Outdoor Adventure USA

I've been outlining a plan for doing field day this year in big bear from one of the high elevation group camp sites.
I'm not planning on only doing Radio out there. I think it would be fun to have a few trail runs scheduled during field day that way we can get non-hams on the trail and introduce them to radio while they are all there.

Location:
I've looked into a few Group Camp sites in Big Bear:
-Juniper Springs, which is off of Hwy38 about 7800 ft in elev.
-Boulder Camp which is on the south side of big bear lake 7500 ft in elev.
-Bluff Mesa was also on the list but has already been reserved by someone else which is at about 7700 ft. in elev.

I haven't been to any of these sites so if anyone has been to any of them and can advise how radio friendly they are as far as trees to use for antennas etc. it would be great to hear about it. otherwise i plan on going up there very soon to scope it out.

the paper i have from the BB Discovery center is showing that these sites can accommodate 8 vehicles and 40 people. and they charge $60 / night (we'd want friday night and sat. night so we can start setting up friday afternoon) for the site so it'd be ideal for people to pitch in.

Radios & Equip:
I'd like to get at least 2 HF stations out there and one VHF (ARISS?),
I have a IC-746pro i'd be willing to take out there along with a AH-4 tuner and long wire.
I have a 20/40m dipole made from ladder line that i've worked NZ with so i'd say it works alright but we'd need another radio.

Also since we're down here in the SW of the U.S. it'd be nice to have a directional antenna. i know the long wire would work for field day but i'd like to take the opportunity of doing something out the ordinary like a massive wire beam pointed WNW between multiple trees or masts for the Low bands for night ops. if at all possible.
For power i have one deep cycle battery and a couple solar panels to help keep it alive during the day. so obviously we'd need a few more batteries.

Logging.. it may be easiest to log on paper this year unless we have a few laptops & ways to power them for running logging software.

4x4 Trails:
not only would we operate radio but i thought we can invite 4x4 enthusiasts out to field day that don't know what ham radio is... take them wheeling and also introduce them to radio all in one shot. If we have one or two trail runs on saturday then one more saturday night i think we'd have enough wheeling scheduled for a good time.

Some trail suggestions are heartbreak ridge(if it's still open), onyx peak, gold mtn, john bull, jacoby cyn? these are the closest trails to the juniper springs camp.
i'd like to have trail leaders figured out ahead of time. and a schedule of what time the runs would be leaving. this makes it easier for the non-hams to know what time to get there if they only want to wheel.

Obviously an event like this can't happen without people.. so i'd like to know who's interested in going and who can help out with radio ops. (cw ops wanted too ) and who would be willing to lead trail runs.

we only have 4 weeks to plan this but i think we can definitely pull this together.

i've also posted this on the Rugged Rocks board: http://ruggedrocksoffroad.com/forum/ind ... opic=848.0
take a look at that thread as well to see who is interested in what.

The only problem I see with this is the dates... it's only a week after summerfest. Not sure how may will want to go to Big Bear two weeks in a row. Perhaps the two could be combined? Just my 2 coppers.

Steven:

I am glad that you brought this up. The idea of an OAUSA field day has intrigued us for some time, but it seems to have been overshadowed by other issues.

Now that things are getting a little calmer, I would definitely like to revisit the idea of a field day. When we set the date for Summer Fest, I don't think we gave any thought to a combined event, where we would include a field day type of activity actually occurring on field day. That of course does not mean that we are prevented from setting up an HF shack at BB on the weekend of Summer Fest. I think however, that Craig's comment is well taken, that two weekends in a row might be too much. On the other hand, if there is enough interest, all we need is someone to coordinate (you?)

It would be great if you could pull this off this year and it would prove useful for future planning. Thinking long term, we would do well to start the planning process now for this type of event next year. If you are game, your help and participation in this process would be most welcome. Interested?

I can definitely coordinate it. i just want to make sure there people are going to show up before i make camp reservations etc.

I have one trail leader already i'd like to have atleast one more. and we'll need more radio equipment.

I know there are some hams on myjeeprocks.com as well.. i may post over there too.

I now have 2 trail leaders.
Does anyone here have HF equipment they can bring out and operate?

If this field day gets moved to the SummerFest weekend, I definitely want to help out any way I can. I only have my vehicle's Yaesu, but I can lift heavy things.

I'm unfortunately going to be away June 27-28, but I would love to participate in any future field day activities.

I'm glad there is interest out there... but unfortuantely i can't move Field Day .... it's put on by the ARRL and happens every year on the 4th full weekend of june.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQx2O9VuZts

I have HF gear, but I need to look at scheduling, I will know more as the date approaches.

For me it sounds like a great learning oppertunity. I have a handheld and licence. As far as wheelin', I'm up for that.