07/02/2002 | K7UB On Friday June 21 Dr. Dell Ray Anderson MD, N7CBN, called me and asked if I was doing anything this year for Field Day (FD). Until then I hadnt made any real plans except to get on the old rig and participate as a 1D or 1E station. It didnt take me very long (about 30 seconds) to change those plans, when Dell offered the use of his motor home.

Our FD location was on a ridge between Cache and Box Elder Counties, 400 meters up a steep hill from the top of the Short Divide road. Dr. Anderson, gave me an un-scheduled stress test as we climbed to the top of the ridge where we would drive the motor home and truck the next day. From that location we could see to the east into Cache Valley and also into the west/south west into the Great Salt Lake Basin.

The three of us, Dell N7CBN, Harvey Luther KF7BV, and myself Bob AA7TR made it to the FD site around 1700z and began setting up our one and only antenna.

I had read in the April QST about a One-Masted Sloop antenna for 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters (which is basically the same antenna that I always use but requires only one mast and is half the length) and decided we would try it out. Up went one mast in no time. Then we cut the horizontal loop antenna to the length mentioned in Rich Rogers, KI8GX, article (136 feet) and hosted it up the flag pole mast. We anticipated putting up an 80 meter dipole but as it turned out the Sloop worked reasonably well on 80 meters too.

Reception was phenomenal. We could hear stations in all four quadrants. But when we tried to make a contact no one seemed to be able to hear us. I remembered that the article said to tie the bottom portion of the triangle to a fence or stake. We had tied the bottom of the antenna to the ground using only rope and a short stake so that it was only a foot or two from the rocky ground. I went and found the top segments from two of the masts that we had not used and propped up the bottom of the loop so it was now about 5 to 7 feet off the ground. Before I had propped up the second side we had made our first HF contact.

The three of us worked hard and took turns operating the station and logging the contacts. We worked until 3 AM and woke up at 5:30 AM and started again. We used a new logging program that I created using Excel and Visual Basic Editor. The next version will have some mods but basically it worked pretty good. Dell had a great time using the hunt and attack method of contacting. I used that method and also developed my skills with the CQ FD method. We would have used digital and CW modes if I hadnt left the serial cable to my all mode TNC home. Maybe next year Ill be able to copy code by ear at 30+ wpm. All in all it was the most fun I have ever had at FD. -- AA7TR