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'USECA's Ice Cubes'
By Ken Coughlin, N8KC
On 3 February a hardy and very heavily dressed group of Hams from USECA
(Utica-Shelby Emergency Communication Assn.) met on the 16 inches of ice
covering Lake St. Clair in the Marina at Metro Beach (a large Detroit
area Metropark) with both contesting and Perch fishing in mind. The marina
had everything an outdoor, on-ice Field Day could want - easy access,
close parking, and docks with nice tall, sturdy, antenna support structures.
Dragging their batteries and radio gear out onto the ice atop their collapsible
ice shanties, they set about the business of assembling antennas and getting
the shanties up and the gear out of the weather. Expecting others from
USECA to drop by during the course of the day, Arpad Miklos, WY8M, Walter
Gracey, WB8E, and Barb Boik, KC8QEG, erected a tarp shelter so visitors
could escape the constant 10 mph wind and +16 degree cold on the open
ice.
About 2-3 weeks earlier, Arpad, WY8M, had brought up the idea of a 'Hams
on Ice' station, similar to a special event station the 'Flying Beers
International' had pulled off years earlier. In that episode, there had
even been a special QSL made up and about 10-15 USECA club members had
participated. More recent plans for a 'Return to Ice Station Zebra' over
the last few years had always seemed to fizzle out due to poor ice conditions
over much of Southern Michigan. Arpad's plans for this latest version
of 'Hams on Ice' just happened to coincide with the Arizona SQRPion's
QRP Club's 'Freeze Your Butt Off' Winter CW Contest so it was decided
to commit to operating the contest using USECA's new club call K8UO rather
than trying to do a special event. After all, the contest's multipliers
grew as the temperature dropped and with a projected ambient temperature
of several degrees below freezing in the shanties, it didn't look like
the team would have to make very many QSOs to rack up a pretty decent
score. The real object though, as it always is at any USECA 'happening',
was to simply 'have fun' with radio.
This year, ice conditions have been great. Ice fisherman, shanties, snowmobiles,
and even trucks and cars have been out on the ice. Some take it to the
extreme - every year our local media treats us to news stories of fishermen
adrift on the ice and Coast Guard rescues. In the week and a half prior
to the 'FYBO' contest, the weather suddenly warmed and we had several
days of rain and thaw - it looked like ice conditions might suddenly be
too risky to attempt an on-the-water operation. Luckily the four days
immediately beforehand saw temps drop quickly into the low teens causing
the standing water and slush on the ice to quickly refreeze. Arpad confirmed
the excellent ice conditions via the widely accepted, ultra-scientific
method of jumping onto the ice several times from the docks and stomping
the ice as hard as he could. Arpad's law of ice states: Wet Arpad equals
bad ice, dry Arpad equals GOOD ice! Since we had dry Arpad, the ice was
proclaimed fit for human traffic.
In all, three separate operating positions (shanties) were erected on
the ice, all over what's normally about 6-8 feet of water. One shanty,
a clamshell design, was only big enough for its single occupant Mike Culberson,
KC8PUT, (a recent upgrade to General), a battery, and an HF rig supported
on a milk crate (milk crates and 5-gallon buckets seemed popular pieces
of shack 'furniture' in all of the shanties, with room at a premium).
Mike operated on 20M for about four hours, operating rig and straight
key attired in mittens and full face mask most of the time. His antenna
set up was a borrowed, tuner-fed 40M dipole slung between two pilings
in the Marina area. Barb, KC8QEG, and Arpad, WY8M, arrived at the Metro
Beach before 9 a.m. loaded to the gills with gear. They'd come prepared
in thermal Òlong johnsÓ and heavy boots with two pairs of
socks on, spare hats, extra gloves and lip balm, as well as packin' heat
in the form of piping hot coffee and chicken soup. Arpad and Barb operated
using the alias 'Blunoz' (many ops use an 'alias' - 'Frosty' and 'Flaky'
were among several heard) on 10M CW for a full six hours from a 3-man
shanty (..that's 3-man as in 'cheek-to-cheek', and I don't mean the ones
on your face!) using an Antron 16 foot fiberglass antenna tuned for 10M
and mounted on 20 feet of mast, all this duct-taped to another handy piling
(Tool-Time's Tim Allen's got nothin' on USECAns when it comes to new uses
for duct tape!). Team 40M comprised of Walt, WB8E; Ed Jesse, W8EDX, and
Chuck Grabau, KC8HNY, who'd just made Extra!) operating out of another
3-man shanty with a homebrew 40M vertical antenna. Team 40 had contemplated
taking the contest just a wee bit further, cutting holes in the ice and
fishing while operating, but the lack of a fishing license and the excitement
of the contest killed that idea, (..the presence of a nearby Conservation
Officer checking licenses and limits kinda helped too!).
Several other USECAns dropped by during the day to check out the madmen
on the ice. Bill Stranhan, N8NMX, stopped by with his friend Rick, visiting
from S. Carolina, who was totally freaked out by the sight of so much
ice, and so many cars driving on it. In South Carolina, I guess the only
ice they ever see is in their Lynchburg Lemonade. USECA's president, Nancy
Carr, KB8QMS, skated in along with Marilyn Glass, K8PIK, to check out
the action (...no threat to Michelle Kwan or Dorothy Hammill here!) as
did Ken Coughlin, N8KC, and Denise Coughlin, KC8IPF, a bit later (with
a bit of Irish Cream for the coffee!). Although deliberately located in
a public park for the purpose of putting Amateur Radio on display, in
plain sight and earshot of land, the only real attention from passersby
the contesters attracted was that of a few of the nearby ice-fisherman.
There seems to be a distinct lack of casual strollers and joggers when
it's ten degrees below freezing (..hmm, wonder why?). Most of the fisherman
had been busy inside their own shanties and were oblivious to the newcomers
until they noticed 'funny noises' coming from several shanties that hadn't
been there earlier. Arpad had, at one point, stuck his nose in a few of
the other shanties, checking to see how many fish were being caught. Curious
about these fellas with the really strange fishing equipment, a few meandered
over to the radio shanties, introduced themselves, and themselves became
introduced to Amateur Radio and a few of USECA's diehard radio enthusiasts.
The fishermen eventually wandered back to their own shanties, to get on
with their fishing, but I had to wonder what they thought of a group of
guys and gals who'd sit out on the ice in a freezing shanty for half a
day, just to play radio. I'm sure they had a giggle or two over it back
in their own shanty, but I think the USECAns who worked the 'Freeze Your
Butt Off' contest had the last laugh. They had the higher score (more
QSO's were caught than fish!) and far more fun!
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