FIELD DAY 2011 was an outstanding success from every perspective!  We made more contacts than last year, accumulated more points than last year, and had a totally enjoyable experience.  The food was delicious and plentiful, the weather cut us some slack, and the equipment purred along without a complaint!  Let’s thank ourselves for the effort we put forth.  Since we are a ‘non-club’ it only gets done if we do it, therefore we have to thank ourselves  and each other for our efforts.  Let’s also recognize those who went the extra mile – Scott W2NTV, our Field Day Coordinator and JB WA2WMJ, our major antenna supplier, both of whom lent us the major portion of the equipment we used; Frank W2GIO who totally handled the VHF end; Nick, N2QZ who took the lead to establish our network; Adam KC2DAA who fed us; Shirley N2SKP for the zillion little things she stuffed into her car and then organized on-site.    Pictures will be posted soon.  A collection of candid videos will be edited into an online video remembrance of Field Day 2011 and posted shortly.

73  from Stan WB2LQF and Fred KC2QFR

Read a preview about our event written by the Poughkeepsie Journal’s Southern Dutchess Focus here .  73 de Stan WB2LQF

Note from WB2LQF:  The printed article included two pictures which I provided to the Poughkeepsie Journal.  They appear below with appropriate notations.

The following picture appeared on the front page and described that Scott Dunlavey (foreground-left) and Julian Blair (foreground-right) were unloading a 40 foot crank up tower upon which beam antennas would be placed.  These beam antennas would permit around-the-world communications.

The picture below appeared on the second page and described Tony Castellano, a Hopewell Junction resident, working “high speed CW.”

QSYMinutes.2011.06.v0

Folks, I just have to share this bit of serendipity.

Back in April I worked I2RTF in Brescia, Italy.  We had a nice, long CW chat on 20 meters.  We chatted about Italy, my Italian heritage, and northern Italy.  Whoever this guy was, he had a good fist.  It’s somewhat unusual to find a DX station that actually wants to have a real conversation.  Most of the time it’s “RST 599 TU QRZ?”

After the QSO, I went to http://www.QRZ.com for a QSL address.  I soon realized I had worked Piero Begali himself!

Now I’ve always had a simmering love affair with Begali keys so this was a meaningful contact for me.  I sent off my QSL card and a SASE hoping to get a reply from the master Italian key maker himself.

A couple weeks later, I receive a thick package from Italy.  In the package was a QSL card, a nice personal note from Piero, an autographed copy of his recent book (in Italian) about the development and growth of radio in Italy, and a catalog of all his company’s offerings.

OK.  You can probably figure out where this is going.  That simmering love affair with the concept of “someday” owning a Begali key was rapidly turning into a burning  “gotta have it NOW” situation.

I emailed Piero with some technical questions about the model I was interested in.  His daughter, Bruna, replied that she was unable to answer my technical questions and would refer me to Ulrich Steinberg, N2DE, since Piero was in Dallas, TX and that’s why Bruna was answering his emails.

Ulrich answered all my questions to my complete satisfaction and I proceeded to place my order with Bruna.

Bruna then advises me that she knows exactly where Fishkill, NY is because she and her father, Piero, had visited here six years ago and Ulrich (N2DE) was their guide.

Now I’m really getting inquisitive so I look up N2DE in QRZ.com and find out he lives in Pleasant Valley, NY!    Up the road a bit from Scott, W2NTV.

I contact Ulrich and he’s equally surprised that we are close neighbors!    Then I find out that Ulrich is the co-designer of the Begali keys, designer of keys for many other top-of-the-line manufacturers, and the inventor of the Begali CW Machine!

He’s agreed to present to us at our August meeting and he’s also intending to drop by at Field Day to meet us and say “hello”.

Ham Radio — what a great world-shrinking hobby!    Stan WB2LQF