TDXS welcomes FD visitors	Entrance to Spring Creek Park	TDXS club callsign K5DX	Set-up crew installing rotor on SSB tower	CW & VHF stations were in W5BXX's motorhome
WF5W & W5RUM	Cranking the Rohn tower up	Cranking, cranking, cranking. Whew!	W5RUM with rope launcher	ARRL material for visitors
K5LOT on the GOTA station (N5UR) with WB5TKI	Madison - W5MJ	Log antenna on the CW station	Evan Anderson takes a turn on the GOTA station	Kids everywhere!
WB5TUF working his satellite magic!	WF5W on the SSB station! Oh my!	XYLs hosted the Saturday night dinner party. Yum!	W5PF	Saturday evening on the SSB station
W5BXX hopes his smiley face brings luck on 6m.	K5WAF on CW	Official Red Cross visit to TDXS FD	SteppIR consultants at work	W5MJ enjoying a summertime treat!
N8SS drove all night from MI to participate!	Log challenges	W9DX keeping the generators running	W5MJ	CW Captain W5KDJ working on the log
W9DX running them on 20m	2 element SteppIR on the SSB station	W5PF & WB5IUU ready the solar station	Scrambling to erect a SteppIR vert	WW5L, N5UR & W9DX eating again!
WB5TUF and son Evan	Rohn crank-up tower & SteppIR	Dot and WB5IUU	GOTA station cue cards	Kenwood TS-480's on all stations
K5NZ & N5ET	CQ FD, CQ FD de K5DX	N5UR & WW5L	YLs having a blast on the GOTA station	My turn???
Now say..."2 Alpha, South Texas, OVER"	More fun than texting on a cellphone!	"Cookie" K5EWJ with W9DX and XYL Lynn	GOTA Capt WB5TKI had young visitors all day!	N5ET & WF5W
Videographer WB5IUU documenting the event	Brisket dinner and all the trimmings!	Buzz N5UR and son Allen KE5KTN	N5UR's XYL Gay even makes a QSO!	WB5IUU and Colin KU5B (V31UB)

SSB Captain	Buzz Jehle, N5UR
CW Captain	Wayne Rogers, W5KDJ
VHF Captain	Dave Topp, W5BXX
Satellite Captain	Glenn Anderson, WB5TUF
Solar Captain	Bob Mennell, WB5IUU
GOTA Captain	Doug Seyler, WB5TKI

TDXS 2008 Field Day Wrap Up

Wow – can you believe Field Day is over! It was a great time. The weather cooperated, the facility was great and the participation was outstanding.

As you know, TDXS operated in the 2A category, running 2 primary stations plus a GOTA station. We also had VHF, Solar and Satellite capability. The bottom line was we had 1789 total Q’s, about equally split between SSB (873) and CW (866) with 40 and 20 meters being the money bands. Contacts were made on 160, 80, 15 and 10 meters as well. This equates to a rate =37/hour on both CW and SSB stations. While this was short of the 60/hour we had hoped for, it was still a very good showing of our emergency, field operating capabilities, particularly with the problems experienced with the antennas.

All ARRL Sections were contacted with the exception of VI and NT. And we capture most of the bonus points with some hard work by the Captains. A finally tally of our total points should be done in about a week or so with electronic submission to ARRL.

We had 17 operators on the SSB and CW stations combined. Steve, W9DX, had the highest overall and SSB QSO totals with 276; Wayne, W5KDJ, had the highest CW total contacts with 267.

But some of the high points of the event were non-operating. We had an outstanding turnout for both setting up and tearing down – much better than anticipated. We also had some new and renewed faces and it was great to have the XYL’s involved particularly with the meals.

Special recognition is in order.

• Bob Mennell (WB5IUU) – deputy Bob, as he likes to be called, was right at home arrange all the PR, incidental equipment in his Wells Cargo Van, taking video of the entire event, setting up an excellent display table for our visitors – and of course installing and operating the solar station. Really, if you know the effort that Bob put in to make this an excellent outing, you would be amazed. Thanks Bob!

