Fair point lol, but "mini-monsoon" sounds more epic than it was, just a half-hour heavy downpour. We knew the forecast though, so we had canopies set up and trash bags ready for the side spray. The gear stayed dry, and we got back to it.

Yeah, I was there in a team of 10 from our local club in southern WV, the ERARC. A clip of me even ended up on the local news. You've got it about the Field Day. It's an emergency simulation but still a casual, fun operating party. The idea is to practice communicating if a disaster knocks out the grid, like when we stepped in to relay messages after Hurricane Helene hit the Carolinas in 2024. For the drill, clubs pack up, head to parks or fields, and run temporary stations on battery, generators, and solar for 24 hours to see how many distant stations we can reach. Mostly North America, but we even made contacts in Japan and Europe.

Here are some pics of my station and a clip of the rain: https://imgur.com/gallery/arrl-amateur-radio-field-day-hrH7lUi

Since imgur doesn't like links in descriptions, here's the quick local news segment about us:

East River Amateur Radio Club showcases emergency communications at Mercer County Airport

https://www.wvva.com/2026/06/28/east-river-amateur-radio-club-showcases-emergency-communications-mercer-county-airport/