K4PJ Field Day VHF Station Report

The activity for the 6-meter station for the Oak Ridge Amateur Radio Club (Oak Ridge, TN) K4PJ Field Day (FD) operation at the Red Cross building varied from nothing, to something, to pileup conditions. First, there was a mild E-skip run of nine contacts during four hours of Saturday evening. There was another mild E-skip run of 23 contacts during five hours from Sunday morning to just after noon (local time). Then there was absolute bedlam of 33 contacts in the last 29 minutes of FD, whereby we nearly doubled our QSO total as compared to the previous 23.5 hours of the weekend.

During those frantic 29 minutes we were placed in the unexpected position of running and controlling a pileup. This was most unusual because of our minimalist station: a vintage, 30-year old, IC-551D transceiver running 80W into a homebrew, Armstrong-rotatable dipole up at 17 feet from the valley floor here in east Tennessee. In that last period of time we logged stations from Virginia and Maryland DC up through all of the New England states/sections except Vermont and Maine. Many sections were worked multiple times. That ever-elusive state of Rhode Island was worked. Many more stations could have been logged, if not for our “Coach” turning back into a “Pumpkin” (ala Cinderella-style). Prior to the band going totally quiet at 18:00Z, there was an unlimited pipeline from Oak Ridge into the northeastern seaboard during this time. Meanwhile, during this same period, we worked two stations in North and South Texas off of the opposite side of the dipole.

The total 6m stats were 74 contacts, 15 states, 21 sections, and 33 grids. From a query of the DXMaps database, we showed contacts from K4PJ in nearly all directions of the compass. Note that we were entering our spots manually and during the final hectic 29 minutes, we dispensed with entering the spots. So the plot does not do justice to the total picture of QSOs to the northeast.

K4LF, Charlie, was the chief VHF operator, with logging by son, Ross, KR4USA during a number of the middle hours. New, fellow club member, Art, W4AJP, helped during setup and teardown; then logged during the initial quiet beginning and the frenetic, pileup finish.

In addition to pure radioing, other activities took place. After Saturday evening’s traditional BBQ Chicken dinner, Hope Hargis, 5-1/2 years old, provided some entertainment for the group. She is the granddaughter of Charlie, K4LF, and daughter of Ross, KR4USA. She recited her ABCs for the assembled group. These were not your usual pre-K style ABCs, but the Radio Alphabet: A, Alpha, B, Bravo, C, Charlie…X, X-ray, Y, Yankee, Z, Zulu. After she finished to enthusiastic applause, Grandpa Charlie expressed that the goal for next year was for her to have her ham ticket. A little while later she donned a headset and took the 6m mic into her own hands and Grandpa Charlie coached her through her first contact with the nearby, Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville, VHF FD station.

Also, we found out that that there are other kinds of hams; for example, the Dr. Seuss kind! Fellow club member, Doug, N1CWR, read to Hope during her 6m monitoring off-time. Hope found the book in the small library of the lobby of the Red Cross building. It was titled, Green Eggs and Ham.  

73, Charlie, K4LF