Field Day.......are you ready?

It's that time of year again, and Field Day is just around the corner.   Once again we're off to glorious Hay Bay in Lenox and Addington County for our 9th consecutive year.  We're quite blessed that one of our members owns 2.5 acres of water front property on the bay, and that it's ringed with 100' high trees, or as we like to call them: "Natural Vertical Antenna Support Structures", and he insists we hold Field Day there.......actually for us it's more like "Field Week".

Richard, VA3VDP, and the 2014 Digi station

As usual we will be operating VE3FRG as a 5A station - four SSB and one Digi station.  We have one station on 40m, one on 80m/160m, an all-band Digi station, a 20m station, and a 10m/15m station.  As well we will have the 2m/6m station this year.

This has worked out very well for us over the years, and our result last year in our category was the icing on the cake, and proved to us we have a winning system.

Our antenna system is comprised of a 160m OCF Dipole, a 80m OCF Dipole (both OCF's are up at 100'), a 31' vertical for use on 40m and 15m, a "Chillycon Special" for the digi station, and a 10m/15m fan dipole.   This year, for the first time, we are adding a VHF station with a 10 element 2m Yagi and a 5 element 6m Yagi.

One thing we do look forward to is our traditional visit on the Friday night to the Sandbanks Bar & Grill in Wellington.  We've always found the beer cold and the food good and the outdoor patio is a great place to relax before our ears start to ring with the cries of "CQ Field day".

I'll be on the 40m station as usual, and will be listening intently for the ever elusive VA3QV/qrp.  I'm not sure but I don't think I have ever worked Bob from Hay Bay......hopefully this will be the year as I hear he's going to be active from the new mobile shack.

The view over the bay.

This year we will also have a "part-time" CW operator dropping in.  Ron, VE3GO, will come out during Saturday and spell off the SSB operators on their bands, and pound the key for a while racking up some needed points for us.

Hopefully the propagation Gods will be smiling for Field Day weekend and we start to see an improvement from what we've been seeing over the last few weeks.  All the numbers we have seen and studied seem to point to the fact the numbers will be fine for the day.........now, if we can just get the weather man to get things sorted out everything will be perfect!