VHF DesertFest, Ely, NV
May 22-23, 2021

My new wonder wagon needed a shake-down cruise, so I simply had to drive it to Ely (pronounced “eee-lee” not “eee-lie”) Nevada and back again to Seattle with detours for picking up stuff and scouting hilltops, making a 2,200-mile round trip.

The conference was about VHF tall tales and good-natured ribbing, no program attached, and basically revolved around show’n tell. This was great: at no other VHF conference has there been so much about what I like to do: activate rare grid squares on 6m.

Most folks had arrived by Friday evening 5/21 and the One Free Drink coupons at Hotel Nevada copiously redeemed.

On Saturday we all drove ten miles south to a hillside campground for show’n tell station setup. Amazing how differently we solve the same challenges. Four people put up stations: Petr AG6EE with his water-cooled battery-powered KW amp and military surplus mast and 6-el 6m beam, all manpack portable. His antenna is artwork in aluminum and neodymium magnets. James K7KQA with quick-deploy KW station run by a 10 KW (!) diesel generator. Mark KE7MSU has mastered the Subaru-sized station. Barry K7BWH with his comfortable 4x4 camper van kilowatt and a 6m5.

Saturday evening was in the banquet room with pizza and wings, and Jay N1AV showed off his big new silver-fabric portable microwave dish that packs into a 4’ airline bag, which is destined soon for Hawaii.

Big thanks to James K7KQA for organizing this!

73 Barry K7BWH

DesertFest attendees (15)

Back row: Curt WR5J, Mark KE7MSU, James K7KQA
Front row: John AA5PR, Jack W0XR, Jim W7OUU, Petr AG6EE, Doug NR5W, Gene W7JCJ
Kneeling: Dave NJ7P, Barry K7BWH
Not shown: Mia, Jay N1AV, Tom N7GP, Doug K7EME DesertFest Group Photo