By Thomas R. Ray III, W2TRR
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The Orange County New York Amateur Radio Club (OCARC) started preparations for Field Day 2007 with a meeting at our Field Day location: Cronomer Hill Park in Newburgh, New York. There are many reasons to set up in Cronomer, among them being it is out of the way, is a relatively high location with an elevation of approximately 700 feet and there is a 30 foot tall observation tower that is great for tying off dipoles and to help support our military surplus crank-up tower.

There is also a flag pole -- sans flag --- standing near the observation tower on top of the hill. One of the long time club members mentioned that, for years, there has been talk of trying to load into the flag pole. But no one has ever really wanted to try it. Not being one to back down from a challenge, I said that I would attempt to load the flag pole to skeptical eyes. Thinking a little deeper on the subject, what better time to attempt this than Field Day?

The idea of Field Day is to operate under adverse conditions, correct? Well, let's say that there was flooding in the Newburgh area and I was stuck in Cronomer Park. And let's say I happened to have an HF radio with me and an antenna tuner, but no antenna. Or even better -- let's say I moved into a neighborhood with restrictions on antennas but not on flag poles. The flag pole project was starting to sound really good.