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FIELD DAY FLASHBACK------1951

From the Jacksonville Amateur Radio Society JARS Beam --this account written by Wayne Backenstose, W4JWX about the 1951 Field Day held near the ferry landing in Pilot Town on Heckscher Dr.

Fellows, those of you who didn’t get out on our FD expedition missed the best one we’ve had yet.  It’s a little early for returns yet, but we’re confident we topped the score we made last year.  

Your writer isn’t at all sure we won the section, but is gratified at the turnout. We had three times as many operators available at any given moment as we did last year.

We can’t do anything about QRN, sunspots and conditions like that, but if operators are available  we can take advantage of every break we get.  This year, we had them.

The work of getting ready for the trip occupied the time of several of the gang for a couple of weeks before the event itself.  Harry Miller built a complete 10 meter transmitter.  He,  Hill Tattersall and us tried out a generator belonging to Bell Telephone.  It was noisy.  

Warren Watson came through with a transmitter for 80 and a communications receiver, also a station wagon we couldn’t have moved without.  Purdy contributed his generator.  

Winslow Baker arrived with a truck that held an awful lot of equipment and his wife who does a swell job in the kitchen.  That’s only the beginning.

There were so many helpers that we could fill the Beam with nothing else but the names of those who had a part.

After being up at 1:50AM in the morning after Friday night getting things lined up, we set out at 8AM for Ft. George.  Met at St. Nicholas shopping center on the Southside.  Bought $27.00 worth of groceries (and later ate every damned bit of them).  Drove out to Pilot Town (via ferry) and started in.  

Erected antennas (and had to do some modifying later) and went on the air with commercial power, to find out whether the rigs really worked.  10 meter contacts not so hot, but got one or two.  Forty meters got a guy in Bartow getting set up too.  Seventy five not too good.

At post time the generators are fired up.  The BT job is just too damned noisy.  Everything on, Purdy’s line voltage down, all the meters reading low.

Going to fight it out though. W4FIL arrives with XYL and says a navy job is on the way.  W4EOE and then W4IZ have been banging away on 40 and having a time of it.  

Ten is even thinner, and we haven’t had an answer on 75.  Then W4LOO drives up in a navy truck towing a generator mounted in a trailer.  Start up and plug in. From there on out, power is no worry.

W4EFZ, W4IZ, Watson and the gang struggled all night on 75, built antennas, changed feeders and everything else, no luck.

W4EEW,  W4EOE, W4IZ and W4JJX plugged away on 40.  Conditions not too good, a lot of QSB, but hauled one in every so often (I got that W7 in Utah). Ten dead all night.

While this was going on the rest of the gang sat around and reminisced to each other (after they got tired bulling they fell asleep).  A few went to the beach to a beer garden and it’s said--but that’s not part of this story.

Daylight found 75 getting a little better.  Forty dying out and ten improving.  Mrs. W4FIL, Harry Miller and Ellis Curry doing a swell job on the eating department.  QRN begins to get bad on the lower frequencies and the QRM is always with us.  

Bill Gardner always coming in from his mobile rig.  He brought some beer last year.  The shack is getting littered up with paper, etc.

Most of the gang asleep, not used to these hours, as nearly all of them are married.  A couple go fishing.  The 75 meter boys still are struggling. Ten meter gang waiting for the band to open up. Forty still fighting it out.  

Early afternoon, W3AKE/4 drives up, an old home week with yours truly, met him 15 years ago.  Ten starts going to town, working them as fast as you can call them.  On 40, the QRN builds up til only the loudest can be heard (you’ve worked them already).

By mid-afternoon the 40 and 80 meter bands are swamped with QRN. Ten going like a house of fire til the last possible minute.  That’s it, dismantle the rigs, take down the antennas, dispose of the trash, sort out the gear, load the cars, lock up the place, wish you had a good stiff drink, and start home.

After home, and a bath, we think it over.  We had a good turnout, equipment good, on the whole, but some improvement necessary. Organization pretty good, we’ll try to improve it anyhow.  As always in these things, some faults show up after you’re started.  That’s how you learn.

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