Uncovering the Joys and Challenges of Ham Radio Field Days

So whether you're a regular listener or first-time guest , we are excited to have you here and appreciate your support and appreciate you guys tuning in for tonight's episode . So let's get into it . I'm your host , eric call sign N1JUR , and I'm with my co-host this evening Go ahead , Todd W1STJ , and it looks like it's just me and you tonight , Eric .

Yeah , paul is a little under the weather here and so he bowed out . But we wish him well and hopefully he recovers and I'm sure he'll be back for another round there . But outside of that it's just us two the amigos here and we're running the show , so everything goes , I guess . So , uh , we kind of get into our topic . Let's catch up on a few things .

Obviously we always keep mentioning our storefront , and you know we love to , because it's always one of our fun things . Uh , you can always head over there livefreeandhamcom , forward slash shop . Uh , check out all our merch . We're adding new stuff to the store . I'm actually in the midst of creating a couple new shirts .

Uh , this , uh one the one that we mentioned probably prior , that's coming out soon , will be Todd's favorite one called Ham Radio , saved or Found Me , and I've got another one called Send QSLs , after the old typical send me nudes kind of photo . So we're going to play on words with a couple of those .

So we're going to have some fun with this and you know , if you're always interested in contributing and , uh , you got a great shirt idea , we uh just like , uh , hrcc , we love to hear you know , send it our way and we'll make sure this isn't one of our uh shirts , but no , but it's not like radio . It's kind of a smart people thing that it is so .

But as always , you know , we like to thank everybody who has purchased a shirt . So , whether you've got a classic tease or you bought one of our specialty shirts or our typical hats that we always catch us wearing here on the podcast , you know we appreciate you guys supporting the show and we also have a new feature that we want to make you guys aware of .

We know , obviously some of the options and leaving reviews are a little challenging , especially if you're not an Apple user or you know you just can't get over there to be able to , you know , go through the rigmarole to leave a review . We've got a simple feature now . It's called Send Us a Review Via SMS .

So if you head over to either our website and in any one of our descriptions with any one of our podcast episodes and on our YouTube channel , there is a link that you can click to review an SMS , and it's as simple as just basically clicking the link on your cell phone or a smartphone and leaving us a review , and if you do , we will make sure we will

definitely read it in the next show . So , you know , we'd love to hear from you . We want to see how we're doing and we always appreciate the feedback . So this is hopefully one way that you guys can connect back up with us and , you know , be part of the show . And , as always , you know , we are just .

This episode will air right about a week and a half or so before field day . So , like we mentioned , we are going to be talking a little about field day , um , and coming up obviously in field day we will be doing some live stream stuff . So this is our live stream month , um .

We are going to have a couple of guests on , but more so just coming up , although you might have missed at this point , but hopefully you are subscribed . On the 5th of June , we are going to be celebrating our one year anniversary , which is awesome . One year already Wow , it's crazy .

And we're already 30 , almost 40 episodes in and almost close to four 3,500 downloads . So we appreciate every one of those downloads and everyone who's been part of uh listening to live free and ham . So , uh , you know you make sure you uh want to be in on those uh um , shenanigans , as they say uh , feel free .

Uh , you know , make sure you're part of that . And we will also from field day as well . We are all probably going to be attending our local club field day . So if you , you know , are around , make sure you pay attention .

Friday , saturday and throughout the field day weekend , we will be making sure that we get on a live stream and , you know , have some fun with that as well . And because our VE Quizmaster is obviously unavailable , we are going to forgo this week's episodes on getting Todd his extra . So we apologize .

If that's a segment you like yourselves and look forward to every episode , we will make sure we pick it back up next episode and go from there . But our favorite thing that we just have going on , which is another episode or another segment we have here Doing good Good , do good You're doing good , absolutely I do Good .

We all felt that you know , when you ask about joining or you ask about you know , ham radio and joining a club , you get 55 different reasons why you shouldn't join one or who not to join . So we're going to take a different approach and showcase the good you know that our clubs are doing in your area .

So we are starting a segment here and we have one that we want to share with you this week . It happens to be our own club , um , but you know , if you are doing something great and uh , either promoting your club or getting people more interested , um , in an activity or whatever , we want to hear about it .

So if you get a moment you know and you want to share that with us , you can head over to um uh your email account or our website and use the comment form there . Or you can email us at uh , live free and ham at gmailcom and let us know what your club's doing .

But for this episode , um , I am going to uh share just a little uh segment that , um , you know we are doing in our club , uh , to showcase some of the good that's happening . Um , and this one is , uh , one of our dear friends , tim uh Casey , one QDK .

He is a CW we'll say master , or working towards his master as a CW person , and he has been very vigilant in obviously staying the course and learning to practice .

But at the same time he is also dragged in , or I should say encouraged others to come in and he's created a thing in our club called Code Buddies and every week he is diligently over sending out notices and getting people involved and he's using , you know , we'll say , ham radio , adjacent kind of style of CW training , instead of using the airwaves .

He wants everybody to obviously be able to get in there and have a shot at it . So he's using a tool called V-Band and he is having a great success at it . He's seeing a lot of people come in . Some are lurking , some are just hanging out and just , you know , getting a feel for it .

But there are people that he's had both here locally in our club and in our area and , you know , even outside the area , that are just hearing about it and they're , all you know , supporting him and helping out , and they're all learning how to be more CW proficient .

So this is a perfect example of what we're talking about when we want to say you know doing good in your club , you know . So we want to encourage you .

So if you're just kind of sitting on the back of your heels there and wondering , you know , when someone else is going to do something , then you're the person that you know , you know should be the one going out there and starting something in your club and and you know , maybe you know encouraging others to get out there and do some stuff , both as a club

and , you know , as individuals in your club . So you know that is what we're looking for , guys . So this is what we mean for our do good segment . So you know , we want to hear from you . We want to hear from you .

