The summers have been pretty darn terrible the last few years. The heat has been to record levels. How can anyone enjoy being outdoors in this heat is beyond me and I’m fairly tolerant of the heat.
So we setup around 10AM. WX was holding out ok. Not terrible, not great. We got 5 stations up and running, all on solar. No stinky, noisy, mechanical fume generators to be found. Everything was going good till the monsoons came. Holy crap! It started raining by the truckload. Parts of the park even flooded.
Around 8PM we gave up. Nobody was enjoying any of this. Even tear down was a huge ordeal. We had one tent that ended up being moved around as a rain shield for loading vehicles. This was no fun.
I get it, Field Day is supposed to be an opportunity to test your skills. Well, I truly believe we have a hardcore group of ruffians capable of setting up in just about any environment. There’s nothing to prove. Field Day is also about being in the public eye. Well, aint nobody in their right mind coming out to see some guys play radio in this heat, much less the sauna caused by the passing rains. Some other groups persevered but did so via buildings and shelters. The way I see it is it’s “Field Day”, not “Building Day”.
Sorry ARRL but this heat is getting old. We’re not sure if we’ll continue to partake in this act of insanity. Our crew has discussed the possibility of replacing Summer Field Day with a POTA or two during the more hospitable times of the year. This is a hobby, it’s meant to be fun. We’ll continue to look forward to Winter Field Day but for now Summer Field Day may be something we pass on.
