Outdoor Adventure USA

For everyone who participated in field day, or who wanted to but missed it, we will cover the highlights of the event. This is your chance to post information and pictures of your Field Day. Let us know how it turned out!!!


More information and pictures to follow.

Well we had a great Summerfest Field Day event. We could not ask for better weather. Lots of great food and people, stations went together nicely, no major malfunctions. The band conditions were only so-so but we had some awesome operators. The amateur radio operator licensing examinations went well. One applicant got a chance to make a DX Contact with a Venezuelan station only minutes before his exam session. The Location was awesome!

Good potluck dinner with many good Dutch oven dishes. I was not able to take the pictures fast enough. some pots were almost gone by the time I got to the end of the table.

Field Day / Summer Fest Update

This was our 7th annual Field Day / Summer Fest event, and, by far, the very best! To start off with, there were no breakdowns, no mishaps and no equipment failures. While the actual Field Day competition was hampered somewhat by poor propagation, the great high mountain environment, great weather, great food and drink, and great company, were all top notch.

One of the most rewarding highlights of the weekend was watching the excitement of some who had never participated in a Field Day. To see them light up when they made contacts, was just terrific. Our Amateur Radio license testing on Sunday produced a new Technician and a new Extra - both of whom had never joined us in the past, but who showed every sign of doing so in the future.

The pot luck on Saturday was a huge success with a variety of appetizers, main dishes, deserts and wine. The best description of the event was that it was a perfectly balanced weekend of outdoor enjoyment, Ham Radio operation, great food and drink, and wonderful company.

OUR FIELD DAY MASCOT (Sam)
CAMP
THE SHACK
FIELD DAY OPERATORS
ANTENNA FARM
ELMERS AT WORK

KK6CTT for an on-line check-in please. Looks like a great field day for the OAUSA group was had!

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

The spotlight this week is a little different than usual and probably should be called a "service spotlight". In the end however, it is all the same.

In the type of travels we do, the GPS has become an indispensable part of our gear. Yes, we carry paper maps (usually though they are plastic) and we know how to use a compass). Between trip planning, on the road navigation, and exploring the outback on foot, the GPS sees a lot of use. In the vehicle, if the dust, dirt, or occasional coffee or water spill don't get it, the constant jarring from rough roads probably will.

Finding a GPS that met all of my needs took some time, a lot of research, and eventually a healthy purchase price. As it turned out, the choice was right on the money, as it has served me very well for the last 8 or so years. The GPS was a Garmin 276C, and It was with great disappointment when I discovered recently that it finally quit working.

Of course, Garmin stopped making these units a few years ago, and no longer offers any support or repairs. A quick spin around the internet turned up several used and a few "new" 276's, but with very few exceptions, the cost was the same or more than I originally paid. I was quickly running out of repair options when I finally discovered a site called Short Tronics (https://www.palmdr.com/). Cris Short owns the business and had all the parts, and more importantly, the knowledge, to bring my 276C back to life, and for a whole lot less than a new or used unit.

From their website:

We are a small company that specializes in sales and service of Palm and similar PDA, GPS units and Smart Phones. Because we specialize in this area we have a superior understanding of the circuitry, problems and solutions related to these devices. There are very few problems that we have not seen before.

Our formal company name is Short Tronics, INC. whereas our online website is PalmDr.com. We also have a presence on eBay under the user name itsnothere. We pride ourselves on being helpful, knowledgeable and we accept not only emails but also phone calls which is becoming more rare in this fast paced world.

We believe electronics are not meant to be thrown in the trash, if the device works for you then at least attempt to get it fixed, whether it is a Palm PDA, Garmin GPS or other smartphone. It is best to keep an old friend alive than jump at the newest trend that will also be headed for the trash bin in a year time.

The 276C is back in action:

Here are a few more pictures -



The Pinzgauer shack running 2m and 70cm sideband.



Radio setup under the cammo netting.



Sunday morning dutch oven breakfast casserole.

Dave
Please check me in
Kevin
KK6DGL

This was another fantastic OAUSA SummerFest / Field Day event.

We had a great group of folks this year, including many Field Day first-timers, along with the "regular" OAUSA crew. Despite marginal band conditions, I think we were able to hammer out a lot of good contacts, across all but the 10 meter band.

We had plenty of "Elmer" action, too, helping Jack, Kevin, Patty, and Spencer get their feet wet on HF radio - in fact, Spencer drove all the way down from San Luis Obispo on school break just to take his Technician test. With help from Warren, he was able to make an HF contact to Venezuela on 80 meters before he had taken his test (which he passed - congratulations, Spencer).

Thanks to Hector's technical wizardry, we had our 6A (six radio) station Wi-Fi linked to monitor all the action, all the time. We also had quite an array of antennas set up this year, including three dedicated field tower mounted dipoles, and Alpha-Delta, a tree-mounted long wire and a few others. All the equipment worked without issue, including the generator humming along for 24 hours without a hiccup.

The weather was picture (and radio) perfect all weekend; the sky was clear, and the sun was shining...and the only challenge from Mother Nature were some strong winds Friday afternoon and evening.

Of course, as has become legend at OAUSA events, food and wine were plentiful - including an amazing selection of dutch oven dishes served up on Saturday night.

So, thank you to all of those who attended, and made this another memorable OAUSA event for me.

Some pics: