07/16/2005 | K3PZN I'm not a member of the Carroll County (Maryland) ARC. My home is in western Massachusetts. But on a family visit to Mt Airy, MD, on Field Day weekend my brother told me on Friday night that some people were setting up some kind of radio operation in a school playground a short distance down the street from his house. Early Saturday I stopped by as people were crawling out of tents, and I was invited to come by later to see K3PZN (19A!) in action when and if I had some time free.

So, late on Saturday evening I dropped by. Nobody was operating the 10 meter SSB position, and I thought it unlikely that 10 would be useful at 9 p.m., but I was able to add a half-dozen contacts to their log in a short period. Then somebody asked me to take over 160 meter SSB (probably their ears were hurting from the noise), and again, I was able to add a few contacts, and also to copy the ARRL Field Day message.

I enjoy Field Day, and have participated a few times with the Mt Tom ARC near my home in MA. But I often have to miss it because my mother's birthday comes during the last week in June, and Field Day weekend is the best time for the 900 mile round trip to visit her in Maryland. I was really pleased to find the K3PZN group and to have a chance to operate with them for an hour or two. I'll be looking for them next year if I can't spend FD weekend at home.

Al, n1aw@arrl.net -- N1AW