Introduction: My desire was to go camp for Field Day 2025 and spend the weekend being outdoors and playing some radio. I knew the bands would be busy, if space weather was good, and that I have been cooped up at the house too much.

Preparation or the lack thereof: I started readying the camper a few weeks before the departure date. I made sure things were working. I refilled the potable tank after the (work) trip to Summit Lake. I checked the refrigerator and did some light cleaning.

What I did not do was select a site. I considered going to one of our old favorites (there are a few). Of those selections, several are within a couple of hours of home, which was doable and preferred. But, a week or so before departure, my buddy suggested Fletcher Spring, which is out near the Aurora Mine in the direction of Bridgeport, California. He indicated the road was slow (washboardy and rocky), but not too bad. There was (non-potable) water at the spring and a nice place to camp.

“Are you planning to come out and camp?”

“No, I don’t feel like loading up the camper. I think we’ll come out for lunch on Saturday.”

“OK. I don’t plan to get started seriously until after noon. I’m not that serious about the contesting part of Field Day; I just want to play some radio and enjoy being outside.” I also just wanted to be away from the house and away from the desk for awhile.

I asked for a pin and a route, if he had one. He sent me a GPX file. I processed that and stored it in my Garmin.

I made a meal plan and grocery list. The grocery run did not take long and the camper ‘fridge was cooling, so I stored the dry goods in the camper and the perishables in the house fridge. I also assembled some personal items (clothes and dopp kit), plus some technical tools for the weekend.

Departure and Trip: I was anxious to get out of town and so I rushed the packing and loadout. After my appointments for the day, I finished the final bit of loading and then hooked up the camper to the 4Runner. The Girl and I headed south to Holbrook Junction and then east to Smith Valley. We took the Bridgeport Highway and turned off on the appointed dirt road and slowed way, way down.

The 20 miles or so from the pavement to Fletcher Spring took a long time to traverse. Most of it was pretty rough with either washboards or rocks. I was able to make 30mph over a couple of miles of the road, but most of it was 10mph or so.

We made it to the site about 2030h. There was just enough daylight left to pick a spot and deploy the camper. I did manage a short walk for The Girl and I during the growing twilight. I was mindful that there might be mosquitoes with all the water.

We settled in for the night with the windows open (thankful for screens) and enough cool air as the desert cooled down after the long day.

It was then I discovered I had forgotten my Kindle. There was no cell service, either. I checked in with my friends and family via inReach so my people would know that I was safe and on site.

I prepared to take a shower to wash off the day. The final loadout, the trip, and the comper deployment left me a little sweaty with some stress sweat. When I switched the valves to bring the water heater online, I discovered a leak in one of the T-fittings for that piping.

It did not look readily repairable. I did not have PEX tools and parts in the camper. There was another lesson.

So, I made some hot water on the range and had a spit bath. I then settled in for the night.

Radio Deployment: The following morning (Friday), I rose, made my coffee, and made some breakfast. I brought some left over refritos and arroz from a previous meal out, which are very, very good with a fried egg or two. I did share with The Girl, who always enjoys my leftovers.

I then began assembling my station. I decided to use the Elecraft KX3 and KXPA100 indoors. I knew that I would operate after dark and I did not want to be outside because of the mosquitos. I also knew that I had already setup the KX3 for digital operations and wanted to send some Winlink messages as part of Field Day operations.

That is when I discovered that I left the power adapter for my Surface Go at home. The adapter normally lives in the case for the SG. I made changes to that kit sometime over the last couple of months. I moved that adapter out and probably left it on my desk. Fortunately, I brought a Bluetti power supply (solar generator — ha!) that has USB C ports and so I was able to power the computer from that power source.

I setup my Yaesu FT-897D on the folding table outside for daytime operation. It has the LDG YT-897 ATU attached to it that makes a very nice field radio.

When I attempted to connect the Yaesu to the logging computer, I found that the cable I *thought* was a CAT cable is only a programming cable. So, there was no connecting the radio to the computer for logging. This meant I would be split logging partly on the computer and partly on paper. So, there would be extra (very tedious) work to complete my Field Day log and dupe sheet.

I finished my Friday staying out of the heat. There was enough shade from the old cottonwoods near the spring outflow that the camper was shaded in the afternoon, which significantly reduces the heat load on my house. I also had the Magic Fan running and brought a Ryobi battery-powered fan and both of those units help a lot.

