THE UNTOLD STORY BEHIND THE NATIONAL FIELD DAY

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The NFD 2012 reminds me a lot of things…..

Many many years ago I remember every year  we used to have Field Day…… I remember in the 80’s at that time I was a SWL almost every evening I will listen to the local ham QSO on 40m at that time our local 40m regchews will be on 7.040Mhz.  SHARP AT 1800HRS Our Late Dato’ Tan 9M2DW  will make a called…..CQ 40…CQ..40 CQ 40 THIS IS NINE MAXICO TWO DELTA WISKEY. Hey guys do you remember,  that time our peninsular Malaysia will be at 1800hrs but Sabah & Sarawak at that time will be 1830hrs the diferance is 30Min….1^st January 1982 our Tun Mahathir change it and the peninsular follows the Sabah and Sarawak time by  + 30mins…..  and both peninsular Malaysia , Sabah and Sarawak is  + 8hrs GMT this is our Malaysian Standard Time (MST)

I remember our late Dato Tan was having QSO on one evening he told that he had purchased a Honda Generator to prepare himself for the Field Day. Everybody were exited looking  forward for the Field Day that was somewhere in 1981….The first field day which I attended was way back in 1983 in Ipoh at that time I was SWL,  I remember 9M2PT , 9M2SB and few SWL participate in this event  and KL boys was heading to Morib..for their field day also…I remember that time 9M2PT put up a 4 element Yagi and we manage to trigger 9M2RUK which located at Ulu Kali and using 9M2PT YAESU FT-101B  with a genset we go on HF, The dipole just about 10 ft above ground….it was a good training ground for me as a young SWL to learn how to put up the HF antenna and etc.  In the early 90’s I remember our Pak Eshee 9M2FK and the gang organize a field day at Teluk Bahang I travel all the way from KL to Pulau Pinang just to meet fellow Hams….i remember that time our Late Pak Dollah 9M2DS aslo attended this field Day, I remember our friend  Mat Nor 9M2CE also travel with his Van and he fixed his TS440 and a homebrew vertical antenna for 40m he also travel all the way from KL to Pulau Pinang …

The purpose of Field Day is to get our Hams together  and get  ready and test their gears ….if there is any disaster… our equipments are ready and fully tested. This is where our skills are tested.

The national field day 2012 reminds me a lot of things…..we want many hams to participate in this kind of event.  I am very sure most of you who participate in the NFD 2012 will feel it !!!!! Write something about your experienced……..what do you learn from it…? I can see many new faces came to our place. 

Most importantly, all became more familiar with HF equipment and capabilities. That was the number one goal. There was even one member who had never been on HF before who was able to spend some time operating the VHF/HF transceivers.

Thanks to those who participated in the NFD 2012. Next year, we encourage everyone to participate. It’s great training and experience, and even if you’ve never operated HF before, or never operated in a contest, don’t be hesitant. The skills you’ll build will help us in an actual emergency.