Make sure you email us at livefreeandham at gmailcom with some of your experiences and what you're doing in your club and we will be happy to share that on our next episodes and any other future episodes going forward . So definitely do that . We want to give both props to you and props to your club .

Get their name out there and let folks know that there are good clubs out there that are doing some good stuff . So all right , that kind of triggers and leads us into our usuals . So , todd , obviously what's been going on with your ham radio week and you can throw it over to me after you're done .

I guess the next two years this year and next year the uh belmont stakes is going to be up in saratoga because they're redoing belmont park so nice . There's a lot of uh horse stuff going on , uh , at least prep , and that was last weekend and the race is next weekend , so they were up there a few weeks early .

Anyway , um happened to be literally next door to a huge park . Wow for my hotel which so I got up , uh , it's in saratoga , it's , it's this huge I I forget the name of it , but it's a huge , like it's got pools , museums , hot springs , I mean it's , it's pretty . So I was right next to it and I'm like , I'm like , uh , I'm gonna go check this .

So I grab my bag and take off in the morning and I go sit down . I find a place right next to this Ferrari automobile museum that's in the park , and I found a picnic table and went up and I made like 40-something contacts and it was a little rough . Bands weren't as good as I wanted them to be , but I made the contacts , it was good .

And I picked up another state . We're not too far from New York , but far enough that you'd have to make a trip for it . I was glad I got that . Now I've got all of New England and New York , I've got to hit New Jersey , pennsylvania . I'm going to keep working my way south until I get the whole East Coast . It was good , it was a quick activation .

I was only there for maybe an hour , hour and a half dude 40 contacts in an hour . That's pretty good click rate yep , yeah , they just weren't very clear . Um , there was a lot of uh , qrm and a lot of uh .

The bands were fading in and out , so , like I'd get someone and they'd like disappear and come back , and I was only on 20 meters and , like I said it was , I was trying to fix this in with all these baseball games that we had and it was really it was my last shot because we were leaving that night and I'm like I got to do this in the morning .

not even .

And then they had like a like another , like a spa , but then as you go in , there's horseback riding trails , there's a golf course , um , what else was there ? They had a flea market thing going on like in one of the things that was . They were setting up , when I was there , um pool , like a public pool that you can go to the pool after the games .

We went back to see if we get the pool . It was so packed that there was like a waiting list to get into the pool . Yeah , I was like what , and I guess there's a hotel back there . I didn't go that far back , but really pretty um cool place to go hike and walk and if you want to ride your horse or play golf it's .

You know , the road goes all the way through it and it didn't cost anything to get in and um , like I said , there was a car museum which was kind of cool . I didn't get to go in that cause it was closed , but it had Ferrari and stuff on it , so I'm sure they had some old cars in there .

So those are you who uh worked me that day , uh , and you dealt with the uh the thing I I appreciate your patience but , uh , we got through some of them . I did work a guy on QRP which was kind of cool .

He was on five watts and he was in I want to say he was in Minnesota , wow , which was crazy because I heard him better than some of the other guys that were 100 watts .

I had a couple of activations , one of them I already kind of shared about , but I think this week I was in Concord you know concord , historic , you know district , if you've ever been down there , that's , you know the , the center , concord , and kind of the , the historical side of things , and yeah , yeah , and so I , uh , you know , was like all right .

Well , you know , I brought my gear . I figured it was a nice day , it was good , 70 degree weather , breezy , and I was like all right , I'll go up to you know , the closest park , and one of the parks I haven't activated was the constitution um state park or national state forest or something like that .

Um , and you know , I sort of looked at the band you know sfi , index , and I kind of went whatever . Yeah , fine , you know , and at that point I think it was like red , red , red .

You know , you know , horrible , horrible , horrible , like doesn't matter what band it was , it was like you're better off activating in the evening hours , you know , kind of telling me , and I was like , yeah , you know , go pound sand . So I kind of set up and it was a beautiful park . I literally had no , I mean nice and breezy .

The one thing I didn't have at the time was my coil . Uh , because I had , you know , basically taken it out of my bag . So all I had was my 213 inch whip , um , my wolf ever stand and stuff like that . So I was like , all right , I'll just tune that up on 20 , because you know , heck , that'll be the closest I can get it and set up .

And the bands were literally dead . I mean , like I barely heard , like I could spin the dial and like the 30 , like I looked at the poda spotting page and there was 34 poda sites . I didn't hear one . I didn't hear one , I didn't hear one . I spun the dial all the way up and down 20 and then I kind of turned to myself .

I'm like , oh no , this one's going to be a long haul . Like I didn't think I was going to be there for more than you know 30 minutes . I was there for about almost two and a half hours , I think . Um , and you know it was a long slog for 11 contacts and four of them were all like Envis , so they were like conquered .

Uh , another guy in waiver , uh , uh , belmont . Another guy , justin Nashua . I'm like this is really , really horrible , um , you know . And so I , I was recording the whole thing and I felt bad because when I built the , when I made the video , I'm like , dude , this is a long video .

There's like , and you , when you make videos about poda activations , no matter how much you try to shorten it up , you really can't shorten it up . An activation that's almost three hours long , you know , and not kill somebody with like boredom .

So I , you know , I was like , all right , I'm going to make this a little humorous and kind of turned it into a few much other things . So I made a video on it . If you're interested in go check it out . You can look at my channel on it three and a half hours long , oh god .

No , it was barely 14 , barely 12 minutes long , you know , and that was of all my extra add-in . You know follies and stuff like that , so , but you know , it kind of made me understand and learn that we are in the good times when it comes to the band condition .

So if I can operate in these conditions that when we get to the end of the solar cycle that we're predicting that's going to , you know , eventually come down the road , um , as to when nobody really , you know , has a definitive number , but you know , I'll be prepared .

I , I know , like what I should be bringing and what I , you know , need to add to my , you know , you know , arsenal . So when those days come , I can , you know hopefully we need , we need amps .

