Hello fellow hams,
By all anaylses the 2010 GERC Field Day at Horsethief Canyon Park on June 26 was a big success! The best description of our efforts is summed in one word - TEAMWORK.
GERC is the sum total of a core group of hams, who work well together as a well oiled-machine. Part of the reason is our desire to serve the community and part is because of our enthusiasm for ham radio. We have added the dimension of education of the youth with Jim holding his Merit Badge class. Few other radio groups do this.
When you think about it, we should take solace in the fact that we collectively have the expertise to set up and operate a field emergency radio station. We can operate through heavy traffic such as might be the norm in a major disaster, and we have the ability to sustain ourselves with food and water.
I was happy with the way the two antennas worked for us on Field Day. The 20 meter Spider Beam worked good DX, although not enough of it. The vertical did a good job as I hoped it would. We need to get one more HF rig on the air next year so we can do 2 meter SSB as well. Richard has an old 2 meter rig, but it needs expensive repairs.
Larry was correct when he noted in the afternoon that when the propagation switched to the east coast we had trouble making contacts there because the W8LH call sign we were using was perceived as being a local station back east and they wanted to talk with west coast stations. Oh well, live and learn!
I was surprised at the final count of 27 participants at Field Day! 18 hams and 9 visitors must be a record for us!
We hope you enjoyed the photo story that was sent to all GERC hams. Frank took some great photos. I sent the PDF out to over forty hams on our list, and hope we get some comments. The Field day Report is posted under Pages & Links on this website as well.
This week I will be taking my time to cleanup and put away all the equipment. I am still sore from the event but that goes with age, I guess. Every year I tell myself this will be the last, but then good friends like you come along! I will say we were blessed with the cooler weather this year!
The next step is to begin making some improvements in our operations, maybe thinking about building a small trailer to support a tubular crank up mast on which to mount a rotator and Yagi. Just a dream so far.
Your comments and suggestions are important so please share them with us!
73,
Mark, N7YLA
