11/06/2004 | W1HP As a member emeritus of the Philips ARC (W1HP), I was encouraged by the club station trustee (K1KP), to run my planned FD operation from Arizona with the club call for my 1B1B entry. I accepted his kind offer.

I set up at the White Tanks Mountain county park to the west of Phoenix. Equipment included a Yaesu FT-817nd, a Kenwood AT-120 tuner, and an Averatec laptop computer. Several wire antennas were supported by collapsible fiberglass support poles. It only took about three hours to complete the setup.

All the radio equipment was powered from a 105 AmpHour deep discharge battery that had been charged from a 60 watt solar array.

Nearly all operation was on CW or PSK31 on all bands 80 meters thru 10 meters. It was good to see an E-Skip opening on 10 meters, where I quickly made a few phone contacts.

This was the first time that I've ever tried a contest with only 5 watts, and I found it to be a fascinating challenge which I'll certainly do again in 2005. Obviously, good antennas are a key ingredient to getting out with low power.
-- W1PW