04/10/2006 | WA4UF Ok, better late than never... Field Day 2005 went pretty well for a solo operation, though vital logistical support (he watched the kids and helped put up/take down the masts) was had from my father in law (Thanks, Ray!).

I operated for the third straight year from Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. Equipment consisted of an FT-100, a 2m handheld, a pile of 14AH SLA cells, a 24' mast w/2m and 6m take-apart Yagis and one end of the 20m EDZ, a 20' mast for the other end of the EDZ, an MFJ901B tuner, and a TRS80 Mod 102 for logging. Setup took about an hour or so, somewhat less time than the previous year - I'm getting better at this stuff! The masts are a trifle cumbersome - that Radio Shack masting is cheap but heavy. Plenty of skinny nylon rope and some really beefy tent stakes kept things upright in the face of some stiff wind off the Gulf.

Saturday went very well on HF, with good runs on 40, 20 and 15; VHF was pretty much dead, mirroring my June VHF contest results from a couple weeks prior. With sunset came the closing of the beach and a quick teardown.

Sunday morning was a red dawn indeed - as you can see from the photos I got a hellacious sunburn. Thus, Sunday's setup was on the inlaws' back porch, still on the batteries, but in the blessed SHADE, with ice and water on the fridge door!

I think for 2006 I'll look at carting the setup up to the Blue Ridge and operating either from the inlaws' cabin, or from the parking lot at Newfound Gap in the Smokies. And I need to reconsider my antenna setup with an eye towards making things somewhat more portable and managable by for solo setup/terardown. Back to the drawing board! What fun, even if it does drive the XYL slightly batty! -- WA4UF