Club members gathered at the home of fellow club member Eric (VA7NX) to set up and work the ARRL Field Day event.  First on site were club president Jim and then Ralph. Tables and day tents were set up and then work began on the main OCF antenna. For this year’s event we opted for the inverted V layout. The central mast was a 40-foot metal sectional unit the Eric had for back country. This required the help of all members present to assemble and then tilt the mast upright. It went up fairly quickly with minimal angst. Then it was tied down and we were ready to go.

Konsta brought his K3S and 500watt amp that he has configured as a portal station to be used on 20m. Meanwhile Ralph was setting his Buddipole and IC-7000 to operate 15m. He was having SWR issues until it was discovered that his COAX had a fault, with a new coax he was on the air. Eric then set up a 2m station using his SOTA outfit. We were ready to start and soon were hearing stations and starting to make contacts. Though a lot of stations and pile-ups could be heard on 20m we seemed to be having some difficulty being heard, but it was likely just timing and the pile-ups that were our problem. Eric did manage to work a station in Spain, so we were being heard.

After a few hours the heat of the day had become intense and we felt we had had enough so we packed up the various stations and brought down the mast. It was a good time out in the field as a club after so much time being apart due to Covid.