I mean literally I was only on a extended whip and you know I probably , if it was the bank , conditions were great I could have lowered that down to like it's original size and probably activated no problem .

You know , I was like now that's what I'm talking band conditions , like lately it's been like you got to work it and I , I think it's good , I , I'm like with you , I , I I'm glad I've been able to activate parks with um with difficult band conditions , because I think it just makes you a better operator .

You know you're trying to hear things and you have to work through and if you're missing something and I'm always super polite , I always thank the guys that are being patient with me and trying to trying to get their call sign . But you know , sometimes the guy's oh , I got you a 5-9 . I'm like 5-9 ? I'm like I can barely hear you . You're like a 1-1 .

You know the time spent just having a conversation with them so , yeah , so it was .

I mean , the other option is if you bring your HT and you remember , then you can use 5.2 maybe and leverage that a little bit , which might be a benefit . And I probably could have done that because , being on a hill , I probably would have had a really good range .

But I didn't even think to bring my HT with me and I didn't even think to hop in the truck and turn on five , two and call poda . You know , seeking poda for that . I should have done that a lot easier . And then the pain that I caused myself . But you know , hey , it's a life lesson , you enjoy it .

You know , like I said , like I said any day not working , hey , I'm playing . Poda is a better day in my book . It's the way I look at it yeah , there you go so , so that was it for me . And then , um , you know , we did a couple other things . I , you know this . Uh , today I actually was supposed to go out . You know we did a couple other things .

You know , today I actually was supposed to go out . We went over to Bear Brook with the dog and of course they don't allow dogs there , so I didn't get a chance to activate that park . But you know , hey , it's just kind of what it is , but you know , you live and you learn . You just , you know you kind of roll with it .

So obviously , with this podcast launching about a week or so into or a week before our official yearly mecca that all ham radio operators make their journey out to , it's sort of like our Burning man or Coachella . I mean we kind of treat it that way .

I mean obviously without you know all the sex , drugs and rock and roll in some case , but you know it's always filled with you know the typical songs of our . You know CW Dits and Does you know the shout outs of Four Alphas or One Hotels or Charlie Tangos ? But you know , or One Hotels or Charlie Tango's .

But our little slice of field day we do a ton of campfires , lots of camping , great food , good beverages and just hanging out and enjoying each other's company and talking radio .

It's one of those things that we want to share with you and we're going to hopefully kind of dive in a little bit here , talk about some of our experiences in the past that we've had for field days , because Todd and I are , you know , we're relatively , we'll say , new in that that space .

I mean , I , my before I was a , a V , you know was a COVID ham , you know I , I was a , you know , a no-code tech , and that was back way back in 93 when I was a high school , and and and and a teenager . So you know , things have changed quite drastically .

But you know , we're gonna talk a little bit about some of our experiences tonight and maybe share some of the stuff that's going on , because I , you know , I once again took on the mantle of of being , you know , field day coordinator for the fourth year or fifth year I think it's fourth year , at least for me for our field day .

So you know , we're going full that full steam , and would love to share some of the stuff I've done and what we're doing . So you know , let's kind of talk a little bit about this . So you know , obviously , todd , we were talking offline a little bit . You were kind of juggling numbers .

You think you're possibly going to be able to make it for field day this year , you know is that common , yeah , so you know I had field day in my calendar .

So we went down to florida last year and then my other nephew moved from california to north carolina . So we're going down to north carolina and my niece is going a week after our real vacation , is going to ireland to study for a month .

So , um , they decided that , hey , let's get together your day weekend and I'm like , no , but there's no other time to do it , of course , so weekend . I looked on the calendar and it says that we're going like tuesday through friday .

We have the house rented , so I think we were planning on leaving sunday sometimes Sunday my uncle lives in Maryland probably stay there for a night , and then that's about eight hours and I think we have like another five hours after that Get down to the place for Tuesday .

So I'm not sure how that works out , but if that's the case , then I should definitely be there Friday for setup and part of Saturday , which would be better than what I thought before we started talking , cause I thought I was going to miss the whole thing , cause I thought that was the weekend we were driving down so good . So who knows , but we'll see .

This will be my third field day as a general where I've been able to activate or activate I've been able to participate and work my own station and be by myself . Uh , the first year , uh , it was the first year I stopped by and eric got me on the radio and I made a contact to pennsylvania and I was like that's really awesome .

And you know , now it's like penn , like Pennsylvania , is like local all the time when I activate . Yeah , like big deal , but anyway . So I'm hoping to be there at least for a little bit , and you know I it'll be fun . I'm looking forward to it . I love field day . It's kind of like you know it's . I love the portable activation stuff .

That's why I like POTUS so much . And field day it's just like the you know , the big grand finale . It's either it's either the start of the poda season or it's just like the big event that you do and it's just a lot of fun . I mean our club , we get bonfires going , we hang out , it's .

It's not all about uh , getting , yeah , we're not a contest club at all .

Yeah , we're not a contest club and we like to get on the radio and make contacts and see what we can do , but , uh , it's more about the companionship and uh and then just having fun with radio and setting stuff up , and we've gotten a lot of visitors that have come by and have done it and learned .

So , yeah , it's a lot of fun and I get to hang out with you guys , uh , for a weekend , so I know right .

And you know , I , I usually , by the time may rolls around , I'm already constantly hearing oh well , that's dad's weekend , we can't do anything you know , he's gone for that whole entire weekend . I'm like that's correct , I am gone , I am not here .

You know you will have to take care of the animals and feed yourself and you know , entertain yourself and all the other stuff .

So you know , leading up to that , I I usually rent a camper cause uh , still working on the wife , uh getting one permanently , but um , you know , we'll rent one for the weekend and I'll plop it down there and I'll set up friday , um , you know , when we start to do as a club , uh getting uh , you know the antennas and the station you know kind of

configured and all of the typical like utility stuff done . So you know , when we roll in on saturday later in the day , per the rules we can just plop the radio down , do a little tuning and we're , you know , just kind of sitting around , twiddle our thumbs . You know hanging out and waiting for the the two o'clock or , you know , um high noon kickoff .

