06/29/2006 | W0WR Reno County Kansas Amateur Radio Association (RCKARA) and the Emergency Radio Club of Reno County (ERCORC). 1A Kansas.

What a great time we had. This was the first Field Day that I have been involved in for around 20 years. The last Field Day I attended was when I was 16 and I helped run the Novice Station. Last year, after a long spell away from ham radio, I bought a rig, upgraded my ticket, and set out to help the clubs put on a great Field Day.

We set up behind the old fire station on West 4th Avenue in Hutchinson, KS and commenced to have a blast. We began setup at 9:00 AM CDST and had all of the generators set, antennas strung, radios tuned, and air conditioner running by start time. The station was set up in the Reno County Mobile Command Post trailer loaned by Emergency Management. We used the new Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark V Field that belongs to Reno County Emergency Management. Antennas used were a multi-monoband dipole for 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters and a Near Vertical Incidence Skywave antenna for working stations within 600 miles. Both antennas worked flawlessly, save for the time where the band was changed but one of the jumpers wasnt. We couldnt figure out why our SWR was so high. Luckily, that didnt last long.

Ron Cowan KB0DTI, the Kansas Section Manager came out to spend several hours with us before heading off to Wichita. We really appreciated his time. We also had visits by Magistrate Judge Joe McCarville and Sheriff Randy Henderson, as well as members of our CERT and Red Cross chapter. And since our Emergency Management Director and Assistant Director (thats me) were there, we get those points as well.

We only worked a little over 300 QSOs but we spent a lot of time teaching new hams about HF. There was only about 2 hours where the radio sat idle.

I will probably leave someone out, but we had many hams there and I may not remember all of them. However, I will try to list them.

W0UY-Tom, AD6P-Cleyon, K0SFV-Larry, KB0FJI-Dwayne, N0VID-Duwayne, KC0VBF-Bill, KA4CKR-Tim, KC0BHE-Scott, KC0HRC-Linda, KS0CG-Charlie, N0LQE-Vivian, W0ZC-Zack, WS0D-Clyde, KC0WPJ-Raymond, KC0WPI-Beth, KC0WPH-Joyce, N0VIB-Jeff, and a few others who I cannot think of right now.

I wished that everyone had as great a time as we did, but I know that is not the case. We were dry and shaded the whole 24 hours. Hopefully, next year we will all have dry weather and many sunspots. And to those who made CW contact with me, thank you for your patience and willingness to QRS just a little.

73 and see you next year.

Tim -- KA4CKR