ARRL Field Day 2020 was certainly different that any previous Field Day event. Because of the pandemic and social distancing (a phrase that we all are sick of hearing) the ARRL temporarily change the rules to allow club scoring from individual participating stations. We as a club decided near the end of May that we would each deploy on our own for 2020 and many in club took advantage to test out their go kits and emergency power and antenna solutions.
Other’s decided to simply operate from the comfort of their home stations.
Our club membership participation seemed to be very good this year. For many of our club members solar power solutions seem to be a popular option. Other’s took to the off road with generators and power cells. Below is a collection of member’s photos from field day.
Andy, K1RA, got together with his friends Oliver K3FA and Jon KD3FG, to operate QRP class 3A VA Battery up on Mount Weather. He included his daughter in the fun Anna, K1AEZ, operating as KW4VA 1D VA.
Rich, K3FRG, operated from his back yard using solar power to a battery, which was connected to his KX3 QRP rig and PX3 panadapter to an off center fed dipole. Other family members joined him in the fun.
Gil really took “Field Day” literally and setup his station in a field, a hay field actually, at his farm. To round it out he set his station up in a hay wagon, using an inverted “V” for HF and a couple of Yagi’s mounted on a mast connected to his home brew rotor. His station setup is the same one he uses in his car for other contest operations.
John, KX4O, took a laid back approach for his field day and set up his station on his back deck, using off the grid power, but close enough to run to the refrigerator. He put a couple of his home brewed antenna’s to work for the day as well has had some visitors from his yard.
Justin, NB3A, and Anna, KN4DWZ, always have something interesting to put on the road. Their mobile “operation center” is quite a sight to behold. They took their older model Landcruiser up to Flagpole Knob in the George Washington National Forest. They also brought their “family” along so they could enjoy Field Day too.
Last year Patty, W4HXR, came to our club’s Field Day last year and hung out at the GOTA station. This year she is a General class license holder working on her Extra class license and a member of the club. She decided to do a solo hiking Field Day up to the Appalachian Trail. She may not have made a lot of contacts, but she sure had a great time!
David, KO4DEK, did mess around with his first field day. He bought him a shack in the box that included all his radio needs, along with a multi-battery and solar charged power system, and installed it into has Landcruiser to go off the grid for quite a long time. So for field day he went all the way to his driveway to put it all to work for him. A first class setup all around.
Thanks to all the members who shared their pictures of field day to share with all.
