08/24/2005 | W8LT Amateurs from Ohio State University Amateur Radio Club had one of their best field days in many years. Contacts were made on 5 HF bands and VHF. Matt, KD8ANP, volunteered his home and 5 acres for the event. Matt's two car garage housed our radios and operating positions.

Setup began around 10:30 in the morning on Saturday. Chuck, KE6DRN was able to get an 80 meter dipole in the air through the use of a fiberglass mast lashed to Matts propane tank, with the end radials tied off in the trees through the ingenious use of a slingshot and some fishing line. Mark, N8VJF was able to erect a VHF/UHF vertical antenna to see how far we could get out on those bands, and found some rather surprising results. Dan, KC8UDJ erected his Buddipole in the front yard and set it up for 20 meter operation. Mike, KI8KF had the brainy idea of erecting a 40 meter vertical antenna with the use of some ground radials on top of a painters pole, and the vertical element strung into the air with the use of a giant red helium balloon. (which, by looking at the numbers, carried the competition).

Right as we were finishing up with the setup, a thunderstorm came through and we had to halt our operations. Dan's buddipole was blown over in the storm and landed on one of the side radials and broke. Since it was no longer operational, we went to Plan B. We strung up a end-fed sloping dipole off of a fiberglass mast that was bungee corded to bike rack on Beckys (Matts wife) Blazer that we drove out into the middle of the field. This also served as other end for our 80 meter dipole. Just for grins and giggles, we also erected a delta loop antenna in the middle of the yard made from wire and PVC for insulators. This was also strung up by the slingshot/fishing line method and was dedicated for work on 20 meters.

Mark, N8VJF tried to erect a 6 meter dipole, but alas, the SWR wasnt cooperating. In spite of few trees, we managed to place 5 HF antennas into the air. After all the setup was completed, Matts backyard looked like a military training area with all of the rope and wire strung everywhere. On air operations started around 3 oclock EDT and shortly after, the grill was fired up and we had burgers and beer battered brats. (mmmmmmm..beer battered brats.)

During the afternoon and evening hours, several visitors came by to watch and operate. Another storm came along around 8 oclock, and was rather violent, so we shut down operations for about an hour to ensure that we didnt get fried alive by the lightning strikes, which I might add came rather close to the house. After the storm, 40 and 80 meters came to life and we were flying by the seat of our pants as to how many contacts we were bringing in.

We decided to halt operations around midnight, and we resumed again at about 7 am EDT on Sunday. All and all, it turned out to be a great Field Day in my opinion. We had an excellent turnout, and we were able to man all four transmitters for most of the event. Thats about all there was to it! Preparations are already being made for next year. -- KE6DRN