I joined the New River Valley Amateur Radio Club in 2014. My all-time favorite activity is the special event deployments, be it Field day, Audie Murphy, Winter Field day or the Special event set up at the D-day memorial at Bedford, VA. This is an event that is very special for me for many reasons; my absolute respect for the veterans that sacrificed everything to protect freedom, my knowledge and interest in WWII and US History and the beautiful monument at Bedford.
[6:00 A.M.] I am outside trying to stuff wood into my boiler. It is COLD and blustery. I am really rethinking my enthusiasm at setting up a remote station and being out in that cold wind all day. A quick text check-in from other members of the club confirms that everyone else is still ready to go. If those guys could stand crossing the channel in a flimsy Higgins boat, I can certainly stand to be out in the wind for a few hours to recognize their sacrifices.
[7:30 A.M.] Cam, W4XXV, pulls into the parking lot. I stowed my chair and club antenna analyzer in the back seat and climb in. He immediately drops a bag with a pork loin biscuit and hash browns into my lap. This day is getting better by the minute. We have a pleasant drive over and arrive around 8:45.
[9:00 A.M.] We meet up in the parking lot and it looks like we have an excellent turn-out. Along with myself, we have Cam (W4XXV), Danny (AK4IS), Jason (N4JHP), Steve (WD4JIX) and Ben (KK4EWT). We immediately start the set-up. Despite the wind, the canopy goes up without a hitch. Ben has some good tarps for side shields. That is going to be a huge help. The radios are unpacked, and the DX commander goes up effortlessly. I do the pre-event test on the DX Commander with the club’s antenna analyzer. Excellent results. No adjustments are needed. I look back at a setup from a few years ago and am really impressed how quickly we have the entire station set up.
[10:20 A.M.] We are set up and ready to get on the air. Steve and Jason scored first on 20 meters with a W1 station. I am manning the 15-meter station and Ben has 10 meters. I tune the entire SSB segment of the band, but it is pretty quiet. I only hear 2 weak stations rag chewing. I pick a frequency and start calling. It is pretty dead, but I am persistent. I finally hit with a station in Oklahoma. He has a very strong signal. I realize the band is in pretty good shape, just not a lot of stations on yet. As usual, Cam must remind me to set the spotting network. I get a few more stateside stations and then I get a boomer coming in, MI6NCG. Where the heck is MI6 land? A quick check shows Northern Ireland. I hit again immediately with another European station, IZ3QEW.
[11:00 A.M.] Danny and I walk down to the memorial to catch the beginning of the program. The group that sings the national anthem does an excellent job. I am listening to the invocation and opening remarks and feel a wave of emotion come over me as I look at the memorial and think about all the veterans that sacrificed everything on that day.
[12:30 P.M.] The better part of the crowd has thinned out by now with only a handful of folks walking around the memorial and gift shop. Cam is at the 20-meter station, and the band is hot. I am still at the 15-meter station. While the conditions are pretty good not many operators are on the band. I am looking at the dx spotter network and I see the USS Hornet [NB6GC] is active on 28.028 CW. No one is on 10 so I jump over to listen. I can just faintly hear the Hornet, but a DX station is also right on top of him. Tough luck, that would have been a good catch for the log.
[1:15 P.M.] I keep checking back on the Hornet. The DX station is gone, but the signal is still too far down in the mud.
[2:00 P.M.] I haven’t forgotten about the Hornet and go back and check. He is quite a bit louder now and easily copyable. He calls again and I send our call. No go, he doesn’t hear us. Oh, duh, CW BK is off. That is a silly novice mistake. I try again actually transmitting with RF this time, but he doesn’t hear us. He is getting louder, and I try several more times but no go.
[2:20 P.M.] The activity is slowing down on the bands. We are close to calling it a day. It has been a good day with the bands, especially on 20 meters. We never got on 40 meters. I check back on the Hornet but the frequency is silent. I listen for a few minutes, and he pops up again, NB6GC USS Hornet. He is quite loud now. I will give him one more shot and I hit the key. He immediately comes back clear as a bell, W2B W2B DE NB6GC USS HORNET OPP BILL. He can hear us. I hit the key again. NB6GC DE W2B TU OPP CHRIS QTH D DAY MEMORIAL BEDFORD VA. We got him in the log!
[2:22 P.M] I just realized that I made this contact using the clubs Navy Flameproof straight key. More details can be found here:
http://jhbunnell.com/navykey.shtml
[2:30 P.M.] By mutual agreement, the group decides to call it a day. We commence breakdown and it is very efficient. Most of the equipment is loaded back in the vehicles by 3pm. It has been a great day.