So you know all that , uh , you know builds up to that .

But uh , I , I , like you said , todd , I am the one thing I love about our club and the one thing that you know really just makes me happy is that , yeah , we , we do you know our efforts in getting out there and making contacts and we love making contacts and we love trying to stretch our you know both our personal , physical , you know longevity and whether

or not we can stay up as late as we possibly can after we've already been dragged through being there at like nine in the morning and then there the friday night before .

You know , using every little bit of energy , just you know to , to make those , you know , midnight 40 meter or you know 60 meter contacts or whatever you know , because the you know band conditions have changed . But you know I love the campfires , I love hanging out , I love just , you know you know , hanging out and hanging out with you guys .

I mean that's just , you know , a one weekend that we get to you know just do nothing and play radio and not have to worry about anything else . It's kind of like a great comfort , you know , vacation sort of .

I've been ridiculed up and down the board . Why do we have station captains ? I've been ridiculed up and down the board . Why do we have station captains ? Blah , blah , blah . I'm like because it makes my life easier , because they can do the job . They get out there , they know what they need .

I just facilitate and kind of make things a little easier and so you know when those guys you know Ryan's , the , you know you and Paul's and all those guys do their stuff , get their gear you know set up .

It makes my field day experience because I can bounce around and play radio whenever I want and and not have to feel like you know , oh my gosh , I gotta set up my own radio station , I gotta do all the antennas and you know it .

I put a little note down , like , oh , next year I'm getting this because this will make my life easier . Um , so , yeah , so it's been , it's right , it's . It's been , uh , it's been good .

And I figured , you know , like five or ten years from now , like we'll just be like pros and it'll be like nothing , we'll be set up and ready to go in like an hour yeah , so that's my goal .

give credit to ryan and give credit to paul and , uh , ira , who's been , you know , been , you know , part of a field day yourself , and everybody it's just been like simple and easy , where a lot of people just don't even have to kind of come on Saturday to do much . They can , they or they show up and they're like what can I do ?

And we're like you can't do anything , we're all done .

I mean , we're just literally sitting around hanging out , which is exactly what I like to hear , because that means you know , you're confident , you know and everyone's confident and we're ready to get on the air and start having a party yeah , I mean like the first year I did it like I went to a field day the year before I saw you guys set up an antenna

that didn't work .

And then the following year I came and she goes how was it ? I'm like it was awesome , I'm like I get it now . I'm like contacts .

The antenna was a home brew built antenna by one of our club members . It looked like a missile launcher . It was a two-element , four-square , I think , beam . Basically it was for all intents and purposes , a two-element beam on 40 . So it was a monoband antenna and they were hanging it .

Yeah , it was only one band , which is why I don't understand why Took up the whole field . They literally yeah , it was only one band , which is why I don't understand why Took up the whole field Field . They literally put up an Army Tower mast .

I mean , the Army Tower mast took us two and a half hours to put up because nobody had the instructions , or the instructions we had were in German because they couldn't read it . So we had to guess . So we put this 40-foot tower up , put this wooden antenna that you know it was probably like 20 by 20 .

It was crazy huge and it went up and the person who put it up , or the person who built it , was like , oh yeah , we tested it weeks before , but he didn't test it before he put it up in the air when we were there .

So it got up in the air and they hoisted it up and it was tied to the barn pergola and this big army mast and , come to find out , we put the CW station on it and the antenna match that's put up at the very top of the antenna was broken , or nobody put it in .

So it sat up there as a decoration for the whole entire weekend and we spent literally almost the whole entire Friday and part of Saturday morning putting the stupid thing up .

He's a great guy , um , you know , and but he literally packed his caravan . He has a small dodge caravan .

He packed that thing to the gills with stuff , everything you can think of wires , cables , radios , you know and pulls up and literally like one box after a Tupperware box , after , like you know , clear , you know storage box , he keeps coming up bringing stuff out and I mean literally he took almost a day and a half to get set up because he had so much stuff

and you know he only knew where it was , so nobody could really help him out , set up , setting that stuff up , and so I was just like there's gotta be a better way to do this . I mean I don't know how like we could get stuff for this , like I'm tired and I haven't even started operating yet .

Food is good you know , tim does the food . We've got the stations where we all are connected with computers . So we know , you know what band everyone it was . Just it's been a lot . And I don't know for me , maybe it's because I understand it more , but I really think that it was . Just it's been a lot .

And and I don't know for me , maybe it's because I understand it more , but I really think that it was . It just seems more organized . I mean , we have families coming in , people walking through it . Uh , it's , it's a good experience . I think it's .

That's definitely gotten better and I think it's actually last year I think was larger than the year before at least with people that were visiting and checking us out , versus , you know , the first couple of years I was there .

He's been at my ankles trying to get my attention while I'm doing this recording . But hey , we'll plug on .

But the funny thing with our club that has done really well is that we started to do this education pavilion thing that ARL has kind of been pushing a little bit , which is like hey , get out , like get the public involved , bring them in , draw them in . And so we've been .

I've been trying to push really hard about like , ok , let's , like , let's do a little aspect of you know DMR and digital radios , let's do you know a fox hunt and let's do you know a go to station . So we've done and kind of been adding to that year over year and it's been really good .

Like you said , like we had , I think , our first year that we did that we had a family of 11 all show up and they were like it was funny to watch them because , um , they went out and did the fox hunt . And where we are in our barn , uh , in our area in Goffstown we have a huge barn and it's like 12 , it's a good percentage of acres .

I mean it's good 10 , 12 acres of just grass . And so , like the guy who in our club , who's a fox hunt guy , put his transmitter out there somewhere and you see this group of 11 people kind of all moving like at a small little , like you know it's almost like a lemmings going over the cliff , you know , while they're all trying to do this fox hunt .

And so it was just like they were like totally stoked , and I mean stoked and I mean that was here . I think tim had a couple of friends who , you know , did the go to contact and and you know , were able to make a few contacts to go to station , and it was just , you know , it was good to see . So I , you know I'm pretty yeah , it's , it's .

I go nuts Like here you go Turn that , let's see what we can get , yeah , so yeah , and we've got some great things and I'll kind of give you a little sneak peek .

And so they're going to get to see us SDR waterfall and they're going to be able to use the hex beam and they're going to be able to get like all of these great contacts at the go to station . But this year we're going to be doing a tape measure Yagi .

So one of the things we're doing in our club prior to that is just building a few for our own , for our own Fox hunting . But we're going to do Fox on stairs .

So we're going to get the kids to be able to kind of build a little kit there and do a quick solder and and hopefully that'll , uh , you know , get them encouraged to want to get out and you know , you know , take their own antennas . Got a bunch of guys and gals that all want to do like different aspects of like hey , someone , I think .

Um , a couple of members of our club are going to do a couple of present demos of like DMR and and all-star and that type of stuff as well . As you know , hts and Ralph is , as graciously decided to bring his whole Quan Chang yes to field day , so he'll be able to show all those off ?

I'm like you know , I'm gonna go , I'm gonna go work the the radio for a little bit , like all right , we'll see a little bit . So I go in there and I got into pileups and I was like in the zone right , and all of a sudden I look at my mom like wow , it's like three , four o'clock in the morning . I'm like , wow , I better go get some sleep .

I walk out and I was like everyone's gone , like it was dead pitch black , there wasn't even moon out . I'm like , where did everyone go ? I sneak into eric's trailer , his dad's in there snoring . I'm like , is there even a place for me to crash here ? I'm like , where did everyone go ?

And then the next morning you're like dude , you've got like the most contacts in the club . Like you gotta like , like you gotta get like three more and you'll what was it ?

Yeah , it's amazing , like one of the things we did integrate this year that you know , obviously was the reason why we knew Todd's run rate and what was going on is that was , I think , the first year we implemented Kyle Alfalfa's N1MM you know , field day dashboard in Node-RED .

And that was just kind of the impetus for me , because once we had that set up , I can't tell you how many people would be like what is like ? They come up to that station and we had a big monitor set up and they were able to see it all in a 40-inch TV and they were like , are they making contacts ?

Because if you've ever seen Kyle's Node node red dashboard , it like tracks real time from all the n1mm contacts that are being made during field day in and maps all those out .

So you see , like all these like shooting , you know runs from one location to another and you know , you see all these run rates and who's like the the best you know in terms of the club , uh , in terms of making the most contacts in the short amount of time and what the most popular band are .

So it's pretty cool and like the sense of making a gamification . So I think that kind of just like made things that much better , and so we'll be doing it again this year . It's guaranteed I get that all set up . So I'm looking forward to , you know , having that integrated in the box . So , yeah , yeah , that that would .

I think that makes field day , you know , that much better because it attracts people but at the same time , you know , builds a little bit of like uh , you know , a little fair competition between one another , even though we're , you know , you know , not laying money down .

So I'm all set , I'm going and I'm making contact , I'm hearing people and I can't make a contact for the life of me and I'm like , why aren't these people responding to me ? I'm calling , I'm calling nothing . Well , how many did I make ? Like five , three , five total , five total contacts .

But I had blown my finals on my radio , not knowing it , not knowing it . So I'm operating with no finals and I couldn't understand why I couldn't get anyone and we didn't know . So we swapped out the radios and Ryan gave us his ICOM and he's like oh , icom to the rescue . And then things obviously got better . I sent it back to Yasu and , yep , my finals .

But they covered it . It was under warranty and I got it back within less than two weeks . Yeah , but it was tough . I was like you've got to be kidding me .

And I'm like it's inside out and we , all of us can do it . Well , paul decided that you know he's the Marine and he could fix anything . Looks at it and he said he goes , it's inside out . And I'm like , yeah , I'm like that's not good . And he goes well , let's just twist it around . And I'm like it ain't gonna .

We had this , we had the whole thing right Except one piece , and he somehow twisted it and popped it back and we got it up and going . So it was uh , it was well worth . I mean , it was , it was . I'm just glad it was home , because I was so pissed . I'm like I'm sending this back with a note like why did you send me a ? No wonder they returned .

It was guilty inside out . But yeah , so we got that up and uh , that's one thing I learned is make sure , before you buy crap from amazon , take it out and put it together first before you show up . The field day but it was a last minute buy . You know I didn't have a tent , so yeah , we all , we all have run that .

I'm already talking with , you know , organizing our station captain . So by the time June rolls around , that's already been ironed out . And you know it's just a matter of like oh , do you , are you missing a chair or are you missing a tent ? You know what do you need ? That kind of things .

And and that's how I think a lot of a club can be very helpful , because you can always put an APB out and say , hey , we need five extension cords , put your name on them and bring them a field day , and lo and behold , you know they'll show up at your door .

Or I need , like I remember one year , I'm like I need two painters poles and I got two people in two minutes and then five others .

Like , oh , I'll just drop it off when building , not knowing what we're going to do with them and you know , I'm just like so it's good because there are club members and if you are going with the club you'll find that you know , doing that if you're either part of the planning team or you're , you know , a station captain this year is that you don't always

have to have everything and you don't have to spend a lot , because more than likely there's five other club members that might have that stuff that they'd be willing to loan out , and we all know hams love to do that stuff .

So you know , take advantage of that if you're going to be a station captain this year and try your hand at that , because it's a lot of work . No , doubt .

And then all of a sudden , freaking boom . I'm like , are you kidding me ? Like I've been at this for 40 minutes , you make one one call out and she nailed it .

