September sort of marks the end of the summer around Long Island. Crazy city traffic to the Hamptons slows down a bit, farm stand and vineyard traffic also begins to ease off and the locals can venture out to the store without being inundated with foreign traffic out on the east end’s two lane roads.

Personally I think the summer of 2020 was the worst ever in the 72 years I have lived on Long Island. COVID-19 restrictions didn’t keep the city folks from jamming the beaches but the local haunts were all shuttered tight for quite some time. Visiting with family and friends were all but off limits for us seniors.

Now that restrictions have been eased here in Suffolk County, I just don’t understand how bars are operating (maybe not all bars). This past Thursday I stopped at a local bar/restaurant to pick up our take out dinners. It’s a restaurant we dined at for years before COVID-19 locked us seniors down. Entering the bar, I was kind of amazed to see customers sitting side by side without masks. I know, drinking and masks don’t mix. Do people that hang out at bars develop some sort of special immunity?

From an amateur radio perspective, the summer here sure was the pits. While I am sure it was much the same nationwide, it really hits home when there is a direct impact on the things you enjoy doing (like field day) as an amateur radio operator.

With the never ending cancellations of amateur radio events, I had to disable the blog’s ham radio special events and hamfest pages. Perhaps I am a bit too optimistic but I think these event pages will be back online next year.

Trying to fill the void, I activated the Parks on the Air program a few times and operated from spots near water. The image is a recently discovered, semi-quiet spot in Patchogue NY near the Davis Park Ferry launch. Finding any semi-quiet operating spot near water is difficult during a Long Island summer.

I’d have to say the highlight of general amateur radio activity this summer was found in a virtual setting. With Dayton Hamvention closed, attending the first ever Virtual Ham Expo was a fairly good experience. As I recall it is still running until early September in a limited way. For more information about Virtual Ham Expo check my blog post here.

What was YOUR amateur radio summer like?