It’s a good thing my plans for Field Day were more modest than usual else I might have been disappointed. It has become my habit to partake in the annual event from my own backyard, but the heatwave had convinced me if I did operate this time, it would be from inside the shack. So I figured I’d make a hundred contacts and call it quits. But life happens and plans don’t always work out and as it turned out, I didn’t get on the air at all on Saturday. Sunday morning I spent less than an hour putting just fifteen in the log before shutting down.

The first ten were on 40 and the last five on 20 meters. All CW and all using the IC-705 at ten watts into the CHA-MPAS Lite antenna. It’s a 17-foot vertical that I stuck into the backyard just for this occasion. The 705 is an excellent performer and I enjoy using it. Some days I wonder why I even own other HF transceivers.

In reasonable weather, playing outdoors would have been a lot more fun, and I would have given it more attention. Still, it was fun listening to others and imagining them working against the elements after having stayed awake all night. For hams, it’s mostly about getting together with friends and having fun, but for muggles, Field Day is an Open House for ham radio to show off.

We get lots of media attention and it’s often the first real exposure others get of our hobby, sometimes it even becomes an entry point for many new hams.