2002 ARRL Field Day
06/25/2002 |
WA8REI
I op'd FD from a square mile of recently cleared State (MI) Forest
in Ogemaw County, Michigan, running 5 watts CW (Yaesu FT100D) to what I called my 3 "wet noodle" antennas: a 20 meter dipole, a G5RV for 15 and 40 meters, and a 75 meter dipole....wet due to the pouring
rain Friday night and Saturday morning. I made a total of 248
QSO's in about 19.5 hours of operating. When I started to fall
asleep at the rig at about 9:30 AM Sunday, and knowing I had to tear down the setup yet, I knew I'd had enough. Did anyone else who op'd CW only for the long hours still hear CW as they were driving home? I did, and the rig was packed in the back of my motor home! I achieved a flat SWR (zero reflected power)using an MFJ ant.
tuner. It really surprised me how many stations heard me, especially on 40 meters Saturday night/Sunday morning with the
noise level a continuous and solid S-9! I never had to re-charge my AC/Delco Marine (deep cycle) battery. I want to thank everyone
who worked me. MANY stations were patient and needed my number and/or ARRL Section repeated. A few hints to QRPers: (1) don't
call CQ, but rather answer other stations calling CQ. (2) go for
the stronger (S-level) stations. (3) if you have a "pipeline" to
a certain geographical area (favorable propagation), call stations
in that area....your chances of making a contact are vastly improved. (4) be patient...don't expect every station you call to
come back to you. (5) if your rig has full break in, LISTEN
as you call...if there is a pileup of stations calling the
same station, try again after the pileup has subsided. I think I had a confirmed QSO rate of about 60% of all the stations I called. I had 20 confirmed QSO's the first hour---not bad at all for QRP CW. I enjoyed reading the other "soapbox" comments. I'll be watching for December QST with FD scores posted therein! 73/88 Ken -- WA8REI
in Ogemaw County, Michigan, running 5 watts CW (Yaesu FT100D) to what I called my 3 "wet noodle" antennas: a 20 meter dipole, a G5RV for 15 and 40 meters, and a 75 meter dipole....wet due to the pouring
rain Friday night and Saturday morning. I made a total of 248
QSO's in about 19.5 hours of operating. When I started to fall
asleep at the rig at about 9:30 AM Sunday, and knowing I had to tear down the setup yet, I knew I'd had enough. Did anyone else who op'd CW only for the long hours still hear CW as they were driving home? I did, and the rig was packed in the back of my motor home! I achieved a flat SWR (zero reflected power)using an MFJ ant.
tuner. It really surprised me how many stations heard me, especially on 40 meters Saturday night/Sunday morning with the
noise level a continuous and solid S-9! I never had to re-charge my AC/Delco Marine (deep cycle) battery. I want to thank everyone
who worked me. MANY stations were patient and needed my number and/or ARRL Section repeated. A few hints to QRPers: (1) don't
call CQ, but rather answer other stations calling CQ. (2) go for
the stronger (S-level) stations. (3) if you have a "pipeline" to
a certain geographical area (favorable propagation), call stations
in that area....your chances of making a contact are vastly improved. (4) be patient...don't expect every station you call to
come back to you. (5) if your rig has full break in, LISTEN
as you call...if there is a pileup of stations calling the
same station, try again after the pileup has subsided. I think I had a confirmed QSO rate of about 60% of all the stations I called. I had 20 confirmed QSO's the first hour---not bad at all for QRP CW. I enjoyed reading the other "soapbox" comments. I'll be watching for December QST with FD scores posted therein! 73/88 Ken -- WA8REI
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