OVH Field Day 2021

VP – OVH

Field day, like Gaul, is divided into three parts ( – with apologies to Julius Caesar)

1) setup

2) field day operation and

3) tear down and submitting the log files.

The Setup

June 25, 2021 was the day before the first day of Field Day. It was also “Setup Day”.
As in some past years, we had a team out to shoot pull line in the trees which become support for field day antennas.  Most years we do this with easy-ups and home made easy-up consisting of a sling shot and a fishing reel & weight. This year, we also had a drone dropping lines (George, K4GVT) and a very effective pneumatic launcher made by Jeff, K9VEG. There was no rain and the lines went up. Our infrastructure erectors included Byron, AK4XR;  Jeff, WB4TT;  Gil, KM4OZH;  Al, KB4BHB;  Gene, N4HFW;  John, KG4NXT; Harry, KN4IJY; Jay, NQ4T and Ron, K3FR.

Early Saturday morning we gathered to finish setup before field day started at 2 PM. We put up an 80 meter windom, a 40 meter wire beam and the 160 meter horizontal loop. Gil loaned Ron his portable tower and Ron assembled it and put on several VHF/UHF beams. We also assembled the local area network for logging and two networks of electrical extension cord – one for generator power and one for laptops and lights from the mains. The rigs included John’s IC-7610,  Jay’s 7100, Wayne, AG4ZZ’s QRP solar powered CW rig and Jeff, K9VEG’s  CW rig.

Field Day Operation

All systems were go at 2 PM, June 26, 2021.   The field day operation is best described by Jay,  NQ4T:

“Field Day was great!

It was good to finally be able to do something as a club again. I would also like to thank everyone who came out to operate or just have some eyeball ragchews.

It truly was a club effort getting it together;

• Byron did a fine job organizing it,

• John was once again the “go-to” guy who helped everything run smoothly,

• Theresa cooked some excellent food,

• Bill “Mr. 10 Meters” was gracious enough to provide the food

• and then there were the guys that came out on Friday to help get the lines thrown &

• those of us who showed up bright and early to get everything set-up so when 1800 UTC hit, we were more than ready to operate.

Ron stayed glued to the VHF rig just about the entire time, Gil and Mark showed up to work the night shift. Jim was also there all night assisting with logging and helping to keep me company. Bill was also another overnighter that made for some great conversation.

Everything went as smoothly as possible; there were no serious injuries, everyone went home with their radios. I made it home about 11:30 the morning of the 27th, plopped in the recliner, turned the TV on, and next thing I knew it was dark.

It was truly a club effort. In my opinion, even if you just stopped by for a little bit; you still helped make the event a reminder of why this club is one of the better ones. It was a bunch of friends, hanging out in a park pavilion all weekend. In my book, I don’t think how many points we got overall is as important as the fact that we were all able to show up and do this.

Don, glad you enjoyed putting some miles on my rig. It was good to see it get some CW miles on it as well as to see some of my improvement hacks work as well as they did. I’m even impressed at how well that 7100 and my SDR/waterfall hack worked together. It worked great in the shack when I first hooked it all up; but my shack is a Faraday cage compared to Field Day. I’m a bit more embarrassed I did not know anything about setting that thing up for a CW key at first…but hey, we got it going.”

 The Teardown

First, we had a nice breakfast cooked by Phil, AC4PL and Theresa around 10 AM Sunday.

Then the teardown started. There were no surprises and most everything seemed to fit back in the trailer.

When it was time to submit the log, we found that we had 101 CW, 116 digital and 194 phone contacts.

We also had a lot of bonus points:

• Thanks to Tony, KM4KLB for 200 bonus points for message passing.
• Thanks To Jeff Porter for the elected official bonus points.
• Thanks to Wayne Kline for the natural power QSO points.
• Thanks to Wayne Phillips for the safety officer points.
• Thanks to Theresa, KG4TVM for media publicity, public information table and social media points.
• Thanks to DJ for youth participation points.

To see all 207 photos taken by George, Pinkie, Dana, Jay & Mark, please go to :
OVH Field Day 2021 (targetengraving.com)

It is this camaraderie, this fellowship that reminds us of why we are a club, and not just a collection of individual operators.

See you next year!

Very 73,
Jay, NQ4T;  John, KG4NXT & “The Other Ken”, KN4DD