07/01/2003 | K4TDP The 550 DX Club setup for Field Day a second time but with a new call, K4TDP. Once again we setup in the field of AB4DN. Particpants included KU4J, K4GU, K4RVH, KD4BJW, AB4DN and his sons, Joel and Jesse.

A definite shift from last year's distributions across the various bands was easily noticed this year. 10M was quiet, 15M squeaked only a few Q's. 20M SSB provided some contacts but with much more difficulty than last year. Maybe everyone was bunched up here given 10 and 15's lack of propagation. Many times two stations could be heard calling CQ FD on the very same frequency leaving us frustrated as to who we might work. Fortunately the CW op's were able to work 40 and 80M quite well which kept our score comparable to last year's.

Six meters last year gave us about 140 Q's off the VHF station but was much less generous this year with only 22 contacts. However we did work CO0US (EM64 - EM83) during one brief opening thanks to the diligent monitoring of Joel and Jesse at the VHF station.

The weather was warm but dry all weekend for us thankfully. We've already started talking about what we'll try differently next year. -- K4RVH