Field Day

• 2026-06-28 — Summer Field Day 2026 (June 27–28) at Camp Silvercreek in Silverhill, Alabama — QRV for AMSAT and ARRL Field Day as N4MZ 2A AL EM60 . The weekend’s standout moment wasn’t mine: W5LFL (Margaret), a brand-new ham, made her first-ever satellite contact, logging the Huntsville Amateur Radio Club’s K4BFT through AO-7. Ahead of the event I put together a bandpass filter installation and best-practices guide for groups running multiple stations off shared antennas — the interference problem every multi-transmitter Field Day site runs into.
• 2026-06-28 — New ham’s first satellite contact at N4MZ Summer Field Day (2A AL EM60), Camp Silvercreek, Silverhill, AL: W5LFL (Margaret) made her first-ever satellite contact, logging Huntsville Amateur Radio Club’s K4BFT (296 mi away) via AO-7. A Field Day highlight, not my own first — dad N4WBF and brother were there too, CW practice happening alongside.
• 2026-02-27 — N4MZ Baldwin County Amateur Radio Club finished 1st out of 53 entries in Alabama, and 13th out of 2,537 entries overall, in the 2026 Winter Field Day event. Already planning improvements for next year.
• 2026-01-29 — Winter Field Day 2026 recap : a strong turnout of campers and overnighters (Jarrod, Henry, Mike, Ken, myself, and others), 9 of 12 Band Bonus achieved, solid VHF & Up efforts, new antenna deployments, coordination with Westminster Village Club (AB4WV), and roving contacts with K4JOM. Weather challenges were overcome with good HF representation. Lessons learned for next year: a 160m antenna, 220/900/1.2 GHz improvements, and better portability.
• 2026-01-23 — First load-out of mostly AMSAT satellite gear for Winter Field Day 2026 — multiple antennas and radios dedicated to portable satellite operating.
• 2025-06-29 — Summer Field Day 2025 (June 28–29) with the N4MZ crew — 11 satellite QSOs on RS-44, AO-123 and JO-97 , plus sitting up at 1:00 am waiting on the International Space Station . My assignments for the weekend were satellites, the GOTA station, VHF contacts, and talk-in through the local repeater. Lightning had its say again: operations went on hold and everything came unplugged mid-afternoon. Prep worth repeating — a quick-connect added to a tripod to carry the G-5500 satellite rotator, the tripod itself a Goodwill find and the quick-connect made from two Marshalltown concrete float pole sections.
• 2025-01-26 — Winter Field Day 2025 (January 25–26), operating as N4MZ 2I AL — and it very nearly didn’t happen on schedule. South Alabama had taken a once-in-a-lifetime snowfall days earlier , with a county state of emergency and I-10 eastbound closed at exit 44 . The satellite array went up on snow anyway. Highlights: an SSB satellite contact through RS-44 thanks to N2FYA (John), K4LLL running one of the N4MZ stations , and a contact through AO-07 — a satellite over 50 years old . The modified Hastings fiberglass quick-connect poles built to carry the satellite antennas worked great .
• 2024-06-29 — Reflected on 2024 Field Day with the N4MZ crew — asked others what they learned and shared personal takeaways from the weekend.
• 2024-06-23 — Summer Field Day 2024 (June 22–23) at camp with the Baldwin County Amateur Radio Club — club call N4MZ, Get On The Air call WB4EMA . The satellite station ran from EM60, waiting out SO-50 and other passes through the weekend. Best hard lesson of the event: running a battery down to nothing for the first time ever and switching to the gasoline generator to recharge — Field Day earning its keep as an exercise in finding equipment limits. Prep included RS-44 QSOs from EM60 the week before and solving how to haul the satellite antenna using the bottom section of a hitch pole. The weekend’s highlight belonged to someone else: Joel (W2BJN) made his first-ever satellite QSO on RS-44 after most of the site had packed up.
• 2024-06-23 — The N4MZ crew stayed after most had packed up to cheer on Joel (W2BJN) making his first-ever satellite QSO via CW on RS-44 — a few hiccups along the way, but it came together. One of the most enjoyable moments of Field Day, even though it didn’t count for score. Not my own contact.
• 2024-03-25 — Referenced using the Arrow antenna and IC-9700 to make contact through FUNcube-1 (AO-73) during a prior Winter Field Day — local news was on site.
• 2024-01-29 — Winter Field Day gear notes : quiet, long-lasting generators, connectors organized in a tackle box, a Buddipole among seven-plus antennas in play. A great learning activity.
• 2024-01-28 — Winter Field Day 2024 (January 27–28) with the Baldwin County Amateur Radio Club (N4MZ) opened with a wet start in South Alabama — dodging lightning, plugging and unplugging as each wave came through. Once the weather let up I ran one of the club stations for a couple of hours , and a contact through FUNcube-1 (AO-73) went out on an Arrow antenna and IC-9700 — with FOX10 on site filming as it happened. Prep for the weekend included testing the portable station (two QSOs on 146.520) and guying a portable mast using Erik NonIdle’s method. Takeaways: quiet, long-running generators, connectors organized in a tackle box, and a Buddipole among the seven-plus antennas on site.
• 2024-01-28 — FOX10 local news visited and covered the Baldwin County Amateur Radio Club’s Winter Field Day activities. Watch the segment .
• 2023-06-25 — Summer Field Day 2023 (June 24–25) was my first attempt at working satellites with the club — FM HT capability only at the time, and no idea how crowded the birds get on Field Day weekend. It took most of the night; the contact finally came in the early hours of the morning , thanks to WA0POD answering the call. Station prep in the days before: TEVEL-2 and TEVEL-6 worked full-duplex with a Kenwood TH-D72 HT, Arrow antenna and a ~30 W BTECH AMP-V25, a first-ever LilacSat-2 (CAS-3H) contact , and TEVEL-3’s FM transponder switched on for the weekend. Recounted from posts written after the fact — the contemporaneous Field Day posts are thin for this one.