Monday, June 26, 2023

The FD 2023

On Friday night, I flipped on the 2 meter rig to see if some friends were on the repeater (K7LED) and sure enough I caught some traffic from Dean N7XS and others.


They were discussing the last minute preparations on site at the Fort Flagler Wagon Wheel campground and the array of antennas they were setting up along the ridge.  It brought back memories of when I had been there back in 2009.

One of the regulars back then, John WA7HQG (SK) was a motivator for me to work HF and he sure loved FD.  I understand why.  As a side story -- I remember visiting his shack when he put up his tower for 17 meter log periodic beam antenna -- I think practically all of the Mike and Key was there at his Seattle home to watch, talk, and be around for the launch of his antenna on his favorite band, 17 m.

Anyway, so on Friday night (now Saturday now, 1am, I signed with Dean, and the others) and hit the sack.

Saturday morning, as I was up early anyway, got a wild idea that I would drive out to Fort Flagler to say hello to the friends I had there and see what was happening.  The Mike and Key club does a pretty good operation for FD.   6A is their classification.  I expected to find the forest of antenna towers on the ridge along the bunkers.   I was also hoping to see again "CW Tent" by the shoreline overlooking the sound.

I didn't pack anything.  I only intended to spend a few hours there.   I set the mag-mount 2m antenna on the top of the Ford pick up, and headed towards Edmonds (from Fall City).  A 2 ferry wait later, I was on the west side, in Kingston and I was heading by memory towards Flagler.

I talked my way into the campground at the registration booth ("Yeah, I'm with the club."  And, I motioned to the antenna on the rig.  She looked up and said "Oh you're one of those radio geeks."    She waved me through).  At the camp, the RV's were all neatly stacked side by side radially around the center fire-pit.  I walked towards the picnic table and I recognized a fellow I had not seen since Visalia, Curt WR5J.   What a surprise that was.  Of all the gin joints in all the world...

I slipped through the trees, walked over the meadow towards the barracks and reminisced over the sight.  Up ahead at a lone picnic table between two unused buildings was a ham, and he had a portable stick antenna on the table, and a tiny KX3.  I introduced myself and we got to talking.  He said he was just copying CW and trying to figure out what was being passed.  I sensed he was recently bit by CW bug and that was the topic of the conversation.  I went into sales mode and told him about the SST ("Friday and Sunday, every week").   Because I forgot my way, I asked him which direction the stations were.  He got me set on the right road and I eventually found the SSB tents and antennas.  I made my hellos and saw more faces I recognized.   

My thoughts then went to think "Which way down to the beach?"  I found the road to the shore and there, as I hoped, there was the CW Tent.  I figured that I would say a hello to Mike, N7WA and see what was happening there.

Two radios (K3) setup each with N1MM connected to one of the four antennas sprouted up along the edge of grass-line before the gravel beach.  A spare seat was there so I took a place and looked through the mesh of the tent out towards the water.  I couldn't hear the traffic on the radio, so I picked up a spare headphone (Mike sets this up perfectly so visitors and ops in waiting can listen and copy by pen/pad too).

Then the wild idea to go to FD took a turn -- I simply asked if there was a slot for me to work the radio later?  And sure enough Mike (always generous), made some switching in the schedule to fit me in.  I would return for my shift at 6pm.

The moment I slipped on the headset and started listening it was like  I knew this was right.   I was on the 15 meter rig, and I had N1MM in front of me and pressed F1.   Then the next hour on 15m was about as much fun as it can get.  One station, then another, and a few repeat AGN? requests but all of the calls I think were good.  I might have not got all of t he section names right, I figured we can clean that up post processing.  But the anxiety was gone, the fun of taking calls and adding a point here, and another point there for the club was fun.    Then at the end of the hour I switched places to the 20 meter rig and this band was really on fire.  I had a few bursts of stations calling, nearly all were QRS to my 19 wpm.  It went by fast and by 8pm I was done and the new ops were ready to take over.

I think I logged about 2-3 dozen Qs in total.  I would have done better if I could have copied on first listen.  But that's OK.  FD is supposed to be fun and not necessarily a speed test.

I made my farewells and proceeded to drive up the hill back to the road and I stopped to check my phone (for messages from the XYL..  She understands this too well and expected me to linger there past evening anyway).   But I did get a text message from a friend on that side of the water who suggested I stop by for a glass and to swap stories of things that are happening.

So that's what I did and we talked for a while -- about upcoming CW contests and working CW.   The minutes went by fast and soon it was truly dark out.  Back on the road and heading home.

I cycle through three main hobbies.  Fly fishing, Motorcycles, and Ham Radio.   Among all of these the one activity that always leaving me glad is Ham Radio.  I may not always hook into a nice rainbow, but I can always make contact on radio.  And riding through the country side is always fine, but inevitably requires some stop and go traffic as I re-enter the urban gridlock.  But ham radio, no matter where I am always delivers so much satisfaction and joy. 

As I told my friend on his deck that evening, I am thankful for the opportunity to be  on the radio and working CW.

Sunday morning, I took my To-Do list for the weekend chores and started to whittle them down.   I was done with the radio for the time being, getting things done that needed to be done.    Monday morning came too fast.  I will have to re-tune my brain for work in a moment.   I wanted to drop this note now while the memory was still fresh.

I hope you all had a good FD and look forward to seeing you at the WWDXC picnic later.

73
W7BRS

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