Last month the Washington State Net established 2008 Field Day operations at the Nisqually Pines Emergency evacuation center in Yelm., WA The 1F (one transmitter, Emergency Operations Center) effort garnered a total of 1092 Field Day points with 4 operators and 5 visitors.

Leroy, N7EIE, and his grandson Allan Richter, installed a new G5RV at 35 feet in three trees outside the community center. The feed line was about 90 feet from the community center access door, and with a used 120’ chunk of RG-8x coax cable, the Emergency Operations Center was operational all weekend on 80-10 meters CW and SSB. The G5RV was oriented towards the 3 large High Voltage Transmission Lines that ran just south of the Center in order to minimize power-line noise. Some extraordinary noise on 40 and 20 meters was heard occasionally, but it did not curtail operations.

What did curtail operations was the heat: It got up to 93 degrees Saturday and 91 Sunday, reaching an estimated 95-100 degrees in the cavernous and non-air conditioned evacuation center. The extreme and record-breaking heat wore down on all operations and operators quickly, with everyone taking shelter in areas with fans or air conditioning by sunset.

Special thanks to W7QM, Al, and his XYL Bev, who were able to help out Saturday with operations and refreshments in the non-air conditioned operations center. Thanks also go to operators N7EIE, W7QM, Allan Richter (under 18), MaryAnn Stock (under 18), and visitors N7HT, KB7OHO, CERT member Mike Coon, and NPCC (Nisqually Pines Community Council) president Steve Reynolds.

Overall WSN Field Day operations showed a 144 point score improvement from last year’s N7EIE home operations in category 1E. 2009 goals: More operating time, digital capabilities, copying the darn Field Day message from W1AW, and possibly an all band CERT radio operations center in an air conditioned space above the actual evacuation area. Early reminder: Field Day operations will commence again on 27 June, 2009, same time, same place.

73    N7EIE

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Pat WB5NKD and ARLEY WB5NKC are now only using one message text listed below for NTS Traffic. The only other messages they are using is one for Fists Club New Members and one for AL7N of Fairbanks AK with special text for Alaska Operators. Those are the only texts they are using at the present time.

WB5NKD text is as follows:

R HXG WB5NKD 18 OKLAHOMA CITY OK  date
MORES CODE IS BASIC RADIO
IT WILL LIVE ON X
CW HAS REAL PURPOSE AND
GIVES PRIDE 73
BT
PAT WB5NKD                  

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    All of us in WSN were quite disappointed to hear that Bruce Prior N7RR had to cancel his long planned trip from Mexico to British Columbia over the Pacific Crest Trail. We all were looking forward to receiving Amateur Radio Messages from him with info concerning his progress and experiences over the long journey. Hopefully he will be able to make the trip next year with better luck.

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    Unfortunately I had to cancel our planned vacation in April of this year because I came down with the Flu, Pneumonia, Diverticulitis and a Severe Colon Infection all at the same time. It required 4 trips to the emergency room for treatment

    The worst part of the treatment was taking the Antibiotics which caused a lot of discomfort in my stomach and also I had a severe stomach pain from the Diverticulitis. The doctor finally found something for the upset stomach and a pain killer that took care of the pain.  I had to take the antibiotics for 30 days which caused the stomach discomfort but I had to take them to clear up the flu and the colon infection. After that it took another 2 weeks before I really got my strength back to normal. I always get a flu shot every year and also a pneumonia shot when it’s required. However all the flu strains were not covered in the flu shot this year so that’s why it hit me.

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    Don W7GB and XYL Cynthia left for Vacation on June 14th for a trip to New Jersey for a high School Reunion and to visit Relatives along the way. They are expected to return home around July 14 and Don will be back on WSN a couple of days after he gets things back in order again

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Homer W7NWP has not been checking into WSN for the past 2 months and has been missed since he always is QNI al least on WSN/1. Also he has not been checking in on DRN7 for the past 2 weeks.

I spoke with Homer on DRN7 about 3 weeks ago and asked why he wasn’t checking in on WSN. He said that every time he turns on the CW Mode his Rig shuts down and he said it does the same thing on SSB sometimes.   I will try to make contact with him and find out what’s going on. Maybe his Rig is down permanently.

I did contact Homer and he is okay and in good health but his radio is not working. He can hear on it but cannot transmit so he has to find a place to get it fixed or buy anther one. It’s difficult to find any place to get radios fixed here in Western Washington as all the old radio shops closed several years ago.

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Welcome to K7GYN Ralph of Kennewick and welcome back to N7RR Bruce of Blaine.  We are glad to have you checking in on WSN and hope you will continue to QNI on a regular basis.

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Don, K7BFL will be taking another trip to British Columbia this summer.    He and Elvera (ELF) will be returning the end of August.  Trailer camping and fishing will be the order of the day.    If the roads and weather are good they may even make it to Yukon and Alaska.   He will have his Icom 706 along, so expect some QNI's to the Net.

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WSN Activity Report

	April	May	June
QNI	511	485	487
Traffic	124	151	130
Sessions	62	58	62