Saturday dawned and I was up with the Sun. That is my way when we are camping. I made my first mug of coffee and sat down at the table to enjoy it. I turned on the general receiver and listed to a Reno AM station. It was a little crackly inside the camper, but I moved it around a bit until I got a decent enough signal. I cannot recall what they were talking about, but it was talk radio and I enjoyed hearing the voices.

Doggo snoozed on the bed, not ready to get out yet. But, that would change soon enough and she would start pestering to go out and check for critters.

I started some bacon while I enjoyed my coffee. The fat would go over Sera’s kibbles (she is very sleek) and I would share a bite of bacon and maybe a bite of egg with her as well. I cook my bacon slowly over medium-low heat, which reduces the curl and popping. It takes longer to cook at this setting, but the result is much better. (At least, that is the way I like my bacon cooked.)

The smell of cooking bacon caused The Girl to raise her head and look at me. She knows what that means. She likes her food.

I worked though my first coffee while the bacon sizzled, then started my second mug. About the time the bacon finished, the Aeropress was ready and the eggs had warmed to room temperature. So, I poured the bacon fat over her kibbles and started my eggs. While they cooked, I pressed my second coffee and got ready for breakfast.

I sat at the table with my breakfast and coffee after putting out her food. I heard her work her way through her kibbles over the voice on the radio while I enjoyed my own breakfast. I then gave her a bit of bacon and a bite of egg.

Outside, it was warming and the sun on the camper warms the interior quickly. I put the dishes in the sink after wiping them out and we headed out for a short walk.

I rotated all the solar panels to maximize the energy catch, then sat down at the Yaesu, my outdoor station, turned on the radio, at started spinning the VFO. I heard a few POTA activators calling, so I made a few contacts on phone and CW modes. While I tried to work one activator, I heard him say “It’s time to get started… CQ FD CQ FD.” I glanced at my watch, it was 10:59:30h and he was early.

How do I know this? Well, I wore my Casio G-Shock GWM-5610, which synchronizes (or attempts to synchronize) to WWV (the world time radio station) every night. I checked and my watch had synchronized early Saturday morning. My watch was correct to within a second. The operator was early by about 30 seconds.

What can I say… I am an engineer and like to be accurate.

Operations: Although I knew my friends would arrive around noon for lunch, I decided to get started anyway. As I scanned the 20m band, I started hearing more callers announcing their availability to take a call. I tried on phone a few times, and made a couple of contacts. But, the frustration of fighting the (phone) pile-ups grew rapidly and I switched the Yaesu to CW mode and moved to the bottom of the 20-meter band.

There I was much more successful and started logging quite a few of the runners. I find it a lot easier to make code contacts than phone.

I also listened on the 15m and 10m bands. I worked a few stations on the 15m band, but heard nothing on 10m. I do not think that the 10m band was open during Field Day. But the stations I heard on the 15m band were quite strong and easy to work. There also seemed to be less competition on the 15m band for some reason.

I checked on Doggo now and again and made sure she was close and had water. Once we get in our morning hike/walk, she is usually good to stay nearby. I really appreciate having her near as she provides a lot of comfort and is someone to talk to.

Nearer noon, my friends arrived on their motorcycles and she ran over to greet them. I turned down the radio and sat back in my chair to socialize a bit. We visited while she pestered and it was good to catch up.

They retrieved their lunch from the cooler one carries on the luggage rack of their motorcycle and I retrieved munchies from the camper. They graciously shared part of their sandwich with me. I found out that I had left my roast turkey slices and Swiss cheese at home in the refrigerator. Another lesson…

We spent an hour or so together with few interventions by the mosquitos. They decided to head out for the rest of their ride. I watched them leave with a mixture of emotions. Once again, The Girl and I were alone.

That change in state always affects me emotionally, at least a little. Although I am an introvert by nature, there is still a social aspect to my personality. I do not have, and have never had, a large social circle. I favor a small group of friends that I spend time with. We do not have to share the same interests, although that helps. But, there is always some kind of energetic connection. I do not understand it; but it exists.

So I spent the rest of the afternoon moving my outdoor station around to keep in the shade and chasing runners. Most of my contacts were on the 20m band, with a few on 15m. As the afternoon drew into evening, I shut down the Yaesu and moved indoors. The Girl and I did get in a short walk before that move.

I started wrestling with Winlink and the KX3 station. The VARA HF modem was not working correctly. That was strange to me because it had been working the last couple of times it was used. I turned on my Internet (Starlink) and did some research and finally got it sorted.

I then proceeded to send Winlink emails to the state emergency communications coordinator and a list of friends I knew operate Winlink. That would permit me to gather some easy Field Day points.

