For the second year in a row, I operated Field Day as class 1B-battery using my Yaesu FT-817 running 5 watts. We rented cabin #1 on Gwinn Island in Herrington Lake.
The bands were good again this year as they were last year, but different in some respects. I made 141 QSOs this year compared to 118 last year. This year, I had almost 100 Qs on 20m, last year it was 100 Qs on 15m. Last year, more than 50% of my Qs were on SSB. This year, I made a grand total of 4 Qs on phone. The better band conditions increased the activity level, and my 5 watts of SSB were nowhere near as loud this year.
We had an odd start to the weekend. We arrived Friday at noon and got checked in. Upon arrival at the cabin, I noticed first that neither air conditioner was on (as I had been told), then realized there was no power in the cabin at all. Upon returning to the desk, I was told it was a “KU problem” (KU being the power company). Not a big deal I thought, power outages happen all the time.
Bonnie and I were sitting on the front porch reading when a group of ladies came by and asked if we had power. I said “no” and was told that the power had been shut off due to non-payment of the KU bill. Another group of people came by a few minutes later and confirmed it. One lady said she had seen KU shut off the meter.
A lot of conflicting information had been going around, and we didn’t know who to believe. The desk clerk insisted that someone had gone to pay the bill. I told Bonnie we would wait and see if the power was restored before the end of the business day. Sure enough, about 4:00, a KU truck came across the causeway and turned the power back on.
The Gwinn Island Marina and Campground has been a fixture in central Kentucky for decades. I hate to see it having financial problems.
KU4A 