Ahhh, Field Day is possibly my favorite amateur radio activity, and that is largely attributable to the first few Field Days that I participated in. OK, so picture the scene: K(N)5IZO was age 13-16, outside of New Orleans, 1957-1960. FD was located in a park and set up in an open-air Quonset hut with only the 1/2 cylinder hut, with no ends and no windows. Local residents had heard of the invention called "air conditioning" but that was reserved for the department stores downtown. The park was carved out of a swamp where there was little between us and the Gulf of Mexico except 20 miles of pre-EPA "nature." Mosquitoes? Naaaa! Do you really think there were mosquitoes? This was more than 20 years before DEET became readily available and we used "6-12" mosquito repellent. That was a slimy, oily concoction, that, simply put, didn't work. We also had "Pic" burning coils, but that also simply didn't work. Out the back end of the Quonset hut, maybe about 100' away, was a canal. Was the canal cordoned off, embankment landscaped, barricaded, wharfed, boardwalked, lighted or otherwise marked? Who are you kidding? Were there alligators and water moccasins in the canal and basking about on "land"? Of course not - hi, hi. Did you dare step out of the back of the Quonset hut at night? You figure it out. Of course, the dates of Field Day are set by Yankees in Newington, so it occurs at the end of June. This is a most delightful time to be in a swamp in the coastal marshes of Louisiana; a true Chamber Of Commerce delight. Through it all however, we had a GREAT time. I have no idea how we "fared" in scoring, but no one cared! We thoroughly enjoyed the planning, setting up, 24 hour operations, demobilization, the camaraderie, improvising the equipment, the activities and the setting.Ahhh, those were "The Good Ole Days." K5IZO
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