QST de N7GMT

The last full weekend in June is ARRL‘s Field Day 2008 (yes, I’m just that slow posting). This year my boys and I joined UDXA in their FD outing up on Skyline Drive near Fairview, UT. They boys aren’t yet licensed but I figured this would be a good year to have them work on the GOTA station. This station is specifically meant to let folks get acquainted with Amateur Radio … and hopefully to get them bitten by the Ham bug!

Warming up in the sun while eating breakfast.

The boys had a blast! They each made about twenty-five contacts with folks from all over the States. One YL had already worked our station, but wanted to work us again, just because we had young folk on the radio. My boys are nine and six.

My nine year-old, the Gamer, was working stations almost without prompting from the get-go. He is my Ham buddy and has worked a contest or six with me before. He’s getting quite good, actually. Once he has listened to me give a contest exchange several times, and has done a couple of them himself, he settles right down and works like a veteran. Several of the UDXAers commented on how well he did and how impressed they were with his operating skills. We <cough>I</cough> need to get him going on getting his license so he can join me more regularly.

This was the first serious radio event for my six year-old, the Etymologist. He was a bit nervous and a bit shy at first, what with everyone wanting to help him. Once he warmed up, he did really well, though — especially once he got his “outside” voice going. (Not his real outside voice, which he occasionally uses on a festering, ingrown sibling, but his normal voice with enough punch behind it to bust a pile up! I was very proud of him.) He turned out to be the darling of the GOTA tent; every shutterbug in camp wanted their turn to get pics of him with the headset and boom mic on.

The night before, my boys and I wrangled ourselves some radio time over on one of the rigs just to see if maybe we could make a few contacts for fun. Thanks to Hal, WA6ZHK up in Roseville near Sacramento, CA; and to Craig, N7CAL, up in Custer, Montanna. The boys were especially excited to talk to Craig: he lives and works on a spread up there in big sky country, where they ride four-wheelers and horse to help run about 900 head of cattle. To a couple of suburbanite boys, that sounded like heaven! (Craig was going to be having a different kind of field day; he was expecting a “water turn.” Having cousins who had to herd cattle and help with the water turns, I know it can be fun — for about one day, then fun it is&nbsp;&hellip; not quite so much. Brought back fond memories though. Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane, Craig!)

Sunrise behind the SSB tower.

The club was running 3A — which means three full-time stations running on generator power. We had a dedicated CW station (operating Morse code), a dedicated SSB station for voice contacts, and a “mixed” station for working either CW or SSB on whatever band seemed to be hopping and would help us get the most points. This group is incredible; they had two huge towers up there on Skyline Drive. Oh, and they call it Skyline for a reason. the horizon up there is (at or lower than) straight out pretty much in all directions. It’s a beautiful area. There were virtually no flying critters (we saw a few ‘skeeters and a fly or three) and the temperature was pretty mild at 9100 ft. (2770 m) ASL. There were lots of ants and old mole trails, but that was just for effect.

Cereal at 9100 feet ASL.

All in all, it was a very pleasant weekend. We only stayed the one night and left about six hours into the actual operating event, but even that little bit was a bunch of fun. I certainly wouldn’t mind going up again next year; maybe this time we can stay long enough so my boys’ dad can get some operating time in himself.

Go Team!

Well, we atoned for our day out, Friday; we schlepped the kids up to Swiss Days, and convinced my sister-in-law and her husband that they, too, wanted to experience Swiss Days. With a herd of kids.

I got to get my leather-bound book; we got to eat more <ahem> “Swiss” food; and the kids got to spend their September allowance on bags of marbles at the hand-made games booth (I don’t think any of them had the cash in their hands longer than twenty seconds, some literally two seconds—from my hand to theirs, to the booth-keeper’s). No one died; there were no kids lost in the making of the expedition (although two crashed and fell asleep towards the end); and some of the kids learned to bus surf on the way back to the parking lot.

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On my own tonight in SF. Decided to walk over to Union Square, and then up to Chinatown.

Fun!

I think my Sweetie and the kids would have enjoyed it.

Until it came time to eat, anyway. I mean, really; I’m in Chinatown for crying out loud. What do you expect me to do? Find a Denny’s?! (Actually that establishment is down on Mission between 4th and 5th Streets.)

I don’t remember the name of the place; it was near the (north) end of Chinatown, and a young lady — who claimed (in English) not to speak English — asked if I wanted Dim Sum … at least I’m pretty sure that’s what she meant as she held out a half-sheet of paper and said something like “You hungry? Dim Sum.”

So I found myself the only gaigin in a little family-run restaurant on the second floor. They had many types of dim sum to choose from, and even had such tantalizing dishes as Spicy Jellyfish (appetizer), Steamed Chicken Feet, Kung Po Frog, and Sizzling Frog. I was sorely tempted by the the amphibian dishes, but I wasn’t going to have room for all that food — not if I was going to have jellyfish and hot-n-sour soup, and pot-stickers.

The jellyfish was indeed spicy. I hadn’t counted on it being served cold and slightly pickled, but it was quite tasty, if somewhat … more jiggly than expected.

I can also no longer say I’ve never had dim sum. It was OK, but I like my food with a little more kick. (And maybe a little more wiggle. )

Anyway, it was a nice evening. And now I must a-bed. It’s late, and I don’t know when I will be laying my head on a pillow next, as I’m traveling back to SLC tomorrow.

[Did I mention I had a really tasty macaroon from the Chinese bakery just up the street? Perfect appetizer!]

So, I find myself in San Francisco at LinuxWorld, stuffed to the gills with seafood (pun intended? you decide). I brought my HT and a gain antenna, and have managed to find a couple of local repeaters. Being on the ninth floor helps, I guess, although these tall buildings downtown are playing havoc with my GPSr.

Anyway, here I am in SF, wanting to ride cable-cars, take the Alcatraz tour, drive down Lombard Street, and do all the stereotypical things one does when one finds himself in San Francisco … but I found I’ve left my heart back home with my Sweetie.

Oh, and since I left my laptop home (it does run Linux, so it would be allowed on the exhibition floor, but it’s heavy and the battery is dead), so I’m forced to use TV-Internet to make this post. Let me tell you how painful it is … no, that would be cruel and unusual. Suffice it to say, I miss Firefox, with its tabbed browsing, history, spell-checking, etc. quite a bit.

Anyway, as cliché as it may be, this post is dedicated to my Sweetie: “Wish you were here!”