Magic Valley Amateur Radio Club Field Day 2013 At KOA Campground |
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| Photos courtesy of KF7LDR, AC7M, K7SU,K7GSE and W7GDA |
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| Bill Carver, W7AAZ, designer/builder of the 40 meter vertical, supervising the installation of his creation. | Putting together one of the tents for the Field Day operation...W7OUU, KC7QR, K7GSE, KF7JGW, W0LVJ. There were only a few parts left over after the construction but they weren't important parts! |
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| Getting closer.Back to front...K7WKR, KC7QR, AD7P, KC6GVG, K7GSE, W7OUU. Each worker also doubled as a supervisor! | This is what things looked like in the heat of the battle. Forground, Kelly and Rosey Goodman, KF7UFJ-KF7UFI, are racking up points on 20 meters. Background, Kelly K7SU is attempting to get some contacts going on 15 CW but was having problems due to equipment failure. Way back, Steve K7WKR, was rattling the cage on 10 meter SSB. To the right, almost asleep, Terry AD7P, was resting up for a long night ahead. |
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| Frank, K7GSE, traveled all the way from Washington to be with the MVARC. Here Frank is racking up points on 20 meter SSB while Kelly, K7SU, does the logging. | Terry, AD7P, with a Cheshire Cat grin after racking up a bunch of points. |
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| Jerome County Sheriff Doug McFall, N7JHS (left), explaining how he captured the bad guy with one hand while working a string of contacts on HF. Middle, Chris Hembree, W7CTH, listening in but not sure if he believes ALL of the story. Right, AD7P, going fishing! | MVARC VP Jim Kennedy, W7OUU, looking stressed as zero-hour approached, as he carries the roll of coax that will deliver the high-scoring RF to the antenna. |
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| Part of the beautiful grounds of the KOA Campground behind the MVARC tent is this nice little pond. Notice the Yellow rope toward the upper left of the picture. This was holding the end of the 160-meter long wire set up by Terry, AD7P. | I shot an arrow in the air and where it fell, I know not where. Actually, it didn't fall. It got stuck in the tree as the crew was trying to anchor one side of the 80 meter inverted vee. MVARC Sec/Tres. Alex Payne, KF7LDR, came to the rescue with the portable bucket lift that was also used to mount the tri-band beam on. Alex retrieved the arrow and anchored the leg of the inv-vee and the day was saved. |
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| Many hands make small work. Left, Bob KF7SVI,Alex KF7LDR, Mike W0LVJ and Doc, AC7M, assemble the Wilson Systems 33 tri-band beam. It was a nice cool evening perfect for getting the stuff put together. | The Friday evening assembly crew from left...Rollie KF7JGW, Terry AD7P, Chris (seated) W7CTH, Kelly KF7UFJ, Frank K7GSE, Bob KF7SFI, Doc (seated) AC7M, Steve K7WKR, Alex KF7LDR, Jim W7OUU, Mike W0LVJ, Bob KC7QR, Kelly KF7RFT. |
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| Right, Jerome County Sheriff Doug McFall N7JHS brought his portable "office" with him so he could be at home while working the rare ones. Left, Bob KC7QR, being granted permission to use Doug's "office." | Frank K7GSE, proudly motioning to the MVARC banner...without question the nicest looking ham radio banner in the state of Idaho and maybe the pacific northwest. |
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| The tri-band beam mounted on the portable bucket lift donated by Barry Rental being raised into position. | Jerome County Sheriff Doug McFall, N7JHS, in his badge and flack-jacket...giving MVARC 100 extra points for hosting an elected official. Thanks Doug! |
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| Jim W7OUU and Brian KE7LOY racking up points on 40 CW. The laptops were being used to log the contacts using N3FJP Field Day software. SOOOO much easier than logging by hand! Background, Terry AD7P tuning up and testing his "solar-poweered" station. | Steve, K7WKR, making new friends and racking up points on 10 meter SSB. |
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| The "media center" and server control for the logging of the contacts for Field Day. Alex, KF7LDR, watching the colors fill in the states on the monitor. Alex set up the network and logging system for MVARC. | 160 through 10 meters was contained in the two-tent setup at KOA. The weather was perfect and the fellowship was second to none. The bands could have cooperated a bit more but nevertheless a lot of contacts were made. As you can see the patio was just the right size to hold both tents. |
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| Terry AD7P sporting his nifty ARRL Field Day T-shirt. Severeal attempts were made to wrestle the shirt away but none succeeded. If you are wondering what Terry is looking at way up in the sky, so were we! | Jim, W7OUU, checking DX-Sherlock on his smart phone for DX openings. |
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| Rollie, KF7JGW, bagged a 2-meter contact on 52-simplex with the pilot of an FA-18 that was flying to the west coast. Rollie gets the award for the most interesting contact during Field Day. | Almost lunch time. Part of the gang gathering around the lunch wagon just before being served premium pulled-pork sandwiches, various salads and the best cookies you've ever tasted for desert...all prepared by Oscar KC6GWG (yellow shirt) and Kim, KD6GLL, owners of the KOA in Jerome. They were the PERFECT hosts and we are truly indebted to them. |
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| It was not ALL ham radio...Alex KF7LDR takes two of his "harmonics" on a nice boat ride in the pond behind the camp. | Those who stayed the night built a campfire in the fire pit and listened to hair-raising and nail-biting stories of ghosts and bad guys! |
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| Brian, KE7LOY "pounding some brass" on 40-meter CW. Brian racked up a good lion's share of the points for the MVARC on Field Day weekend. Way to go Brian! | What a setup! Notice the 40-meter vertical in the background! |
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| The event was not without its mishaps. Here,"Dr." Jim, W7OUU, performs RF surgery on the brand new triplexer that quit working early into the event. It was placed on life-support by "Dr." Kennedy and the attending physicians in the background and sent by life-flight to the manufacturer shortly after for emergency surgery. Better luck next year. | Helping with the installation of the 40-meter vertical, MVARC Pres. Mike Payne W0LVJ contemplates reliving his high school years by using the antenna to pole-vault over the picnic table but decides to abandon his plan and just live his life vicariously through his grandchildren. |
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| More complicated than a Swiss watch but it kept the sun off of us for the entire weekend. | |
Here is the Magic Valley Amateur Radio Club home page.