Winter Field Day 2025 – Looks Like a GO

At least, if the weather holds.  Here's the 10 day forecast for Bristol, the closest town that has a forecast.  It's going to be Damn Cold a few days ahead of the event, then moderate towards the weekend – which is perfect, because the cold should knock down the bugs.  If you're new around here, here's the Winter Field Day site – it'll answer all your questions.  Here's the blurb for our (or just my?) camp from the WFD site locator:

Once again, W4ZNG and whoever the heck else wants to show up will be at Wright Lake in the Apalachicola National Forest off of SR 65, at the very northern edge of Franklin County.  This probably includes the Tate's Hell Amateur Radio Club (THARC), but being a highly informal group, it's hard to speak for the other members.

To get there from Hwy 98: Turn north on SR 65, then after 22 miles, turn left onto Wright Lake Road (it's a dirt road, but well maintained).  At about a mile and a half, turn right onto the campground road (it's well marked).  Enter the campground loop and look for an old blue F-150 and a bunch of antennas.  (note: there is no "Wright Lake Road" sign, but it is two miles past the Fort Gadsden sign)

The extended weather forecast looks good but, being tent-based campers, we do reserve the right to curtail operations if the weather turns truly awful.  (We're in this for the cool weather fun, not to prove ourselves in inclement weather – we'll save that for hurricane season!)  If there are any last-minute changes in plans, we'll post them at the website link.  The plan is to set up on Friday mid-day, be on the air at start time, and then operate into Sunday afternoon, leaving time to break camp and get home well before sunset.

We should be operating on HF on 80m-10m, as well as 6m, 2m, and 70cm – if the tropoducting conditions smile upon the atmosphere during the event.  All on solar power, of course.  Cell phone service at the site is almost non-existent, but we will monitor 146.52 as a talk-in frequency.

Bring your own coffee cup (though we may have some spares), and any gear you might want – especially camping gear if you're staying.  Campsites at the Nat. Forest campground are $20/night.  Breakfasts will be eggs and spam, and feel free to BYOG (bring your own grits).

Keep watching this space for updates.  Especially regarding the weather.  Now I've got to get busy and build a new HF antenna!

ps: weather's looking fair-to-good for next weekend: