07/02/2006 | N0FP Once again, a memorable Field Day! What other operating event combines such an entertaining mix of friends and radio? This year was no exception. The troops gathered at NPs 5 acre farm near Dassel, Minnesota, to practice emergency communication skills. Bill-AC, Ralph-KR, Roger-KPH, Tod-KO, Paul-KCST, Mitch-KCFY, Ray-KE3QY, Ford-NP, John-NG, Kelley-WK, and Mark-WAHJ, all contributed their effort and skills to make this years Field Day event our best effortEVER! The previous two years we had been using W0AA, the Minnesota Wireless call sign, but found it unavailable this year so we used my call sign instead. I counted eight (8) antennas in the air before we could relax a bit.

This panoramic view was taken by Tod-KO. The left side shows the military tower with the 40M 2 element beam at about 50 feet, and on the right we see the troops ready to hoist the 20M 3 element beam to about 39 feet using a John Deere forklift.

The antenna line-up was a bit different than last year. Previously, we had the 40M beam on the forklift at 39 feet, and the 20M beam on the tower at 50 feet. This year, we swapped them around since it was believed that each would play better at the respective heights.

The rocket launcher proved to be an excellent sky hook for the 40M beam. It just fits between the trees and went up in about 2 hours time. The system proves to be a safe and reliable support. Not visible in the picture is the Armstrong rotator, who we fondly knick-named Mark, or Ford, or Tod, or Ralph, or whoever happened to be available for rotator duty.

Each year, our group manages to purge more time consuming and labor intensive aspects of our build. Each year, we get better organized in terms of keeping the radios busy. Between shifts at HF CW, Ralph-KR could be found working the VHF station with Mitch-KCFY at his side working the GOTA station. Mitch managed to work 317 Qs during FD. Not bad considering he had to use whatever band was not HOT at the moment.

As I recall, this was Ralph working one of the few 6M openings that happened during this years FD event. If 6M opens to the coast(s), you can easily add 300-500 extra Qs into the log. This year, we had only a dozen or so make it into the log on VHF.

The VHF station used a 2M 7 element mounted on top of the 6M 4 element beam. Hoisted overhead you can see the center insulator of the 80M dipole, which proved to be a real work horse all night long.

Ralph was good enough to bring his rocket launcher tower and 40M 2-element beam, which by the way was originally used during one of his DXpeditions to Heard Island. His 20M monobander turned out to be a real work horse on FD.

Check out the picture of several of the troops putting the finishing touches on the 20M beam. It gets bolted to the fork-lift carriage and hoisted to 39 with the press of a lever. This seems like cheating on FD! I thought real beams were to be mounted in trees on FD.

The weather proved to be somewhat of a challenge on Saturday. The drizzle didnt dampen our spirits too much. But it did delay putting up the 80M elevated vertical when a nasty looking wall cloud approached the QTH. Just 20 miles South West of our location, the National Weather Service reported 65 mile per hour straight line winds. I think we would have been OK but Im very glad we didnt have to test that theory. The biggest problem caused by the weather was the 10dB over S9 QRN at the start of FD on 40M. It took several hours for that to quiet down to make 40M usable.

New to the antenna line-up this year is a pair of 40M verticals we fondly referred to as the BiSquare. This pair is designed to end-fire east or west with a cardioid pattern. It seemed to work as designed, but not as good as the horizontal beam of course. We have been using cross-polarization for years to allow both transmitters to occupy the same ham band at the same time. The methods works great.

Who says antennas have to look pretty? This year we used an 80M shortened vertical with elevated radials, loaded at the base by means of a tuner duct taped to the mast at about 8 off the ground. The elevated radials are said to be quite efficient. It was an easy antenna to hoist and proved to be a valuable asset during the late night hours on 75M. More than once you could hear somebody view that 56 foot tall mast with the tuner duct taped to the side and ask "What the heck is THAT?" Don't laugh. It played very well.

All-in-all, it was a great weekend. We landed 2,667 Qs and 1350 bonus points for a total score of 9,518. This years Field Day is certainly our best effort yet. -- N0FP