07/10/2005 | VE7RCN After days of rain and unsettled weather, we enjoyed some welcome sunshine on Friday afternoon as we set up Station VE7RCN (Royal Canadian Navy) at Mary Hill, located just west of Victoria, BC on the southern tip of Vancouver Island.

Mary Hill is a former World War II 10-inch naval gun emplacement with a commanding view of Juan de Fuca Strait. More than 60 years ago, engineers cut a roadbed through solid rock to allow the hilltop bunkers to be resupplied in secrecy.

The guns and shells are gone now, leaving the area and the roadbed undisturbed. Station VE7RCN has operated Field Day from this location since 2002.

When I arrived at Mary Hill, Ed VE7ED and Glenn VE7GCT were already on site, dropping off a truckload of gear before departing to fetch the flock of computers we employ for logging. By the time they returned, Colin VE7TNT, Doug VE7XAT and Reg VE7US had arrived to help unload "MOBY" (The Great White Truck) driven by Roger VE7NAP.

Within an hour, we had our 40 foot self-supporting "command post" tent erected, just in time for the arrival of Ken VE7KFB and Jim WF7W from Port Angeles WA, making us an international operation.

With the tent up, Colin VE7TNT and Glenn VE7GCT set up the generator and lights to power our Field Day operations while the rest of the crew affixed temporary towers to the hilltop bunkers and ran the feedlines. The antennas were assembled and tested on the ground, ready to be erected on Saturday morning.

Reg VE7US set up his Icom 746 and 706MK2G stations for 2 and 6 meters.
Ed VE7ED set up his Yaesu FT1000 for sideband.
Roger VE7NAP set up his Icom 745 also operating sideband.
Our CW operators, Colin VE7TNT and Jim WF7W set up Jim's Icom 756.

With everything but the antennas in place, we settled in for a Jambalaya supper and a few nightcaps before retiring to the bunk house at the base of Mary Hill. While we slept, the raccoons descended upon VE7RCN and raided the garbage can. After all, we were on THEIR TURF.

Warm sunshine and calm winds greeted us on Saturday morning as we made our final preparations to put VE7RCN on the air. Through the day we had a steady stream of HAM and non-HAM visitors as we worked stations across North America and a few from points beyond. Two of our guests, Dana (harmonic of VE7TNT) and Alexa (harmonic of VE7GGJ) operated sideband for many hours. They're keen to do it again next year. Jane VE7WIF also jumped in to operate for a while.

By late afternoon we knew this was going to be another memorable Field Day at VE7RCN. With things well underway, we had the usual feeding frenzy around the barbeque and the soup pot. Then back to the rigs for another round.

Sunday morning found VE7RCN operating 20 and 40 meters, piling up the contacts until the very last second. Then it was time to pack up. Within two hours, all of the equipment was down and loaded into the vehicles. By 3pm, station VE7RCN was gone, and Mary Hill was once again the forgotten outpost from a 20th Century war.

This was my third year of participating in Field Day with Base Amateur Radio VE7RCN. Back in 2003, I was invited to join the group by Tracy VE7RZ, the Provincial Emergency Program Station Manager. Sadly, Tracy became a Silent Key this past February, but his spirit was with us at Field Day.

More photos of the VE7RCN Field Day 2005 can be found at http://cornells.us/Jim/field_day_2005/field_day_2005.html.

Photos courtesy of Jim WF7W. -- VE7GGJ