My Field Day 2009

Well I planned on camping with the motorhome at the Ontario County Park at Gannett Hill, some 2000 feet up, operating my Iconm 706MKIIG with a Buddipole, either on battery power or on regular power.

We arrived there, I set the motorhome up, we had lunch, my wife was comfy, reading her book then taking a nap and I was setting up the Buddipole when I saw water leaking out to the motorhome. The site did not have water, so I was depending on the water tank and it was leaking. I decided that the safest think for us to do, was to return home. Which we did.

By then, it was past dinner time and I was tired and hungry. We fed our seven dogs (who were with us in the motorhome) and had dinner. I was too tired to do anything with radios, so it was up to bed.

Turned out that this was Radar's (my 9-11 SAR dog) last camping trip with us too. I did not know it at the time, but I'm glad he managed to be again at a place he really liked. And Chip, my first SAR dog also had his last camping trip at Ontario County Park, a place he loved too, so while not planned, these two dogs really followed each other's footsteps.


On Sunday, I decided to just operate my home station, I was really not in the mood to do much of anything, so I worked some stations on RTTY, BPSK-31 and phone, 40m, 20m and even 15m. Nothing to howl about. I was just trying to take it easy and have some fun, no pressure to compete or get any major results. I took many breaks, my wife and I also did some planning for our coming summer trip, so it was not a total wash of a day, but that leak sure put a damper on my Field Day.

I also finally made the decision that the Buddipole antenna is not for me. I learned a lot using it and it was fun. It is a very well made product but I need something that is easier to set up and just as efficient if not more. So I ordered a TransWorld Backpacker antenna and will give it a try as soon as it gets here. I hope to be using it on our trip. Since we'll be staying in some places just overnight, a quick setup time is of utter importance and so is the changing of bands. It seems that the TransWorld Backpacker will do just that for me. I can't wait till its here. And next year, I hope to use it on Field Day!