I also learned that there must be a Winlink best practices guide somewhere out in the Interwebs. Or, if there is not, there should be. It is clear that I need training for Winlink field operations and some additional repetitions.

I also realized that I want to be able to run JS8Call (another digital mode) in the field. That is also going to take some work to get my skills up. There also should be a best practices for JS8 field operations (probably home operations, too).

About 1700h there was a knock on my door. I looked at The Girl, she did not look too alarmed, although strongly curious. And there I was, no shirt (too hot) and no one has accused me of being pretty.

I answered the door, to find two young people looking up at me. The girl (not my Girl) said “Do you mind if we camp in the area next to you.”

“Of course not, there is plenty of room.”

“Some of our party can be pretty noisy.”

“I take my hearing aids out when I sleep. I doubt you will bother me.”

“Are you sure, they can be pretty rowdy.”

“I think it will be fine. I really don’t mind at all.”

They seemed reassured and headed off to begin setting up camp. They had tents and a couple more vehicles pulled in over the next half an hour, some bringing old pallets to provide firewood.

I was curious, of course, but did not think there would be a problem.

I finished futzing about with Winlink. It took nearly a half-hour for the dozen messages to send over the 40m band. The bit rate was very low and so there was a problem my setup, propagation, or both. It was a lesson.

I made some supper and fed The Girl. The neighbors started ramping up their campout/party. I could smell some wood smoke and hear them chatting and laughing.

I then turned back to the radio and continued chasing station. There were a lot of runners on the 20-meter band, a few still operating on 15m, and then the 40-meter band started to liven up.

I gave up for the day about 2200h local. I turned off the station, and took care of the evening ablutions.

I woke a couple of times, as I normally do, and could hear my neighbors. I did not think them obtrusive. They were just young people being young people.

I later wished I had gone over and introduced myself to the group. It would have been the neighborly thing to do and I could have reassured them that they were no bother.

I woke early, as usual. The coffee was good. The smell of frying bacon was good. Breakfast was good.

I worked a few stations while my breakfast made. After breakfast, my neighbors were already on the move and it did not take them long to clear out. I moved outside to the Yaesu and continued chasing stations, after getting The Girl a morning walk around the springs.

It was a good morning and I added contacts to my log.

Recovery and R&R: After operations concluded, I put away the Yaesu and cleaned up much of the radio equipment. I left the KX3 station indoors setup in case I wanted to chase a few SOTA or POTA activators. I made a bite of lunch and got The Girl out for another walk. This gave me a chance to clear the cobwebs and make a few images.

We returned to camp and I moved the folding table to the shade. I got out my old Bose Soundlink speaker, my journal, my log, and my notes and sat down with a bottle of Cab. I threw out an old furniture blanket I keep in the rig for The Girl and she arranged herself so she could keep overwatch and nap.

I listened to music the rest of the afternoon. I spent time reflecting on the weekend, on life as it is, and what I learned from this expedition. Many of those thoughts found their way into my journal and into my notes.

Many memories of Wife came to me that afternoon. I reflected on our life together for all of those years. There is a certain melancholy that accompanies such reflection as we had always thought I would eventually retire and we would spend our remaining time together doing stuff together. That was not to be, though. And, such is the nature of life. It is inherently uncertain, but for certain things. It is changeable. It is fragile.

I made some notes about my experience with this Field Day. I know there are more things I need to learn and to practice. As written many times in this on-line journal and at least as many in my paper book, one reason I am an amateur radio operator is for emergency communications. Although I have interest in serving the community, my primary goal is to be able to contact my family and loved ones if or when commercial communications fail.

So, I still have work to do in this regard.

As the Sun fell toward the horizon, I realized that the mosquitos had gotten to me. That caused a few interesting words. I moved my things into the camper and recovered the folding table.

The Girl and I made another round through the Fletcher Spring area to get some exercise and to make a few more captures while the light was pretty.

Departure: Monday morning I rose, made coffee, and spent a little time waking up. The portable radio I brought along received a Reno station well enough that I got a little news. It is also nice to have a voice in the rig.

After coffee, I decided I did not want food. I just wanted to break camp and motor on home. I figured I might find some food along the way (maybe Smith, Nevada). So, I got The Girl out for her morning constitutional and carried the little Olympus along, just in case I found something interesting.

She checked all her favorite places for something to chase. I swatted a couple of persistent mosquitoes. After making our circuit, I put her in the 4Runner while I did that last of the chores associated with breaking camp.

