Winter Field Day, January 29/30, 2022!

[ThaDood]

https://www.winterfieldday.com/     Yeah... At the time of this writing, there a North American Sprint going on, (1/22-23/2022), but I heard several 75M SSB'ers sating that they were gearing up for this years Winter Field Day. Well, good! Any station that they contact, via non-repeater mode, is a point to them. Oh yeah... The AM Rally the weekend after that.

[Elf36]

Last night was our coldest temps so far in Central Florida, down into the 30's. This morning I went outside and everything was covered with frost. It was weird to hear the grass crunch under my feet. I can't imagine being outside setting up antennas etc. It's funny to think that our lowest temperature was probably the high for most other states. 

[ThaDood]

30's??? That's what it is in SW WV this afternoon. And, North of me, they'd kill for above freezing. Only had a little over an hour last night to work this year's Winter Field Day. 160M was no phone but all CW contestants crammed-in below 1880kHz. Most activity was the upper 75M band. Apparently, I had to be corrected on my designation, not 1E, but 1H, for single op at home operations. I used only 20W, but apparently WV section was popular, since ops were commenting that they just were not hearing WV stations. (OK...) Filled a page of contacts with 75M, and only 1/2 page of 40M, all those were from "5" land. After 2AM, 75M stations were closing-up for the night, but 40M stations were still going. Wish that I had more time to work more of the contest, but all-in-all, that was a great +1hr of contesting last night and points giving. Next weekend??? The AM Rally. 73!!!!

[WA4FHY]

Hey, Elf,
Watch out for those falling Iguanas! I hear that's a problem...

[Elf36]

Ha ha, that is absolutely a thing down here. More common further south of me, down towards Miami/Everglades. I have seen a few around. I actually got tail whipped by one when I got too close for a photo (It was very minor luckily) One thing about Florida is you never know what's gonna come crawling or flying by. It's so easy for animals from South & Central America to acclimate. There is an apartment complex around the corner from my office that has had two large  Agama lizards living there for at least 3 years. They are originally from Africa I believe. I see them running back and forth on a brick wall all of the time. We have a lot of reptiles in general. Native and invasive.

[RobRich]

Around 25F last night. AFAIK, that is something like a 10-year low temp for this section of the gulf coast.

Do not think I have seen an iguana in the neighborhood, though I suspect it will happen eventually.

BTW, I have heard tegus could be moving further north in FL. Apparently they are already in GA and SC, too.

[Elf36]

Yes, it was unusually cold. Haven't seen temps that low in many years. It snowed here one year. I believe it was 1989. Of course, it didn't lay on the ground or anything. I haven't seen a Tegu yet in person, but I came across them online when I was googling the Agama's.