06/28/2004 | K8CPA I once again operated Field Day, class 1D from the house here in Lincoln Park, Michigan. and believe it or not, I had a lot of fun this time! There were, however, a few problems. I battled a intermittant antenna problem that seemed only to occur when I was transmitting. and it was worse when I attempted to work SSB or PSK31. So, I stuck to CW. I do need to fix that problem. the hard part is finding the problem, I think a new antenna would fix it too! I mainly hunt and pounced the entire contest. I worked the loud one's and a few weak one's too. I tried my hand at SSB, too many stations! lots of QRM and QRN, A bit of QSB, made things a bit hard too. PSK31 was once again crazy, too many stations working too close together, I got tired of that REAL quick like. So, I went back to CW and stayed there. I learned that 1.8K CW filters are nice, 500HZ Filters are WONDERFUL to own (which I do!)


All in all, It was a very enjoyable experience. I had alot of fun. The ol' bencher BY-1 Served me very well, without any major problems, other than the ground wire coming off the leg on the bottom of the key, and that's because I never did solder the connections. It was a easy fix, I just wraped the wire around the leg and I was off, the only problem I had was making sure my fingers were doing what my brain was telling them to do, and do it properly! Multi-PSK By F6CTE worked very well for helping me copy CW well.. and running GENLOG by W3KM worked excellent as well. KUDO's to both authors. My Kenwood 950SDX perked right along too. Now the antenna? That's another story...

Next Year, New Antenna, I hope. Maybe a Hybrid Quad from TGM Communcations in Canada. I got the tower, I just need the antenna. and a rotor. and a new wire antenna is in order as well.

The real cool part about Field Day is it always falls 2 days before my Birthday. So, I get to operate Ham Radio for 2 days, then get presents! How can you beat a deal like that?!?!?

Anyhow, 73 to all and see you next year!

-Chuck K8CPA

-- K8CPA