The History of "Hams On The Hill"
Amateur radio is rich with tradition and there is no more a traditional radio event than Field Day. Unfortunately in Las Vegas, Field Day has always offered another type of tradition.....roasted hams!
The average Saturday high temperature at Las Vegas Field Day sites the pass 15 years has been 106.8 F, with two years recording 115 Farenheit. Talk about 'Sweatin with the Oldies.'
In 2005, with a Saturday high of 113.9 F. the Las Vegas ham community found itself set up on the asphalt parking lot of the College of Southern Nevada. Makeshift plastic tarps were lashed together in an attempt to shield the operators from the blazing and deadly Mojave Desert sun.
This scorching memory stuck in the minds of all present. By early June the following year interest in Field Day was at an all time low. None of the local ham clubs had expressed any desire to have an event. It appeared that Las Vegas amateurs were going to stay home in the air conditioning.
John-N7UR and Liz-KD7RIN Bigley didn't want to operate Field Day from home, so in the eleventh hour they packed their gear, e-mailed an invitation to any hams they addresses for to join them, and headed to the only cool spot in Southern Nevada.....Mt. Charleston.
A dozen or so hams dropped by over the weekend..played radio...shared stories...and ate a nice steak dinner. Additionally a Boy Scout troop, an astronomy club, and several backpackers made their way to the site and were introduced to the magic of Amateur Radio.
THE FIRST "HAMS ON THE HILL" FIELD DAY WAS IN THE LOG BOOK!
The second "Hams On The Hill" moved to the Mahogany Grove group campsite, also on Mt. Charleston. This event made headlines around the world as amateur radio bulletin stations, newsletters, and internet pages reported on how the hams operating the N7V Field Day station sprang into action when an aircraft crashed near our position, torching off a huge wildfire on the forested mountain.
The third event held in 2009 also was noteworthy. It was during this outing that the ladies in attendance, most of whom were inactive licensees, became excited about amateur radio operating activities. Realizing that Ham Radio was as much fun for gals as it is for the guys, they decided right then and there to form their own amateur radio group. The seeds planted by these ladies at the 2009 "Hams On The Hill" Field Day grew to become the premier YL club in Las Vegas, known as the Sisterhood Of Amateur Radio (S.O.A.R.).
The 2009 event also saw a special re-union. A long time ham from Nevada who was attending his first ever Field Day, looked up and recognized an Arizona amateur whom he had not seen since the later administered the Novice Class examination to him some 30 years ago.
Not to be outdone by the previous year, the hams were again called into action. Police officers from the U.S. Forestry Service had discovered a man and woman whose vehicle was trapped in a remote, off road, sink hole of soft sand. To further complicate things, there were trees on both sides of the vehicle. It would be several hours if not the next day before a tow truck would arrive from Las Vegas to free them. The police officers remembered the "Hams On The Hill" and came to see if we could help.
After being escorted by the police to the remote location the hams quickly improvised some makeshift riggings and using a pick-up truck for horsepower, muscled the sunken vehicle from the sand pit and drug it to a small dirt road.
The fourth event held in 2010 saw a new change implemented. A few people had indicated that they would like to attend the event, but wanted to have more creature comforts. With this in mind we established two separate operating areas. One for day time operations to accommodate the "day-trip" folks and keeping our second rustic "over-night" location.
Utilizing a nearby picnic area we set operations for the "day trippers". This location offered restrooms, a larger parking lot, and concrete picnic tables. The addition of the second location proved to be a poor idea. People simply did not find this spot as enjoyable as our spot in the woods. It was pretty much decided by those in attendance that the "Hams On The Hill" belong among the trees!
So was there any special excitement at the 2010 event? You bet! This time the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Search and Rescue Team was forced to use our Field Day site as a landing zone for their huge helicopter. The SAR guys had to repel down and pluck two women and a dog from a mountain trail. They then deposited them at our day site. A Metro officer stopped by our evening site later and told us that one of the ladies was a tad bit too old to be a novice mountaineer.
The fifth year installment of "Hams On The Hill" found us back under the trees, or at least what was left of them. A heavy blizzard struck Mt. Charleston at the end of 2010. This heavy snow ripped most of the branches from the trees, eliminating much of the canopy. It also left our area covered in tree limbs which we had to clear to access our site.
In a departure from previous years, the Saturday evening steak dinner was replaced with a "Spaghetti Supper". Which judging from the appetites, appears to have been more appealing than the steaks. The spaghetti was less time consuming to prepare and there were choices for vegetarian, sauce with meat, and sauce with meatballs. We added a motor home for meal preparation, restroom, and to provide an area for license exams.
The W5YI VE team was on hand to offer exams. Unfortunately, only one person presented their self for the exam and this was very late in the afternoon and the VE's had just left.
The only mis-hap to this years activities took place on Thursday. Steve Delao-NK2V was heading up with his "toy hauler" trailer with some of the logistical items needed. The transmission of his truck began showing that it was overheating. Several hours elapsed before Steve was able to get the rig back to town and to the dealer. A friend of Steve's came out with his big truck to pull the "toy hauler" up to the site. But Murphy struck again and he blew the turbo out of his rig, so he also limped back to town.
Saturday morning brought the most amazing desert/mountain sunrise ever. A line of 24k gold sunlight appeared over the Sheep Range mountains in the east. Resembling theater lighting it illuminated the top of Angel Peak, glistened off the remaining snow on Charleston Peak, and accented the details of the rock overhangs high above our location. The night sky was equally impressive and at one point stole the show from the radios, as everyone present took time out to stargaze.
The Sixth annual installment of "Hams On the Hill" once again had a vehicle malfunction upsetting the apple cart. John-N7UR's motorhome was loaded with all of the gear and provisions for the weekend, with the motor idleing in the driveway, when the fuel pump went out. This forced a late evening scramble to rent trucks and generators, unloading of the motor home, and reloading of the u-haul vehicles.
Year six saw the girls out numbering the guys. Kind of the reverse of most Ham Radio events. Matter of fact at one points dogs out numbered men. Lots of new faces in the group.
The spaghetti dinner was a big hit, with Frank Kostelac manning the stove. Also, mid-morning Sunday found the group learning to enjoy a new treat......hot dogs deep fried in the bacon grease left over from breakfast....much tastier than it sounds! A new "Hams On the Hill" tradition is born....."The Floater".
Lots of new friendships were made at Field Day 2012 that have carried on throughout the years.
WHAT WILL THE UPCOMING SEVENTEENTH 'HAMS ON THE HILL' IN 2022 ADD TO THIS HISTORY?
The average Saturday high temperature at Las Vegas Field Day sites the pass 15 years has been 106.8 F, with two years recording 115 Farenheit. Talk about 'Sweatin with the Oldies.'
In 2005, with a Saturday high of 113.9 F. the Las Vegas ham community found itself set up on the asphalt parking lot of the College of Southern Nevada. Makeshift plastic tarps were lashed together in an attempt to shield the operators from the blazing and deadly Mojave Desert sun.
This scorching memory stuck in the minds of all present. By early June the following year interest in Field Day was at an all time low. None of the local ham clubs had expressed any desire to have an event. It appeared that Las Vegas amateurs were going to stay home in the air conditioning.
John-N7UR and Liz-KD7RIN Bigley didn't want to operate Field Day from home, so in the eleventh hour they packed their gear, e-mailed an invitation to any hams they addresses for to join them, and headed to the only cool spot in Southern Nevada.....Mt. Charleston.
A dozen or so hams dropped by over the weekend..played radio...shared stories...and ate a nice steak dinner. Additionally a Boy Scout troop, an astronomy club, and several backpackers made their way to the site and were introduced to the magic of Amateur Radio.
THE FIRST "HAMS ON THE HILL" FIELD DAY WAS IN THE LOG BOOK!
The second "Hams On The Hill" moved to the Mahogany Grove group campsite, also on Mt. Charleston. This event made headlines around the world as amateur radio bulletin stations, newsletters, and internet pages reported on how the hams operating the N7V Field Day station sprang into action when an aircraft crashed near our position, torching off a huge wildfire on the forested mountain.
The third event held in 2009 also was noteworthy. It was during this outing that the ladies in attendance, most of whom were inactive licensees, became excited about amateur radio operating activities. Realizing that Ham Radio was as much fun for gals as it is for the guys, they decided right then and there to form their own amateur radio group. The seeds planted by these ladies at the 2009 "Hams On The Hill" Field Day grew to become the premier YL club in Las Vegas, known as the Sisterhood Of Amateur Radio (S.O.A.R.).