• Doug Seyler (WB5TKI) – our GOTA Station Captain made it a real success. Doug was able to get numerous people to give it a try – including my wife, Trish!!! I never thought that would happen. But he did more than just take charge of the GOTA station, Doug was there, ready to help whether it was putting up antennas or making sure everyone had the water or ice they required. Doug certainly made a difference.

• Wayne Rogers (W5KDJ) – our CW Station Captain and boy, does that title fit. Wayne took charge of the CW station and made sure that those who wanted to operate the CW station were able to. But at the same time, the station was never idle. Wayne told me that if no one was there to operate – he would, even if that meant for 24 hours. Luckily that was not the case, but it was a very good operation. By the way, look for Wayne as YN2KDJ – he is there and on the air with both CW and RTTY.

• Buzz Jehle (N5UR) – our SSB Station Captain not only managed the SSB station (which beat the CW station in total number of Q’s, in case you didn’t really notice it in the totals above) but really saved the day for us on CW. With the failure of the T8 yagi, Buzz was able to quickly get his Steppir BigIR vertical installed and operating for that station. As with Wayne (W5KDJ), watch for Buzz N5UR, Max Maxwell K5PP and Bob Wolworth N5ET as they operate from Grand Isle in La during the IOTA contest coming up.

• Dave Topp (W5BXX) – we again were blessed with having the use of Dave Topp’s RV, complete with 2 towers and of course, an air conditioned operating space. Dave also set up a new 6 meter yagi that was quite effective. Dave, the CW guys really thank you for the comfortable surroundings!

• Glenn Anderson (WB5TKI) – our Satellite Station Captain again did his magic with setting up the antennas and equipment for a satellite station. I know his first contact was a real piece of DX – bouncing of a satellite to contact W5NC (NARS’ Field Day station) three miles away! Seriously, though the satellite actively is currently pretty low, this is an intriguing operating that some time I would like to know more about.

• Trish Frink (unlicensed – but a really strong supporter of TDXS). I asked Trish if she would mind taking charge of the food for Field Day. I only had to ask once and the next thing I know she was on the phone to every active member of TDXS asking for either a desert, salad or other dish – and if that wasn’t possible, a donation would do just fine! Just ask Chuck Dietz (W5PR)! And she also got Lowes and Brooklyn Café to chip in for free. I really hope you all enjoyed the dinner Saturday night and the availability of water, snacks and the like throughout the event.

And though I can’t mention everyone, Steve Smothers (W9DX), Paul Frantz (W5PF), Cal (the truck tailgate wrecker) White (WF5W), Madison Jones (W5MJ), Bob Walworth (N5ET), Keith Dutson (NM5G), Cookie (K5EWJ), Eddy Reynolds (K5WQG), Max Maxwell (K5PP) and Jim Carmody (NN5O) provided outstanding help and support to Field Day. My apologies for any TDXS'ers that I missed.

We also had some guest ops – Colin Jenkins (KU5B), Ed Swiderski (KU4BP), Tom Anderson (WW5L), who by the way was quite helpful with our antenna problems, Scott Patout (K5DD), and Earl Morse (N8SS). Tom Rum (W5RUM), Joey Clements (W5BAK) along with some others lent a valuable hand or resources.

And the visitors list was quite long. We had a lot of guests, young and not so young, that participated on the GOTA station as well as showing a general interest in what Field Day was all about.

I am personally pleased with the way the event turned out. Beyond the great participation already mentioned, no one got hurt, the facility and support we received at Spring Creek Park was outstanding, and we have come back to the tradition of TDXS having their own Field Day. Lets do it again.

CW QSO's: 871 CW Points: 1,742
SSB QSO's: 986 SSB Points:   986
Power Multiplier [2X] 2,728
Bonus Points: 1,190
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Final Score: 6,646 points
 

Bill Frink K5WAF