Then I started the 4Runner. I was greeted with a miss from the engine, the Check Engine light flashed, the Traction Control light was solid, and the 4-Lo light flashed. This was a wrench in the works I did not anticipate.¹ I did the standard checks, found nothing obvious, and decided to try to limp home.

After hooking up the camper and making sure the lights and brakes worked, we headed out. It was going to be a long slow haul to the highway anyway. I could tell that the miss was real and that the engine produced less power than normal.

That made me think about those long pulls out of Smith Valley and Holbrook Junction. I shrugged to myself, “There’s no sense borrowing trouble before I need to.”

Sure enough, the pull from Smith Valley was done at 30mph. I did not push the engine hard as I did not want to cause any damage. The pull from Holbrook Junction was not so bad, although a lot of vehicles stacked up behind us and several made very dangerous passes in their impatience².

I was relieved to get home. I parked the camper and then the 4Runner. It did not take long to unload, so I did. Then I put most of the things away and settled in to recover from the weekend.

My buddy Greg called in the afternoon and I told him the story. “Oh, rodents!” he said. “I’ll bring my OBD scanner over this evening after supper and we can check it.”

“Thank you.”

Sometime around 1900h he arrived. We read the codes from the 4Runner’s computer and confirmed the miss and a couple other problems. On opening the hood, we found a chewed through wire and a nest. I had a jumper wire with alligator clips on the ends and he jumpered the broken wire. The miss went away.

“Why don’t you come over in the morning and we’ll try a repair. Earlier is better before the heat rises.”

“How about 0900h?”

“Yeah.”

“See you then.”

At least I knew that I was probably not faced with a huge problem.

Repairs: I drove over the next morning and it took us a couple of hours to clean out the engine bay, repair the chewed wire, and clean up another wire from which rodents had removed some of the insulation. I made a short test drive and everything seemed normal.

So, I took my buddy to lunch.

When I got home, I ordered my own OBD scanner.

Lessons Learned: Once again, on a significant deployment, I learned some things. Some of my problems were my own fault for rushing the deployment.

• Follow the plan. I let myself get ahead of myself. I did not write a full punchlist to check off things like food, power adapters, and personal items (like my Kindle). The plan is as important as anything on the punchlist.
• When in an area where there might be rodents, leave the hood raised at least a few inches. That will discourage them from crawling up in the engine compartment to build a nest (and chew wires).
• Be sure to check the camper equipment, even it worked correctly during the last deployment. My water heater worked fine when I used the camper for a work project just a few weeks before Field Day. The T-fitting at the water heater broke sometime after that trip.
• I fumbled my Winlink exercise. There should be a Winlink best practices guide in existence. I need to find it, or make it. Then I need to practice with Winlink in the field. This is important, because being able to send and receive Winlink email messages is part of my preparedness plan.
• JS8Call is one of my digital radio tools. I use it at home sometimes just so I know how it works. But, there is a lot more to the tool (and an update now) than what I have used it for. So, I need to take it out and run it in the field for practice. If there is a best practices guide, then I need to study and practice.
• The FLDIGI suite is another set of digital tools for ham radio. I trained on them (KA7FOO did the training, RIP), used them on the ORCANET (back when it was running), but have not used them in a couple of years. There is benefit to having these tools available, particularly when propagation is poor enough that voice communications are not reliable. So noted.
• Part of this digital experience is to have the equipment and tools prepared before going to the field. I now know that I should have a CAT cable and Digirig (and cables) ready for the Yaesu FT-897D (and the FT-857D that is in my inventory). These old radios are solid, field capable, and I have filters for them. They will remain in my inventory and be used.

I found working on my log was a pain-in-the-ass. I futzed around with N1MM+ and N3FJP’s Field Day log software, trying to find an optimal way through the process. In the end, I used ADIF Master (a freely available program) to do the final editing of my log in preparation for uploading it to ARRL for processing.

Despite the frustration (mostly with myself) and the vehicle issue (damned rats), it was a good Field Day and a good outing. I continue to learn about radio operation and camping.

I also realize I should have girded my loins and ran a frequency instead of hunting and pouncing on other runners. I just did not want to work so hard.

Life is good.

¹I did recall thinking on the trip out that I put a lot of trust in a more than ten-year-old vehicle with more than 200,000 miles on it.

²I am increasingly annoyed at the impatience of drivers. Too many times, now, impatient drivers have passed me at locations where it is not safe. Several times, this caused them to cut in on me, dragging a camper, because they did not leave enough room or had the visibility to make the pass. This is a lack of care about their own and other’s safety on the road. Their impatience turns into a problem for me. Fortunately, I generally anticipate the problem and take care to have room to stay safe.