You kept telling me , everyone kept telling me , that a female voice would be easy . You know , we'd be like blah , blah , blah . I'm like , I'm not lying , it's very true , it happens . And she got no context whatsoever and so I think that was her redeeming .

Uh , you know , you know point in making sure that she happened , and so I think she'll actually be back this year too . So you know , you know , if anything , I'm her friend .

But you know all fair , you know it's good to see , you know young people playing radio and you know that's all we can wish for , right , yeah so it's , it's the hammer , it's the ham radio weekend .

You know cranking up the amps and you know putting 100 watts out there , making sure that you're making themselves heard for sure .

If you if someone say you know , is a listener in our podcast that was thinking about being a station captain or wants to kind of get down that road , you know any . You know recommendations or suggestions . You get off for somebody .

It was a fan , extra chairs so people can come in and hang out , and my octagon kind of thing is kind of big so it can hold a bunch of people . So you know I bring some extra chairs . You know a table , a good table to do it .

And then just make sure you got your battery or whatever you're using for your power source and you know if you have your solar panels . But you know , keep it simple , you don't need too much but you need enough to make sure you've got enough . You know power . I put a light . I have this little , it looks like a light bulb but it hangs in the center .

Oh , I like that a lot , that was great . And then you just turn it on and at least , because if you don't , it's pitch black . And , like I said , I've had some experiences in ham radio , like when I did my first night activation at uh silver lake and I'm living like the zone I'm getting up .

This is my first pile up and you guys are texting me saying keep going , you're doing great , keep going , keep going . And then all of a sudden it's like you know it's . I've been there for like three hours and I look up and it's pitch black and all I had was my phone and it was running out of battery .

I had to go take the antenna down like I couldn't see anything . So a flashlight or some kind of a light headlamp , just make it easier , you know , just to see . It doesn't be super bright , but at least that you have some , you know , especially if you're jotting something down or or you need to do something .

So but uh , but yeah , and , like I said , just make it comfortable and , um , you know , make it . Um , I I bring uh splitters so you can have the two headphones on .

I was like it's just easier to just , If you're solo or maybe with somebody else , just turn the volume up . I mean it can't hurt any much .

But again , when I do podo , I don't , I don't do that , I do . I do have headphones for podo . I haven't used them yet , but , uh , you know , I should probably try them out and make sure they work yeah , well , I mean , you're a lot like me .

So I Sometimes I mean at least in POTO , like you know , like I did that one in Boston and the train kept going by and it was like literally like the track was there and every 10 minutes and I was like oh Jesus here it goes , Then planes are taking off . I'm like this is the crappiest park ever . Planes taking off , trains going by .

I wish I had a headset .

I'm like like all about the idea of you know you're going to be sitting in this fricking chair for probably three hours on average , if you're lucky probably , if not more , be comfortable , I'll have a cooler .

I mean , the one thing I make sure all my station captains do is like they have a cooler full of stuff , like so it's always an arm's reach versus like you know , yelling in the middle of your you know run of , like hey , can someone grab me a water Because I can't , like you know , talk any longer .

but yeah , I mean I I bring you know a table and then I have like an operating chair , but then you know if it's getting really late , you know , I throw the laptop on my lap and I sit down in my my little rocker chair and recline . If you're just trying to make contacts , I mean it's not too hard , I mean it works .

So I mean , but again , it's whatever your preference is , but have multiple options , for you know , if you have headphones , don't forget the hand mic , in case you get a crowd of people that want to try it and you want people to hear .

Or if someone doesn't have their headphones , I normally bring my foot switch , but I also have a hand switch too that I can use . It's like a , it looks like a trigger , it's like a button on the top I don't know what to call it .

The biggest things are obviously , you know , making sure you're comfortable in , you know those that are working with you . And Don't forget the biggest thing Drag somebody , drag a new ham in who's afraid to get on the air but wouldn't mind logging at the laptop . So I did that to Todd .

I mean Todd will share some of his stories with that , but that's the whole ordeal . If you get somebody involved with the logging aspect , they can hear and develop the ear of like , what did you hear ? Did you hear that ?

And you can kind of do this two-way conversation while you're trying to work the contact and and people will start to see you do the , you know the , the , the whole script process and and we do as a club too , as well as as as kind of the coordinator I provide a whole bunch of laminated pieces of um .

You know critical , you know um , things like , things like the whole section rack information that ARL puts out . So you know the , you know the band pass , the band map , which really in most cases doesn't matter because the radio kind of controls that .

But in essence , you know , anybody who's going to be at the radio is going to know the bands pretty well , and we're already . You know , most of the clubs today , when they're using their club calls , are going to be extras anyway , so you won't have to worry about , you know , being in one portion or another .

Yeah well , even then you're running the club call , so you run an extra either way . And then you know you have still a general , it's still a general , it's in his , it's in his title there . So anyway , the all of that , you know those things that your coordinator , the guy , the person in charge of kind of putting field together , should have for you .

Just to make the things easier and the script is a big thing too I always make sure that a script is available .

You know , I still use the band charts . Even though I pretty much have a memorized , I still have it out when I do put it , just to be on the safe side or you know , just to , just to , just to reassure that I'm not jumping into the 8 , just to reassure that I'm not jumping into the 3,000 kilohertz down from 350 .

Yes , yes , get that , if I could put this under like the money , the 30 bucks , and buy the cartridge and stick it in there and turn it on and you will thank me , oh yes , and you'll thank yourself , because that thing recharge , yeah , that thing will get rid of bugs like to no end .

And and I'll tell you , when I was doing that silver lake , that first night activision , I had that thing sitting on the table and I wasn't bothered by a bug . Now , when I ended and it was pitch black and I went to get walk over to the antenna , I got swarmed by like the mosquitoes of death . I was like what ? And I literally carried that thing with me .

These things are biting me as I'm walking out .

But I mean , we were sitting by the fire and I brought mine out there and I sat it down next to the thing and it keeps it keeps them away and if you get a couple of , if everyone has one , there won't be any bugs . Yeah , totally .

