back to 2024.06.22 Summer Field Day Nelsons

7 review:




Dick's "back yard" was just the right size for our event. Access was pretty easy, although there was a bit of
road construction in the area that made for some slight detouring. There was even a way out the back of the
yard directly onto a road. He didn't mind our parking vehicles back there either, so we could get our cars
close for unloading. Despite the recent rain, the ground wasn't swampy - it remained surprisingly dry. It looks
like Dick even got the back mowed for us just before the event.

The only major drawback of the location was the lack of a permanent shelter to use. So we planned ahead to make
sure we had sufficient canopies, tables, and chairs to go around. That, and Mark (N8TWO)'s tent. Fortunately
we didn't experience any severe weather (like we had last year at Antique Acres) so the canopies wer adequate
to keep our radios dry and our operators in shade.

This year's severe weather turned out to be flooding, but that was happening to the South of us. Several parks
(and a mobile home) were having problems with rising water, which we thankfully didn't have to deal with. The
close proximity of the canopies and their antennas did lead to some interference between stations on different
bands, just due to their extremely close placement. If we go with the same "staging shelter surrounded by the
station shelters", we need to remind them to set up their antennas as far away from the center staging shelter
as possible, to reduce station interference. The yard we set up in was somewhat limited in size though.

We also had the company of a friendly grey kitten that hung out in the tent while we operated overnight. The
kitten did bring in a fresh deer tick though, so we were on the lookout for any reinforcements it might have.
There were a few mosquitoes finding their way into the tent, but it wasn't too bad. I think a tent for overnight
operations is a good idea for any outdoor overnight operations we do in the future.

I'm considering packing my tent as well, but it's fairly large and requires considerable time to set up and take
down. Plus my truck is already pretty close to max capacity, and fitting in the tent bag could be challenging.

My weather radio started having sensitivity problems, and then appears to have lost its RX entirely.

One other reoccurring problem is keeping the canopies from taking flight in a wind gust. We often end up placing
batteries at the upwind-end to brace the poles, but the poles come down at an angle and their foot doesn't make
very secure contact with the battery. This year I used a few bungie cords to try to hold the poles against the
batteries, but it would be nice to have a more secure solution prepared. I also need to spray some waterproof
on my canopy, it was starting to drip in places.

Finally, I got out the little 12v desk lamps for evening operation and they worked pretty well. Even with the
smaller bulbs, they were a little brighter than I'd like to have seen, and we were pointing them up at the roof
of the canopy/tent for more even lighting. That, and the plastic tubing covering the neck of the lamps wasn't
staying attached to the base or bell for some reason - I'd like to fasten that down somehow.

Both my canopy's bag and Mark's (N8TWO) suffered from sticky zippers. There's something about the material
those zippers are made of that pulls water out of the air to corrode them even when kept dry. I've already had
to lubricate mine once but it was very sticky today. Mark's was totally caked with corrosion and I ended up
breaking the zipper clean in half while trying to loosen it up. After I got home I ended up soaking it in citric
acid and followed that up by coating the entire track in white lithium grease. Hopefully that takes care of the
problem going forward.


for the next event

W0MG Summer Field Day 2024 report


2024 SFD check-in:


Band / Mode QSO Breakdown:



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