Flying Pigs 2013 Field Day Pigfest

Greetings from the Flying Pigs of North Central Tennessee. Once again we are out and about for Field Day 2013. As always we start talking up Field Day long before it is time to get on the air. This year we discussed our operating location with respect for the heat that was going to be taking its toll on us old guys. We decided to operate from the caboose again because of the AC that is available. The Montgomery Historical Society Train Station here in Clarksville, Tennessee (http://www.mchsociety.org/Sub-Pages/Hist-TrainStation.html) allows us the use of the caboose located at their station. It is a great place and is open to the public so we get all kinds of foot traffic checking out our operation. This year the Farmers Market was going on so we got double the foot traffic checking out everything. Oh yea... did I say we had AC inside the caboose.... A big draw with the visitors....

 We also again chose to use a K3 Elecraft radio using 5 watts for our power (http://www.elecraft.com/). Terry-N5HOT graciously allowed us to us his complete station set up. What a guy.... The gang consisted of KF4WK-Lewis, NV4T-Doc, N5HOT-Terry, K4BLE-Richard, and myself KM6NN-John. We had also a visitor who is interested in our activities named Jack Hunter-N3BQ. Jack is new to the area and is looking for a CW group to hang out with. He found the best way, to stop by our operation. Just saying....LOL

We all met at the train station about 11:00 o'clock local time for a  check of the lay of the land. We knew that the Farmers Market would be going on so we wanted to check for vehicles and stands that might be in our way during our set up. As it turned out only one vehicle was close to being in the way and with a few tosses of the feed line we were on our way to setting up our OCF dipole. This year we decided to place a support at each end of the train with the dipole stretched between them. The caboose plus the engine is 91 feet total. The antenna is 67 feet long and it went up about eight feet over the top of the train. Terry is our antenna man and after Winter Field Day this year he thought a better antenna would help our contacts. He built the OCF and we checked it out before this years field day. It worked like a champ and looked great also. After putting up poles at the end of the caboose and the front of the engine we stretched the antenna between the poles. The feed line dropped down close the rear door of the caboose where we placed the short end of the OCF. With that done our antenna feed line was in the back door of the caboose and we were ready to set up the radio. While we set up the antenna you could see the Farmers Market venders checking out our operation. A few explanations to the onlookers brought smiles and blank stairs from their faces. To our surprise one of the venders started explaining ham radio to the group we were talking to. Her mother was a ham radio operator and she remembered fondly listening to her mother talk on the radio. Our good fortune kept holding on as we set up the table, radio and battery. I had already done some prep work on the caboose the day before. Sweeping out the dust, putting ice in the cooler and taping up a couple of windows that allowed too much sun to shine on our work area. That direct sunlight is rough on you after an all day event. Lots of glare on the radio and paperwork.

We set about checking out the band a little early and noted that a lot of activity was on 20 so we decided to start on that band. As is our tradition we had Doc AKA: Boss Hog make the first contact. AA3B-Joseph Trench from Boyertown PA. was in the log as a 1A/EPA. Now the fun begins....

I jumped at the chance to get on and the calls were coming in on 20 hot and heavy. For the next few hours Terry and I teamed up and had a ball. Terry was logging with N3FJP's Field Day Logging program (www.k3fjp.com). Scott does a great job with his software. As I copied calls and Terry logged them I came across a strong signal N3FJP-Scott in Bel Air Maryland. I was moving so fast that I didn't notice the call but Terry started laughing and pointed to the call on the top of the logging program. Real cool making contact with Scott.... As we worked we had several visitors come in and look around. While we copied the calls the other guys were describing what was going on. I don't remember much of what was said because I use head phones to keep out the QRM. LOL  When the guys chew the ham fat it gets pretty loud.... 

As I wore out Terry took over and I along with Doc and Lewis caught a few cool drinks and some chips. Terry likes to log and call at the same time so we let him do his thing. After a while he became tired and Doc took up the rig. As the sun started going down the band go a little better and we were making lots of contacts. Later on when it started to slow down we moved around a little and picked up some contacts on 40 meters. When that got long we went to 15 meters. We finished out the night on 15 meters and by finished I mean about 22:00 hours local time. The sun and the CW gets to you after about 8 hours and we were pooped. We shut down and vowed to meet in the am about 09:30 local time. Man what a night... lots of fun with radio and lots of  local contacts with kids and adults. Man was I tired.... Now on to the next day...
It took me forever to go to sleep. I kept hearing CW in almost every noise that happened to be near me. My head was buzzing but about midnight I went to sleep. Up at 06:00 hours and wide awake. I took care of business and made some coffee to get my body moving. By 0700 hours I was on the road and pulled into the parking lot just about 07:30 I just could not wait till 09:30 to get back on the radio.I cranked up the AC and then set up the radio and away I went. I moved to 40 meters and found a lot of signals so I started out. W5TCR-TISHOMINGO COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB from Mississippi on 7050 was booming in and they were a 5A/MS. I was making one call after the other and getting tired in the process. Terry and Doc came rolling in and Terry started logging on the computer and Doc took over the radio. Terry started taking a total and the next call Doc made was over the 100 mark. N0LIR-SAINT LOUIS AMATEUR RADIO CLUB a 2A-MO was in the log. 
We stayed on 40 meters until we milked it dry and it faded out then we switched to 15. It was doing good and we stayed on it until it was time to give up and close down the station. What a great time and our club made a total of 104 QSO's and everyone was still standing.... What is next...... 13 Colonies and Skeeter Hunt oh yea..... don't forget the Bumble Bees.... LOL.
Thanks for reading our little story and we will see you on the air... From all the gang here in Clarksville 72 and God Bless..
John-KM6NN AKA:WA4PIG
dit dit