07/02/2008 | N Field Day 2008 via QRP, Goats and Solar Power was PRICELESS!

Although Es openings on 6m were not abundant if at all at least HF
performed pretty flawlessly considering a SF of only 66! Location was
our usual favorite spot a top Mt Herman/CO at 9054' ASL with 1500' shear drop off looking East. Weather was a perfect 70F and sunny with a light shower on Saturday PM.

Maybe it was my location and/or antenna but I felt like I was running
QRO as I could easily get through on the first or more often second call on CW ...most of the time. But SSB was a different story
and required more skill, timing and strategy. 20m was the most
productive and 40m late PM was rolling thunder with lots of big
signals.

My goats did their part of getting our nearly 100lbs of FD/camping gear to the mountain top but were very unimpressed with the FD activities and napped most of the weekend. Between the rain, wind/tarps, camping chores and goat sitting I only made 150 QSOs (120-CW and 30-SSB) but it still made for a unforgettably FUN FD!

N0TU (1B)Station setup:
Rig: FT-817, ATS3A as backup
Ant: 10-40m jumper dipole w/40' coax at 25' at edge of cliff, 2m/70cm
5el Elks beam
Power source: (2) 7AH SLA batteries & solar panel
Price to get there: 2-scoops of gain and Rooster & Peanut (goats)
...not bad considering the price of gas these days! In other words,
PRICELESS!

My YouTube video tells the rest of the story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX2r0ddUqsw
or on my blog: http://n0tu.blogspot.com/ -- N