This year’s Field Day I’m sure most would call a success. We made over 400 contacts with 102 on voice, 200 digital, and 107 CW. Digital ran PSK-31 and CW ran at roughly 20 WPM. All stations were all over the bands hunting down contacts from 14:00 Saturday until 13:00 Sunday.
Steve VA3TPS’s setup utilized his usual 20 foot vertical. Steve used JT65 to contact Russia, Czech Republic, Peru, and Germany before the contest on Friday. During the contest we made field day contacts in Washington State, South Texas, Quebec, Ontario, and Florida as well as most eastern US states.
Mike VA3HEM’s Field Day setup included a Windom run east-west and a G5RV run north south. These were both hoisted atop his massive 36 foot fibreglass pole tower. No flag up there this year to prevent another fall, but a spectacular view and great height for hunting contacts.
Martha VA3SBD’s setup included a Windom run east-west atop a 24 foot fibreglass pole tower.
Bob VE3HIX’s setup this year was a simple but effective small form factor adjustable vertical. Ralph VE3CRK and Alex VE3ZSH helped Bob with logging CW contacts this year. Bob managed to transcribe the bonus 100pt QSO on Sunday. Unfortunately on Saturday, intentional interference rendered that broadcast unintelligible.
Mike VA3MCX enjoyed some time on DMR over the weekend. Jackie VA3BTQ made DMR contacts with Carrie and a couple other hams in Scotland. She also checked into the world wide DMR net on Saturday.
Clint was our resident chef all weekend. Thanks to Clint we enjoyed: hash browns, bacon, sausage, and eggs; cold-cut meat sandwiches; hamburgers, hotdogs, and side salads; and slow cooker chilli. A thank you to Tommy who helped Client with many task around the camp all weekend.
Around 22:30 on Saturday, Andre and Nick, two young guys from the area were up at the Purple Woods Conservation Area. Mike VA3MCX invited them to look around and they ended up spending a good hour or so touring the setup and talking to all the stations.
Around noon on Sunday light rain told us it was time to pack it in.
Next year with the help of our networking expert Mike VA3MCX, the repeater committee will be setting up a wired network to replace the unreliable WiFi network we presently have.
Thank you to all who came out:
- Steve VA3TPS
- Mike VA3MCX
- Alex VE3ZSH
- Clint VA3KDK
- Martha VA3SBD
- Bob VA3IRB
- Laird VE3LKS
- Doug VA3DCE
- Jackie VA3BTQ
- Andre VE3SP
- Bill VE3CRV
- Joe VE3VGJ
- Campbell – DRP Constable
- Barbera Howe – Oshawa Snapd
- John Henry – Mayor of Oshawa
- Jennifer French – MPP for Oshawa
- Berry
- Tommy
- Katrina
- Alivia
- Dennis
- Nick
- Andre
- Shawn
And a big thank you to our sponsors:
Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority (CLOCA) and
Collin Carrie for the donation of the Canada 150 flags.