So , obviously , if you're not doing this with a club and you're going to go out and operate for field day , totally okay , you know there are many classes and many ways to do this . The one thing that seems to be very popular , at least the past couple of years , has been going out to a photo park and then also operating field day as well .

So you get kind of the dual credit .

So if you're thinking about doing that , yeah , put it on your checklist and your , you know , your your to-do list , your bucket list , because it's definitely one of those things that you'll be able to , you know , rack up a boatload of contacts for your poda park , that you might even be able to get your kilo depending on how long you spend there in general ,

um , or you know , uh , just in general , being able to activate , uh outdoors .

So you don't really even have to provide your you know , uh , your your park , uh reference information . So a lot of times you can just call cq and people will pick you up , maybe I'll get . Maybe I'll get alaska and hawaii on field day if you do , uh , you know , you gotta , you know that's gonna be my goal .

That's in the middle of alaska , like right , it's like right , and I'm like that's the only town , like probably within like a couple hundred miles . I figured , if you're getting that , if I can get that , they're just never in a park . I'm like is there a park you can run to and make a contact ? Thank , you .

I should have just sat there on my phone and done it , because I probably would have gotten him .

We don't do like sign ups or anything , so it's like you can just go in there , like if I'm working a station and you are have an hour , you know , go ahead , I'll give it up for you and go go nuts . But I know other clubs . They have sign ups and stuff . But figure out where you're going to go and get on the air and just have fun .

And if you've never done it before , just go down with someone who has and , uh , you know , just enjoy yourself and make some contacts and you help your club and you'll uh , you'll have a lot of fun and , like I said , there's nothing like making your first , uh , the your first contact to pet sweden .

Yeah , I mean , I know it sounds crazy , right , but like your first contact hf and you're not like in you know line of sight , it's kind of exciting , you know , and like , look at when I last summer , when I was working in Australia , I was excited , like that to me is like , that is awesome .

I'm like that's 10,500 miles away and I'm having a conversation with a guy who's in winter and I'm in summer . I know , right , yeah . I mean it's just cool . I'm in summer , I know Right . Yeah , I mean it's just cool .

And you know , I remember the first time I hit Europe and I was like , wow , I'm like I'm literally talking to a guy over the radio to Europe . So I mean people who have never experienced it , it's good . And even if you get in just local States you know around it it's still cool to make the contacts and get in the logbook and you'll just have a blast .

It's a lot of fun .

captain or not , but in essence it might be someone who's pretty well seasoned . If a club's done his job and putting together all those reference materials we talked about earlier , you should be able to just sit down , kind of follow that script and then follow whatever this person's doing .

And nine times out of 10 , if they ask , you just say yes , just go , do it , just take the microphone , try it out , and you will surprise yourself that you will probably stumble over every freaking word . You'll probably screw up the . You know the section and the . You know the , the rack information .

But you know , after it's all done , you'll be like holy crap , I just made a contact with somebody , wherever , and you know you fill in the blank , but you will forever remember that . Like Todd says , and you fill in the blank , but you'll forever remember that . Like Todd says , and you'll probably more than likely just keep coming back for more .

I mean I'm learning a little bit here and there , but like I like to operate and I like to do the field stuff and I can work pileups and no one really taught me . It was like trial and error . It's like you just get into it and you learn and , uh , once you get rid of that mic freight was what they call it . They call it what mic freight ?

So we did , yeah , then it's , uh , you know , then it just becomes second . It's like muscle memory . It's like riding a bike . You just get on there and you do it and , uh , you'll flub up some things and everyone's cool and they're all . You know . I've never I mean I've never had anyone like really rude to me on the air .

I know there's some guys out there and I know there's some youtube videos and stuff . But even when I'm having a hard time hearing someone and they're being patient and I'm asking them over and over . Can you please give me the suffix . I can't get the suffix , yeah , um , but then I always .

I always thank them for their patience and I'm glad we were able to make the contact . And that's what it's all about . It's about communicating and if if communication was always so easy , you know it wouldn't make it fun .

So I I look at it when the bands are tough or you're having trouble and you're really trying to get a contact with a lot of noise and you can filter out the noise and actually make the contact . That's like a great skill to have , because now you're able to pick up a weak signal . And I've been doing this last couple of months , maybe a month or two .

I've noticed , like when I'm doing the pod is it's been a lot more difficult , hasn't been as clear . It's a lot of noise , some static , the bands aren't where they need to be . But I kind of get a really good appreciation for qrp because I'm imagining qrp is like that , a lot , you know , even when the bands are good .

Like when people say , hey , can I log for you , I'm like please , do , like let's do this , like then I can just focus on the radio , right , um , but you might hear them , see how they do it .

You know you get used to the sound you get , you you're hearing the responses you're getting from the other end and , um , and then if you screw it up , I mean it's not like you're going to jail , it's like , yeah , you screwed up big deal , you can do it again .

The more people we have on the air , the better it is for all of us , cause there'll be more people for us to contact . But you know , be patient , um . Try to remember when you first started and how you might have felt as a new ham , learning or getting on the air for the first time , and just make it fun for everyone .

That's basically what I would say .

If they miss something or they don't always pass it , I guarantee nine times out of 10 , the other the other receiving station's going to go hey , can I have or can you fill in or can I get your section and my times out of 10 , what will happen is that someone will be like what are they asking for ? And you'd be like , oh , that's where you can jump in .

Don't try to always feed or spoon feed them every single step , because it's not going to stick in their mind , it's not going to make them feel like they're part of the process and doing it themselves . Like , just kind of , you know , show a script or write it down .

If you don't have a script , you know a little bit to give them some of you know something to hold on to as a safety blanket .

Some people don't , you know it's . And if you don't sign every time , some people don't , you know it's . And if you don't , if you need something you don't have , just ask because they're not going to bite you that they're going to , they're going to make sure that you've got them clearly in your conduct , especially the call sign .

