It had been quite some time since the club had done a field deployment and we were itching to get out there and try our hand at a field setup. It would also make for a good practice round for the upcoming annual Field Day event in late June. We decided to head to Kwomais Point Park in the Ocean Park area, close and easy to get to yet remote enough to feel like a field day setup.

We assembled in the gravel parking area of the park around 10am and spotted a large clearing just beyond a few trees. The area was slated to become an extended parking lot for the park but currently it was just rough ground growing low weeds, almost perfect for our needs. The team carried our equipment through the trees and setup a table and then Ralph’s portable dipole antenna. With several helping, the support pole went up quickly and soon we had the two legs of the antenna stretched out and secured.

Our first task was to try and reach a group in Saskatchewan that Bob had arranged to look for us. Unfortunately band conditions did not give us propagation to that region. We next tried to contact a number of contest stations but none responded to our calls. We were starting to feel that we had a technical problem with the setup, but then we made contact with a chap in the Ozarks. We had a lovely QSO with him with no issues with our signal. So everything was working fine after all.

After that contact we felt a few drops of rain and being fair weather sorts we quickly packed up the gear and made for Morrison’s Café to enjoy a warm coffee and some lunch. Though our contact count was minimal it was a successful adventure at setting up the equipment and operating in the field.