2008 Field Day

Sometimes a challenge presents in an interesting way and Yoda said something along this line in The Empire Strikes Back, "Either you do or do not."

Field Day began in earnest and Larry, W7CB presented the Extra Class examination challenge. The words of Yoda drifted through my thoughts. Either I do or I do not. No one would really care except for me and I confronted the question, "What if I do not succeed?"

Remember the scene in Empire Strikes Back when Yoda challenged Luke to lift his X-wing fighter from the swamp? And how Luke responded?

Later in the film, Yoda demanded young Luke be prepared for the next step, his confrontation with Darth Vader. In the meantime, I knew in my ham radio bones that preparedness is essential when confronting the Extra Class examination. And prepared I was not.

Too many gaps in my knowledge. Too little time in the book. What if I took the examination anyways? Certainly, a remote possibility existed somewhere in the thousands but if I did not, I would never know. Times have really changed since sitting down in the Federal Communication Commission's examination room in Buffalo, New York. That was almost 30-years ago.

I took the examination in the great outdoors while a nice northwesterly breeze made Field Day bearable in Templeton, California. I filled out the necessary paperwork and opened the exam. My testing anxiety faded giving way to, "I know that question" or "I understand that problem."

Yet the gaps in my knowledge and too little time in the book presented to big an obstacle. I felt frustrated like one is close but not close enough. And that is not good enough. I scored in the low 50-percent just like the practice examinations. Interesting but not unremarkable.

What I took away besides meeting extraordinary people who are ham radio operators during Field Day weekend? I can pass the Extra Class examination in the very near future. And I want that lower 25 kHz really bad.

73 from the shack.