2007 ARRL Field Day
06/25/2007 |
W0ICT
Wow! What a fantastic Field Day! A lot of factors just came about but there was also supreme management and implementation of the plan. All of the operators were there when scheduled and put forth a tremendous effort. The site itself was quite comfortable and something that might be expected if there were some sort of a disaster.
Originally we planned to return to Camp Hiawatha but obligations of the Salvation Army prevented that. We then thought that we might find a place in the Delano District utilizing property belong to a friend of NM. We went from there to the possibility of utilizing the old RAC building on North Webb Road. Things were not gelling. KH offered the use of one of his business sites and that would have worked too. The eventual QTH ended up on KHs spread southwest of Valley Center. There are a few pictures here and more will be added as they come in:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ERNESTDT1/FieldDay2007
The rules for Field Day state that to operate class A that no established antennas, towers, or equipment installations are to be utilized. The Valley Center Radio Club has a crank-up tower on a trailer so antenna support was certainly representative of the spirit and law of the regs. The rig came out of KHs shack, the PC from KYs, the antenna switch from NM (not to mention the porta-potty).
At breakfast Saturday morning plans were rehearsed, finalized, slightly amended and we agreed to get out to Jims place and finish things up. KY had to pick up his generator and other things before he came out. Antennas still needed to be placed and the tower guyed. A ground rod was driven and the genny placed. WIC came out with munchables for ops who would need a little pick-me-up.
KY had noticed a slight odor at the op station. I thought that it was a sanitation problem with the porta-potty. But with the nose of a bloodhound, KY tracked it to a dead mouse in the jury-rigged air conditioner. This called for a removal of the shell and the extraction of said rodent. Mousy was fresh enough that he chose to allow the disagreeable scent to remain. Dousing with chemicals added an interesting aroma. Most of the other problems were less annoying. The crew had things up and running just before Field Day. KY had the first shift but wanted to get home and get the mouse remains scrubbed from his body and approach that shift with a fresh attitude.
Jim took that first period and we were off and running. I dont have any documentation with me yet to try to tell you who did what. Anyone who knows anything about contesting and DXing in this part of the country knows Jim to be a force to be reckoned with. He prefers the international contests and is set up to do those the best. The domestic Field Day event doesnt use his antenna farm but only the portable antennas. Being a CW Op I agreed with NMs comment, SSB contesting is just too hard and frustrating!
Returning as a fresh washed lamb, KY was ready to get down to business. Even experienced hams do not generally understand what goes into operating CW in a contest. Older hams came through the gate with a CW ticket as a means to get a microphone in hand. In those days the usual portal in to this mystical hobby was through a Novice Ticket with almost no opportunity to do AM or SSB. It was something to be desired. I tried it and found that it did not hold my interest. CW was a skill that could be perfected over a lifetime.
Look at our most recent silent key, Preston, WWR an expert CW OP and well into his 8! The Morse Code has to be copied by ear and typed into the computer log. There is yet to be a program developed that will allow a PC to copy reliably when there might be three or four stations calling on the same frequency. When the information is obtained the PC does send back your information and make the log entry. CQ is also generated by the PC. But the score mounts in proportion to the skill of the CW OP. It sounds like bedlam but it is quite exciting.
The SSB OP must hear and understand the information of the station calling and type it into the log. Voice Keyers may be used to send the 1A Kansas information that the other station needs. But there is lots of requesting of information in pile-ups and the Voice Keyer is only of marginal help. KH is a pro at this and quite a gentleman.
The name of the game in many contests is holding a frequency. The lily livered ham will abandon freq after freq because someone is edging in. Narrow that filter and stand your ground!
KH had the first couple of hours. KY took over then. His original slot was to be 9 hours but due to mouse problems etc. He shared some of that with KH. Jim was to take the period from 22 to when N3PXF was to take four hours.
When I arrived I found KH and KY still at the station. My perplexity was dispelled when it was made known that Jim and Mike had gotten into a p*ssing contest. Jim bet Mike a steak and eggs breakfast that he couldnt stay at it until and Mike showed him that he could. They opted not to go to Dennys at . Mike said he would wait until Scotch and Sirloin was open.
I had been working for a few days to engineer my sleep sked so that I would be awake at . Ever have one of those times when things just dont come together? Went to hit the hay at 2but anticipation of Field Day made sleep impossible. Finally dozed off 1 hours before I needed to get up and get moving. The brush of dragging tail feathers obliterated my stumbling track approaching the car. Still needed gas and sugar level was getting too low. I arrived at the Field Day site just a few minutes early.
Jim and Mike showed me the lay of the land and explained the antenna switch arrangement. The FT1P was up and running. Other than contests and messing around at KYs station, I have very little experience with that rig. There are many features built into it that would have helped if I knew how to use them but about the only thing I adjusted was the RF and AF gain. It was enough. I never got out of the OP seat and worked as diligently as possible.
A few minutes before , NM arrived and between Qs I told him what I knew about how things were set up. He settled into the chair and was logging stations quickly. Hes a very capable OP and we both have made good progress with contest operating due to these SHARCS CONTESTING CLUB affairs. I watched him for a little while but I was ready to get back to bed and soon said adios and backed the Chevy out onto 77th street and headed back south.
About 13, NM called stating that we had 2225 Qs logged and that was many more than weve ever done before. It is yet to be seen what place we will take. The log will be filtered for dupes and suspect errors then submitted. The Soapbox publishers will let us know how others did and we can await the official ARRL notice.
Would we have done things differently? Sure! The idea of improving is part of the fun of anticipating Field Day and the other contests. Wed like to see other contesters coming in and wanting to play with us. Skills are improving but motivation is high to go forward in this also.
