2007 ARRL Field Day
06/25/2007 |
AE5BH
This was a Field Day full of firsts for me.
First FD for me Solo ; First FD using QRP ; First FD day using only CW (and using a straight key!)
Any one of those by themselves would be a challenge, but all three made it even more of a thrill! I was on a mini vacation out in the hill country of Texas and brought my FT817, LDG Z100, 2x 7AH SLAs, J-38 Key, Two 20' Crappie poles and a couple bags of dipoles, rope, and speaker wire. I had "plans" to erect an 135' dipole into a tree, or a 66' dipole, but that didn't work out too well. There were few trees, a few buildings but alot of power lines near those buildings. Instead I ended up using one 20' crappie pole to hold up the top end of an Off center fed vertical dipole 33' long. 10ft was on the ground, 23 ft in the air!
I was able to work 20m for 6 hours and well into the night before my brain gave in and called it quits. I hit both coasts and snagged 20 QSOs in all. 20m was wall to wall all day and into the night! I scrolled through the band trying to find some slower ops to answer, but did not find too many before I found my little crack in the band to sit and call from at my slower speed. Thanks to all who stopped by and answered my weak signal call! It made my field day!
73, -- AE5BH
First FD for me Solo ; First FD using QRP ; First FD day using only CW (and using a straight key!)
Any one of those by themselves would be a challenge, but all three made it even more of a thrill! I was on a mini vacation out in the hill country of Texas and brought my FT817, LDG Z100, 2x 7AH SLAs, J-38 Key, Two 20' Crappie poles and a couple bags of dipoles, rope, and speaker wire. I had "plans" to erect an 135' dipole into a tree, or a 66' dipole, but that didn't work out too well. There were few trees, a few buildings but alot of power lines near those buildings. Instead I ended up using one 20' crappie pole to hold up the top end of an Off center fed vertical dipole 33' long. 10ft was on the ground, 23 ft in the air!
I was able to work 20m for 6 hours and well into the night before my brain gave in and called it quits. I hit both coasts and snagged 20 QSOs in all. 20m was wall to wall all day and into the night! I scrolled through the band trying to find some slower ops to answer, but did not find too many before I found my little crack in the band to sit and call from at my slower speed. Thanks to all who stopped by and answered my weak signal call! It made my field day!
73, -- AE5BH
Back
