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Idaho QSO Party 2020 This year, we did something different. The event was held at Idaho Power's Locust campground just below the dam at C.J. strike reservoir. It is a nice, open area campground with the usual facilities: picnic tables, fire pits and vault toilets. This was the first opportunity to try out our new field tent. None of us had a clue how to set this thing up. Hilarity ensues... |
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^^^ The tent came with instructions. Right. All we have to do is find someone who knows how to read. :-) |
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^^^ The instructions said "insert medium length pole into three way angle bracket D"... which one is "D"? |
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^^^ Eventually, pole "A" is properly set into bracket "R" and and roof truss "Z" is aligned with the North Star. Things start to look like a tent. |
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^^^ And just like that, after two hours of finger pointing, head scratching, and try-try-again, the new K7SI field tent is set up and running. Too bad it isn't green... |
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^^^ We would like to say a great and heart felt " THANK YOU!! to John, KD7HGS and Deb, KE7TMF for thieir wonderful assistance in purchasing this tent. It would have never been possible without their help. |
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^^^ With the tent up and functioning, everybody starts loading their gear into the cavernous (to us, anyway) interior. Finally we have elbow room! |
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^^^ Bob, W7RLS and Steve, WB7VEQ, testing their setup prior to the contest. The new tent is really bright inside, isn't it? |
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^^^ Break time during the middle of the contest.L to R: Rick, KE7PNW, Tony, KI7TMZ, and John KD7HGS. John is looking a little frazzled by this time. Gee, it sure is bright in here, isn't it? |
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^^^ I did say it was bright in there, right? :-) John always runs PSK 31 at the contests, and he is finding, as we all did, that the white interior of the new club palace makes it very difficult to see the screens of a laptop when operating. We will be looking into a fix for this soon. |
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^^^ At the end of the day, we are all wiped out and ready for a break.Contest night supper done to perfection by our genious dutch oven cooks, Steve and Bob, is always something we look forward to. This evening it's grilled pork loin, mashed potatoes, apple pie and lots of side dishes. Afterward, it's time to sit around the campfire for a bit and relax before going back to the headsets and laptops. We hope to see you at the next event. Maybe we will even get the tent up faster next time. We will see... 73! |
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