Billy Denton – Bessemer, Alabama

The last week of June was the annual amateur radio field day exercise. This is a yearly event where thousands of amateur radio operators all across America do two things:

1. We set up portable radio stations in locations to demonstrate amateur radio to the public. It is a nice way of showing the public what we are capable of doing on a daily basis and to demonstrate the fun side of the hobby.
   

   The “Site”

2. It is a time when many operators set up a station in some obscure location to test our abilities and how well we can function in a catastrophic or disaster situation when all other modes of communication are gone.

Doug Jackson KC4SIG

Yours Truly – N4WXI

The second point above is what Doug Jackson (KC4SIG) and myself (N4WXI) chose to do this year. The goal was to put up a working communication system completely operational without using anything related to the power grid. This is to test the amateur community’s ability to operate in tuff environments without the beauty of being in their air-conditioned homes with running water, toilets, and stoves.

Doug Jackson KC4SIG

Doug and I had scouted a place out weeks before in a heavily wooded area in the middle of nowhere. So armed with HF/UHF/VHF transceivers, batteries, wire antennas, and a few other goodies we hit the trail. The exercise was to begin at 1 pm so we arrived at about 10:00 am. From there we put up a small portable canopy where we could operate and keep our equipment dry in case of rain.

In my younger days, I have been involved in all kinds of disasters, war, and other situations needing emergency communications. Too many stories to tell here but I have had a rich life serving others through amateur radio. But, that was as I said in my younger days. This was to be a real test this year for me. Doug is a little younger so I am not sure how much of a test it was to be for him but I am 66 and feeling every year of it lol. I wasn’t sure how I would cope although I kept telling Bonnie (wife) that it would be a piece of cake to which she rolled her eyes and said “you are no longer a young warrior.” I must admit I wasn’t sure about the bugs and the heat not to mention the physical exertion but once again it was an exercise to test those very things.

Were we ready? You betcha! Did we do it? We did! I was well pleased that we did as well as we did. We made over 100 contacts via voice from Virginia to Guam and all points in between. We also set up a VHF and UHF station and made contacts as far away as Talladega. Not bad for an antenna pulled up in a tree with a rope.

Speaking of antennas and equipment we used the following:

Emcomm II and Emcomm III were our first choice for antennas this year. These are end-fed antennas made by Chameleon. It did not take long using the Big Shot line thrower from Sherrill Tree to cast the lines up into the trees. Antenna for VHF/UHF was a Comet dual-band verticle.

Zamp Solar 45watt

Doug brought a portable solar panel complete with controller as did I to keep the AGM batteries fully charged for the duration of the exercise. The panels both performed flawlessly and all the batteries remained useable until the next morning when the sun finally penetrated the thick canopy of tree cover. I was amazed at how well the batteries held up after the sun went down. Granted, we were operating low power (40 watts max) but these radios ran all night. Also, Doug had a Surface Pro laptop running the logging program and it had run all night also. I think we dropped down to about 12.2 volts minimum but still sufficient enough to keep us going. I do not remember what brand Solar Panel Doug was using but I was using a 45-watt panel made by Zolar. These things are awesome!

FT-991A

Icom – IC-7000

Base Camp

Doug’s Operating Station

Radios? Doug brought along his Yaesu FT-991 and an FT-857 and I brought the trusted Icom IC-7000.

All in all, it was a success as far as we are concerned. Two old guys put up a complete self-contained radio station, including three antennas and were ready way before the starting time of 1 pm. We drank water, ate all the types of foods that diabetics should never eat, and a few snack foods to go with it. Oh, and lots of Vienna sausages. What can I say? lol

Seriously, these exercises are awesome and the average person just does not understand how important that amateur radio community is. The part we have played in the past from hurricanes, tornadoes, to search and rescue, are too numerous to describe, and very little is ever said by the press.

I am already looking forward to next year.
73 de:
N4WXI
KC4SIG