post or the entire blog).

A word to the wise: “Be Prepared!“  Looks like we could have rain or possibly a bit of rough weather sometime during Field Day weekend, so bring your foul weather gear!  On the plus side it may be cloudy and windy, meaning that is may also be a bit cooler.

More new stuff: We plan to have a 6m antenna set up at the FD site and will be listening for band openings.

There will be some exciting new things to see and to learn about at FD this year.

Ed (AB4IQ) and Steve (AI4ZL) will have a new and sophisticated logging program running with computer rig control and networking between the stations.

The DES trailer and mast should be available, allowing us to use a directional antenna on the higher bands.

As always, plenty of fun, food, and good friends, as well as radios to operate.

BCNU there.

There will be some exciting new things to see and to learn about at FD this year.

Ed and Steve will have a new and sophisticated logging program running with computer rig control and networking between the stations.

The DES trailer and mast should be available, allowing us to use a directional antenna on the higher bands.

As always, plenty of fun, food, and good friends, as well as radios to operate.

BCNU there.

You can ignore this post — I’m just testing a new mobile blogging client.

Summertime, and it seems there’s nothing to write about… Even 6m has been quiet lately.

Well, Field Day is almost here. I hope you have all your preparations completed and are planning on coming out to Keiler Park with us.

I have my Field Day attire all set. Those FD shirts that the League is selling look nice, but I’m not wearing black on a 90-degree day. I made up my own by using an iron-on transfer to put the PARA logo and my callsign on a pale yellow tee shirt.

Looks great!

…about a new web resource that places significant emphasis on the technical side of Amateur Radio!  I hope everyone will take some time to look at this, and I hope you will find it as exciting as I do.  I also hope that everyone will make an effort to investigate some new technical aspect of our wonderful hobby this year.

Here are the links to the ARRL’s new “We Do That” web site and the accompanying WordPress blog.

Good news!

Ed (AB4IQ) informs me that he has received official approval from the city for our use of Keiler Park for Field Day.

You can read what the city has to say about the park at this link.

June 15th       Logan      KG4UKB
June 22nd       Bill          KU4RC
June 29th       Beth        KI4ZAK
July 6th          Ken         WA9WJL
July 13th        Gene        N4FZ