Well, a few intrepid Hams got together with social distancing etc… A total of 4 were spread out over two stations, one pair in Oakwood School, the other in the Ares trailer. As two hams had never participated in a radio contest, this was a ground breaking event for them so the emphasis was on enjoying the experience not trying to get the high score. The secondary mission was to check the equipment and tower at Oakwood. They are in working order and more than a dozen contacts were made. The third mission was trying out the N1MM logging software in a contest situation, preparing and sending the log to the contest scoring web page was practiced.
The annual ritual of having Chili was observed and enjoyed along with ‘Blondies” with chocolate chips (Thanks Beth). Judy W3JUU, Beth KN4FZB, and Jim AC4JL had a great time and wrapped it up by 2pm as duties at home had to be taken care of. The Ares trailer was checked out and the generator run for several hours. There were radio noise noticed on the 20m band especially but worst on the 160m band. An in line noise filter was placed that helped significantly but did not eliminate all the noise. More testing with other generators will have to be done before FIELD DAY as that is coming up soon, so get ready!
73 Peter, N4PVH.
Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club 