07/03/2009 | W7SA Wow! What a weekend! The Potluck Dinner group photo puts it in perspective!

Catalina Radio Club members and their families and friends, what a great bunch of people! It was nice to see families camping for the entire weekend. It gave the radio outing a real family and party feel. Hardware resources were shared, and people gave freely of their time.

We had a great time around the campfire on Friday night after the stations were set up, and spent some time listening to campfire stories and getting to know each other better.

We enjoyed watching parents introduce their kids to radio at the GOTA station. In addition to learning some radio, the kids also learned that there are other parents "like ours."

NEW ACTIVITIES: We spent more time planning this Field Day than many in the past. The planning was certainly worth it! We had a bigger turnout than expected, and all were excited to try new things!
We set up a wireless network for the first time, and utilized N1MM logging software. It was exciting watching the QSOs update on the computer screen as the exercise progressed. We actually logged most (if not all) contacts!
We rented a port-a-potty for the first time this year. It was a popular station (we had the GOTA station and then we had the GOTTA GO station)!

The following comment from Dave KE7UKZ captures the essence of Field Day:

The activities for the kids (crafts and geocaching) were great and I've heard nothing but good feed back for the people I know that had kids there. I really appreciated the helpful atmosphere and assistance I got at the GOTA station, after all, this was my first contest as a full participant. Because of that help I worked the 20 meter SSB station until about 2am on Saturday and logged a "JE" from Japan. What a gas! -- KE7DX