2003 ARRL Field Day
07/05/2003 |
WB8RFB
This was another year that I only had time to get on at the last minute as I am working full time and also finishing a master's degree. Between work and studying, there isn't much time left for ham radio but I just had to do something to get on for FD. Once FD gets in your blood, there is no denying it! This is my 5th consecutive year of operating FD.
My wife Sandy (KA9QXI) helped me set up the generator and run the extension cord into the house to the shack. We have the house set up with a generator transfer panel, but as this was a last minute thing, we just did the bare bones basic stuff and got on the air with about a half-hour to spare. I didn't even have time to copy the W1AW bulletin this year.
My rig is my ever faithful Ten-Tec Corsair feeding a Heathkit antenna tuner and the antenna was a 200' end fed random wire oriented to the NW. Like many others have reported, 10 and 15 meters were "no go" for the entire duration so the majority of contacts I made were on 20 and 40 meter CW. 80M was noisy and I could only hear a few stations.
I probably missed some good operating time from about 3 PM to 7:30 PM as we were off to a "mandatory" high school graduation party for the son of one of my relatives. I could just feel those "CQ FD" calls flying over my head the whole time I was at the party!
I'm looking forward to future years of FD. I like to try different ways of operating and 1E is nice but I miss the challenge of going to a bare spot of ground and starting from scratch. With school soon to be out of the way, I'm already hatching plans for next year.
Running solar and batteries sounds interesting and will be a good way to gain some addtional technical skills. I have a Ten-Tec Scout that I've used in previous FD's and it has always performed well despite its 50 watt max output. I usually marry it up with a tuner to a G5RV on top of a 40' mast and have no problems making as many contacts as I care to.
Simplicity is my motto but it would be nice to have a few more hams helping out so we could cover the entire 24 hour period. This is the second year I've used a PC for logging and it has made FD all the more enjoyable. I use N3FJP's software and it performed very well. I ran it on my laptop which runs the Window's XP Professional operating system and I had no glitches at all. I was a bit concerned with all the RF floating around the shack with an end-fed antenna but the laptop didn't miss a beat and wasn't heard in the station receiver either.
Bravo to the ARRL for initiating the new class F category! It's a good move and will highlight more than ever the capabilities of amateur radio during these turbulent times. FD is one of the things that keeps me coming back to ham radio.
Thanks again to my wife and best ham radio buddy for helping out with the logging and with keeping me well fed. To me, there is nothing better than to be "cruzin' on 20 meter CW" in the dark of night with a steaming cup of java right by the key. That's music to these old ears!
Here's hoping others had as much enjoyment from this event as we did.
73 from WB8RFB & KA9QXI -- WB8RFB
My wife Sandy (KA9QXI) helped me set up the generator and run the extension cord into the house to the shack. We have the house set up with a generator transfer panel, but as this was a last minute thing, we just did the bare bones basic stuff and got on the air with about a half-hour to spare. I didn't even have time to copy the W1AW bulletin this year.
My rig is my ever faithful Ten-Tec Corsair feeding a Heathkit antenna tuner and the antenna was a 200' end fed random wire oriented to the NW. Like many others have reported, 10 and 15 meters were "no go" for the entire duration so the majority of contacts I made were on 20 and 40 meter CW. 80M was noisy and I could only hear a few stations.
I probably missed some good operating time from about 3 PM to 7:30 PM as we were off to a "mandatory" high school graduation party for the son of one of my relatives. I could just feel those "CQ FD" calls flying over my head the whole time I was at the party!
I'm looking forward to future years of FD. I like to try different ways of operating and 1E is nice but I miss the challenge of going to a bare spot of ground and starting from scratch. With school soon to be out of the way, I'm already hatching plans for next year.
Running solar and batteries sounds interesting and will be a good way to gain some addtional technical skills. I have a Ten-Tec Scout that I've used in previous FD's and it has always performed well despite its 50 watt max output. I usually marry it up with a tuner to a G5RV on top of a 40' mast and have no problems making as many contacts as I care to.
Simplicity is my motto but it would be nice to have a few more hams helping out so we could cover the entire 24 hour period. This is the second year I've used a PC for logging and it has made FD all the more enjoyable. I use N3FJP's software and it performed very well. I ran it on my laptop which runs the Window's XP Professional operating system and I had no glitches at all. I was a bit concerned with all the RF floating around the shack with an end-fed antenna but the laptop didn't miss a beat and wasn't heard in the station receiver either.
Bravo to the ARRL for initiating the new class F category! It's a good move and will highlight more than ever the capabilities of amateur radio during these turbulent times. FD is one of the things that keeps me coming back to ham radio.
Thanks again to my wife and best ham radio buddy for helping out with the logging and with keeping me well fed. To me, there is nothing better than to be "cruzin' on 20 meter CW" in the dark of night with a steaming cup of java right by the key. That's music to these old ears!
Here's hoping others had as much enjoyment from this event as we did.
73 from WB8RFB & KA9QXI -- WB8RFB
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