The 2009 event also saw a special re-union. A long time ham from Nevada who was attending his first ever Field Day, looked up and recognized an Arizona amateur whom he had not seen since the later administered the Novice Class examination to him some 30 years ago.
Not to be outdone by the previous year, the hams were again called into action. Police officers from the U.S. Forestry Service had discovered a man and woman whose vehicle was trapped in a remote, off road, sink hole of soft sand. To further complicate things, there were trees on both sides of the vehicle. It would be several hours if not the next day before a tow truck would arrive from Las Vegas to free them. The police officers remembered the "Hams On The Hill" and came to see if we could help.
After being escorted by the police to the remote location the hams quickly improvised some makeshift riggings and using a pick-up truck for horsepower, muscled the sunken vehicle from the sand pit and drug it to a small dirt road.
The fourth event held in 2010 saw a new change implemented. A few people had indicated that they would like to attend the event, but wanted to have more creature comforts. With this in mind we established two separate operating areas. One for day time operations to accommodate the "day-trip" folks and keeping our second rustic "over-night" location.
Utilizing a nearby picnic area we set operations for the "day trippers". This location offered restrooms, a larger parking lot, and concrete picnic tables. The addition of the second location proved to be a poor idea. People simply did not find this spot as enjoyable as our spot in the woods. It was pretty much decided by those in attendance that the "Hams On The Hill" belong among the trees!
So was there any special excitement at the 2010 event? You bet! This time the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Search and Rescue Team was forced to use our Field Day site as a landing zone for their huge helicopter. The SAR guys had to repel down and pluck two women and a dog from a mountain trail. They then deposited them at our day site. A Metro officer stopped by our evening site later and told us that one of the ladies was a tad bit too old to be a novice mountaineer.
The fifth year installment of "Hams On The Hill" found us back under the trees, or at least what was left of them. A heavy blizzard struck Mt. Charleston at the end of 2010. This heavy snow ripped most of the branches from the trees, eliminating much of the canopy. It also left our area covered in tree limbs which we had to clear to access our site.
In a departure from previous years, the Saturday evening steak dinner was replaced with a "Spaghetti Supper". Which judging from the appetites, appears to have been more appealing than the steaks. The spaghetti was less time consuming to prepare and there were choices for vegetarian, sauce with meat, and sauce with meatballs. We added a motor home for meal preparation, restroom, and to provide an area for license exams.
The W5YI VE team was on hand to offer exams. Unfortunately, only one person presented their self for the exam and this was very late in the afternoon and the VE's had just left.
The only mis-hap to this years activities took place on Thursday. Steve Delao-NK2V was heading up with his "toy hauler" trailer with some of the logistical items needed. The transmission of his truck began showing that it was overheating. Several hours elapsed before Steve was able to get the rig back to town and to the dealer. A friend of Steve's came out with his big truck to pull the "toy hauler" up to the site. But Murphy struck again and he blew the turbo out of his rig, so he also limped back to town.
Saturday morning brought the most amazing desert/mountain sunrise ever. A line of 24k gold sunlight appeared over the Sheep Range mountains in the east. Resembling theater lighting it illuminated the top of Angel Peak, glistened off the remaining snow on Charleston Peak, and accented the details of the rock overhangs high above our location. The night sky was equally impressive and at one point stole the show from the radios, as everyone present took time out to stargaze.
The Sixth annual installment of "Hams On the Hill" once again had a vehicle malfunction upsetting the apple cart. John-N7UR's motorhome was loaded with all of the gear and provisions for the weekend, with the motor idleing in the driveway, when the fuel pump went out. This forced a late evening scramble to rent trucks and generators, unloading of the motor home, and reloading of the u-haul vehicles.
Year six saw the girls out numbering the guys. Kind of the reverse of most Ham Radio events. Matter of fact at one points dogs out numbered men. Lots of new faces in the group.
The spaghetti dinner was a big hit, with Frank Kostelac manning the stove. Also, mid-morning Sunday found the group learning to enjoy a new treat......hot dogs deep fried in the bacon grease left over from breakfast....much tastier than it sounds! A new "Hams On the Hill" tradition is born....."The Floater".
Lots of new friendships were made at Field Day 2012 that have carried on throughout the years.
WHAT WILL THE UPCOMING SEVENTEENTH 'HAMS ON THE HILL' IN 2022 ADD TO THIS HISTORY?