Like , if you think you might have messed up the call , even I will sometimes . If I get a call sign I'm almost sure , but maybe I'm not I'll ask , say hey , just to be sure your call sign is blah , blah , blah , like N1JUR , and then no , no , no , it was . You know you missed .

You know one letter Cause you want to get the logs you know accurate , because then they don't get the contact either .

So he asked me to to uh spot him . I said okay , but what frequency ? Yeah , he goes . Oh , I don't know yet , I'll get back to you , but I'm in a pile up . So I set it up and I get it all going and I'm waiting and you know , I'm going through and doing my things and all of a sudden I hear park to park again .

I go , I heard a park to park out there . Well , that was him . He goes . Hey , todd , I'm at frequency . I'm like , oh , good way to get me . Yeah , exactly , so he was . He was kind of like you know that's how he got , because you know they're kind of more , more appealing than than a regular contact . So , uh , but that's how he got me back .

He just said park to park and then it was him again and I was like , oh , I thought I had another one , but it was good to get him spotted and uh him going . So it was . It was kind of funny .

If it , you know , kind of feels too tense , you know , let some of the pressure out of the you know the situation so they don't feel like they're going to walk away and never want to . You know , make a contact again .

But you know , at the same time , you know , make it interesting because you know they are going to be depending on what happens in the conditions . They may find that , you know , all of a sudden they've got their own little pile up going on themselves . And you know you can guide them through that .

And you know , calm them down because , my gosh , it's going to be crazy for them to be like I don't understand . What call do I pick ? You know , and kind of like , well , what did you hear ? You know you don't have to like respond immediately .

I think that activation was the thing that really just kicked me in and said this is my thing , because that was like I was just in a in another world and I didn't even realize that the sun was gone , because I was just so focused on that radio and my iPad and logging and making these contacts and it was just .

It was one of my favorite experiences as a ham radio operator . It was a lot of fun .

Don't like you know , don't say here as well and then walk away , or you know kind of sit back and say , haha , let the hell all break loose . You know , take some , some of the responsibility . That way , when you're hearing a call , you can say oh to them .

When they're like I didn't hear that call , you could say , oh , that , oh , that was N1JUR , that's what I heard , and you know have them repeat it back and you know kind of give them that .

It's like I was like so nervous of the whole process and once he got on , it was just like , oh my gosh , like it's like the whole like level just kind of like , you know , just got back to normal and he's like oh , this is great .

You know you made a couple more contacts after that and you know , well , you know , one day we'll make them into a family .

If you've never been to a field day , this is the first you're hearing of it . Find a local club . Arl has a great club locator . I know our club is posted in it .

But if you go up to aroorg , uh , forward slash , I think , uh , field day locator or something to that effect , you can find it up in their web page , um , and we'll put it in the link in the description below so you can use that too as well and find yourself , you know , a local club . It doesn't have to be when you're joining .

They are expecting new people to come by and stop by . They most clubs should be welcoming . If they aren't , let me know . I will personally come over there and kick their butts , um , because they should be at this . This is , this is our day to be able to kind of make ham radio shine .

And if they're all grumpy , um , and they put themselves on the ARL locator page . I you know , I'm going to have a few words with them myself , so and a bunch of YouTubers will have some , I'm sure , the same problems with them too as well . Um , all that being said , and we're listening .

You know there's different things going on different stations , people teach you about the antennas , whatever . But just go there and have fun and and have fun and take advantage of what you might be able to do , because it might jump you into the hobby . It might motivate you , if you're a technician , to get your .

I can't remember what it is utc , you'll have to do the maths for me um , but in essence , 2 pm , eastern standard time , it starts , um and then runs for a full 24 hours and you can attend any you know time during that period and a lot of clubs will probably have some of that stuff posted , you know , and it'll be available .

So check your local areas , uh , in your local clubs , for that stuff and , uh , you know , go to the ones that you know are obviously putting their you know we'll say skin in the game and getting themselves out there , because those are probably going to be the ones that are going to be the best experiences , um , and the guys that , uh , you know want to see

new people showing up there and and want to welcome you in the hobby .

And you know , you can steer clear of some of the ones that might be like more private or you know more like kind of uh , you know specific and and you know a contest nature or whatever , because there are , there are a few , and everybody's welcome to play whatever they want and field day , as long as they just play by the field day rules .

So cool , all right . Well , with that , let's kind of wrap things up here and put the bow on it . So , as always , we like to say thanks again for joining for live free and ham podcast community . You know , remember , if you haven't subscribed , we're always going to ask the question .

You know what you've been doing and you know I am so slow on the thing here and I won't even bother anyway . So what the uh ? The idea is that , you know , head over to our youtube channel , make sure you subscribe there .

Go over to our website at livefreeandhamcom , subscribe there so you catch all of our past podcast episodes and , like Todd mentioned , in terms of you got Mike Fright . We've got a great episode . I think it was episode 35 that we talked about .

You know a couple of tips and tricks on how you can , you know , overcome some of the Mike Fright , and that was very useful for me and I'm sure , for a few others out there . And , as always , you can always connect with our show in a couple of different ways . You can head to our uh ?

Uh shop online at livefreeandhamcom forward slash shop , pick up some merch . As we said in the past , if we ever catch you wearing it , um , or you send us pictures , we will definitely make sure we uh bring your attention to uh it in our next episodes , uh in our live streams , um .

And so , if you're an Apple podcast user , you can always leave us a review on iTunes , and we also have that SMS link because we'd love to hear from everybody .

If you want to provide some feedback and you've gotten something from our show , or maybe you're a new ham and you found us on the internet and you want to just let us know how we're doing here , we'd love to hear from you . So you can always use that .

And then , as always , we have our Patreon and buy us a beer links , and those are all located on our show notes , the website , um , and in our YouTube channel . And if you want to reach out with any of our hosts , you can contact us directly on livefreeandhamcom .