Not many FD reports on the reflector this year; Covid obviously took its toll, so I'll offer this (sad) report.
NR6TT's Field Day was a Failed Day this year. Wanna know what it's like to break your slingshot on the very first attempt to use it? Good thing my 14-year-old was there to throw a few fastballs 20 feet up into the trees.
And then this: Isn't FlexWeave wire supposed to be the Next Big Thing? As soon as I started to tension one end of the doublet, it broke. Man, it twanged! And not at a soldered joint or wrapped point... but right in the middle of the span! I was incredulous.
Luckily, I brought a butane soldering iron, which barely worked at the 3000 foot elevation near Lassen Peak. Somehow I managed to repair the break, and spent more time in 100 degree heat putting up the antenna again, then thinking I could outsmart Murphy (!) I tried tensioning the *other* end of the antenna. And it snapped again-- in a different spot!!
Yes, this was the 3rd Field Day I put up the same antenna, but what the heck? Is Flexweave that easily snapped? I'm not impressed.
Well, as you know, when your antenna breaks, your Field Day is pretty much ended. I guess we could have used a piece of the broken Flexweave as a random wire, but my heart wasn't into it, for a number of reasons. (We had planned on operating on 40 meters only.) Instead, we went swimming in Hat Creek, had a great salami sandwich dinner and read stories to each other until we fell asleep. So it wasn't a total loss.
Total score: 0. Time spent with Blaise: Priceless.
Al W6LX
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