2007 ARRL Field Day
07/29/2007 |
K1YPP
I've been involved with many Field Days over the years, but this years for me, was something really different. I had started out doing a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail (AT) in Georgia at Springer Mountain in mid-May and was in Damascus, VA on FD weekend ( about 600+ miles from the start.). Originally I had not planned on operating FD, the hike is really intense and all-consuming, but I found myself taking a rest day on Sunday morning of the contest, so why not?
I hiked out of town a bit on the AT and put up a 1/4 wave wire, connected directly to the rig, no transmission line, and connected a 1/4 wave counterpoise to the rig, this combination has really worked out well for me. It eliminates weight (the HIGHEST priority on a hike such as this) and needs no tuner.
The rig is a homebrewed affair based on the Optimized Transceiver design by Roy Lewallen, W7EL. I added 80 meters to it as well and did not use 80M during the contest, just 40M.
Since I had many other things to attend to on my day off, I planned on just an hour or so of operation. The weather was perfect for sitting in the Virginia woods, the altitude was great and the radio was working great. It has about 1.25 W out and the receiver is a DC design, but performed well, even under contest conditions.
The big guns are really hungry for contacts on Sunday morning, so the peanut-whistles can usually perform quite well. I was able to tune around and pounce whenever I heard a QSO ending, my goal being to work as many states as possible in the hour or so I had.
In the end, with everything working so well, I came away from the Field Day this year as being one of my most enjoyable ever! It was very low key compared to some I have been involved in over the years, but the most fun-per-watt I have every had.
Sadly, a few weeks later I had to leave the trail, I ended needing a 6 artery open-heart bypass operation and am now home, but should return to the trail in late May/early June of next year and plan to have the QRP rig with me again, and hopefully FD will happen again next year. You can read more about all this on my trail journal at http://www.trailjournal.com/k1ypp if interested. Thanks to all that were there looking for my tiny signal! -- K1YPP
I hiked out of town a bit on the AT and put up a 1/4 wave wire, connected directly to the rig, no transmission line, and connected a 1/4 wave counterpoise to the rig, this combination has really worked out well for me. It eliminates weight (the HIGHEST priority on a hike such as this) and needs no tuner.
The rig is a homebrewed affair based on the Optimized Transceiver design by Roy Lewallen, W7EL. I added 80 meters to it as well and did not use 80M during the contest, just 40M.
Since I had many other things to attend to on my day off, I planned on just an hour or so of operation. The weather was perfect for sitting in the Virginia woods, the altitude was great and the radio was working great. It has about 1.25 W out and the receiver is a DC design, but performed well, even under contest conditions.
The big guns are really hungry for contacts on Sunday morning, so the peanut-whistles can usually perform quite well. I was able to tune around and pounce whenever I heard a QSO ending, my goal being to work as many states as possible in the hour or so I had.
In the end, with everything working so well, I came away from the Field Day this year as being one of my most enjoyable ever! It was very low key compared to some I have been involved in over the years, but the most fun-per-watt I have every had.
Sadly, a few weeks later I had to leave the trail, I ended needing a 6 artery open-heart bypass operation and am now home, but should return to the trail in late May/early June of next year and plan to have the QRP rig with me again, and hopefully FD will happen again next year. You can read more about all this on my trail journal at http://www.trailjournal.com/k1ypp if interested. Thanks to all that were there looking for my tiny signal! -- K1YPP
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