I appreciate my contesting compadres and really look forward to every contest that we do together. I hope that there are many more ahead before the government sells all of our bands! -- N3PXF
Originally we planned to return to Camp Hiawatha but obligations of the Salvation Army prevented that. We then thought that we might find a place in the Delano District utilizing property belong to a friend of NM. We went from there to the possibility of utilizing the old RAC building on North Webb Road. Things were not gelling. KH offered the use of one of his business sites and that would have worked too. The eventual QTH ended up on KHs spread southwest of Valley Center. There are a few pictures here and more will be added as they come in:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ERNESTDT1/FieldDay2007
The rules for Field Day state that to operate class A that no established antennas, towers, or equipment installations are to be utilized. The Valley Center Radio Club has a crank-up tower on a trailer so antenna support was certainly representative of the spirit and law of the regs. The rig came out of KHs shack, the PC from KYs, the antenna switch from NM (not to mention the porta-potty).
At breakfast Saturday morning plans were rehearsed, finalized, slightly amended and we agreed to get out to Jims place and finish things up. KY had to pick up his generator and other things before he came out. Antennas still needed to be placed and the tower guyed. A ground rod was driven and the genny placed. WIC came out with munchables for ops who would need a little pick-me-up.
KY had noticed a slight odor at the op station. I thought that it was a sanitation problem with the porta-potty. But with the nose of a bloodhound, KY tracked it to a dead mouse in the jury-rigged air conditioner. This called for a removal of the shell and the extraction of said rodent. Mousy was fresh enough that he chose to allow the disagreeable scent to remain. Dousing with chemicals added an interesting aroma. Most of the other problems were less annoying. The crew had things up and running just before Field Day. KY had the first shift but wanted to get home and get the mouse remains scrubbed from his body and approach that shift with a fresh attitude.
Jim took that first period and we were off and running. I dont have any documentation with me yet to try to tell you who did what. Anyone who knows anything about contesting and DXing in this part of the country knows Jim to be a force to be reckoned with. He prefers the international contests and is set up to do those the best. The domestic Field Day event doesnt use his antenna farm but only the portable antennas. Being a CW Op I agreed with NMs comment, SSB contesting is just too hard and frustrating!
Returning as a fresh washed lamb, KY was ready to get down to business. Even experienced hams do not generally understand what goes into operating CW in a contest. Older hams came through the gate with a CW ticket as a means to get a microphone in hand. In those days the usual portal in to this mystical hobby was through a Novice Ticket with almost no opportunity to do AM or SSB. It was something to be desired. I tried it and found that it did not hold my interest. CW was a skill that could be perfected over a lifetime.
Look at our most recent silent key, Preston, WWR an expert CW OP and well into his 8! The Morse Code has to be copied by ear and typed into the computer log. There is yet to be a program developed that will allow a PC to copy reliably when there might be three or four stations calling on the same frequency. When the information is obtained the PC does send back your information and make the log entry. CQ is also generated by the PC. But the score mounts in proportion to the skill of the CW OP. It sounds like bedlam but it is quite exciting.
The SSB OP must hear and understand the information of the station calling and type it into the log. Voice Keyers may be used to send the 1A Kansas information that the other station needs. But there is lots of requesting of information in pile-ups and the Voice Keyer is only of marginal help. KH is a pro at this and quite a gentleman.
The name of the game in many contests is holding a frequency. The lily livered ham will abandon freq after freq because someone is edging in. Narrow that filter and stand your ground!
KH had the first couple of hours. KY took over then. His original slot was to be 9 hours but due to mouse problems etc. He shared some of that with KH. Jim was to take the period from 22 to when N3PXF was to take four hours.
When I arrived I found KH and KY still at the station. My perplexity was dispelled when it was made known that Jim and Mike had gotten into a p*ssing contest. Jim bet Mike a steak and eggs breakfast that he couldnt stay at it until and Mike showed him that he could. They opted not to go to Dennys at . Mike said he would wait until Scotch and Sirloin was open.
I had been working for a few days to engineer my sleep sked so that I would be awake at . Ever have one of those times when things just dont come together? Went to hit the hay at 2but anticipation of Field Day made sleep impossible. Finally dozed off 1 hours before I needed to get up and get moving. The brush of dragging tail feathers obliterated my stumbling track approaching the car. Still needed gas and sugar level was getting too low. I arrived at the Field Day site just a few minutes early.
Jim and Mike showed me the lay of the land and explained the antenna switch arrangement. The FT1P was up and running. Other than contests and messing around at KYs station, I have very little experience with that rig. There are many features built into it that would have helped if I knew how to use them but about the only thing I adjusted was the RF and AF gain. It was enough. I never got out of the OP seat and worked as diligently as possible.
A few minutes before , NM arrived and between Qs I told him what I knew about how things were set up. He settled into the chair and was logging stations quickly. Hes a very capable OP and we both have made good progress with contest operating due to these SHARCS CONTESTING CLUB affairs. I watched him for a little while but I was ready to get back to bed and soon said adios and backed the Chevy out onto 77th street and headed back south.
About 13, NM called stating that we had 2225 Qs logged and that was many more than weve ever done before. It is yet to be seen what place we will take. The log will be filtered for dupes and suspect errors then submitted. The Soapbox publishers will let us know how others did and we can await the official ARRL notice.
Would we have done things differently? Sure! The idea of improving is part of the fun of anticipating Field Day and the other contests. Wed like to see other contesters coming in and wanting to play with us. Skills are improving but motivation is high to go forward in this also.
I appreciate my contesting compadres and really look forward to every contest that we do together. I hope that there are many more ahead before the government sells all of our bands! -- N3PXF
Back
