Field Day 2026 Setup Walkthrough: BuddiHex, BandHopper & Larry the Vertical

A full walking tour of the South Lyon Area Amateur Radio Club's 2026 Field Day site at the historic Witch's Hat Depot in downtown South Lyon, MI. If you're looking for ideas on how to plan, set up, and run your own Field Day, this one's for you. We moved Field Day into town this year and built the whole site from scratch, right across from the brewery. In this tour, James (K8JKU), Jim (N8JRD), and Rory (W8KNX) walk you through every decision behind the South Lyon Area Amateur Radio Club (N8SL) operation, a 3A entry plus a Get On The Air station, so you can borrow what works. What you'll pick up for your own site: How we laid out antennas across a tight in-town lot: the homebrew "Larry" 40m vertical, our first hex beam in years (the BuddiHEX), and a Spiderbeam mast stacking the BandHopper 4 on 80m over an Aerial-51 off-center fed dipole A beginner-friendly GOTA setup (Icom IC-7300 + a visible, easy-to-adjust Buddistick) with a homemade exchange cheat sheet and paper logging sheet to get first-timers over mic fright Keeping operators consistent: a matched fleet of Yaesu FTDX10s on N1MM+, networked with a live projector scoreboard so visitors can follow along Cheap, effective site safety and public outreach: caution tape on $2 step-in fence posts, explanatory antenna signs, and a "What is Field Day?" welcome booth Small-club realities: crew size, ease-of-setup ratings, and why we finally invested in a directional antenna Chapters: 00:00 Welcome to Field Day 00:15 Arriving at The Depot, South Lyon 01:01 Tour overview: 3A + GOTA 01:38 The Depot's history 02:02 The "Larry" 40m homebrew vertical 03:31 The caboose & train museum 03:50 Welcome tent + GOTA station (IC-7300, Buddistick) 05:17 GOTA resources: cheat sheet & paper logging 06:21 Live GOTA contact 07:11 Education posters & Meet the club 08:03 The BuddiHEX hex beam 09:55 Spiderbeam mast: BandHopper 4 (80m) + Aerial-51 OCF dipole 12:09 Cheap site safety: caution tape & step-in posts 12:45 "Bougie" AC Field Day & under-18 GOTA credits 13:06 Inside the operation: FTDX10s, N1MM+ & live stats 14:17 Meet the operators 15:38 Wrap-up Gear & links mentioned: BuddiHEX hex beam (Buddipole): https://www.buddipole.com/buddihex2.html Buddistick PRO vertical (Buddipole): https://www.buddipole.com/buddistick.... SOTABeams Band Hopper 4 linked dipole: https://www.sotabeams.co.uk/band-hopp... Aerial-51 Model 807 off-center fed dipole: https://www.aerial-51.com/model-807-xx/ Spiderbeam fiberglass telescoping masts: https://www.spiderbeam.com/index.php?... Yaesu FTDX10: https://www.yaesu.com/product-detail.... Icom IC-7300: https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/pr... N1MM+ Logger (free): https://n1mmwp.hamdocs.com/downloads/ Step-in fence posts (Tractor Supply, 50-pack): https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pro... Don't miss a single episode! Follow the Everyday Ham Podcast on your favorite podcast platform (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, and more) and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Website: https://www.everydayham.com/ Instagram:   / everydayhampodcast   #hamradio #FieldDay #amateurradio #POTA #hexbeam