The 15 minute Field Day setup..... by WB2AZE

My good friend and I were discussing Field Day a few years back.  It was our weekly meeting at the local diner, a place where everything tasted like cardboard, but it was a great place to plan field day. We both seemed to agree that the hardest part of field day, was not the operating, but the setting up of all the equipment. I then told him that I had the solution to all our problems, a complete FD station that was set up in 15 minutes. He looked at me and said You're going to use your 2m HT. No, I replied. He thought for another minute and said let me guess, you're going to use CW  right?. Wrong, it's going to be Sideband.  He was totally confused now, QRP with a dipole. Nope, 50 watts and a 5 band vertical antenna. You're kidding he said, No I am not was my reply. I showed him part 1. of the WB2AZE 15 minute Field day setup. My friends eyes were wide open.

The station itself consists of a Ten-Tec 555 Scout transceiver, MFJ antenna tuner with SWR meter, a 12 volt 7.0 A/H gellcell battery, coax jumper cables, Key, mike, logbook,pen, and 3 ten-tec band modules. The entire setup, was neatly stored in a business sized expandable attaché case.

Part 2 of the setup consisted of the antenna. I chose the Hygain 18-AVT 5 band vertical antenna that could be set up in a matter of minutes. For the antenna mount I used an outside Stadium Lamp stand. Two 35 pound barbell weights were placed on the legs of the stand to keep the antenna from falling down. ** Note, if you cannot find weights, a couple of large bags filled with sand will also work. Four radials were cut to about 35 feet in length and clipped on with alligator clips. I chose 18 gauge orange colored wire to make the radials stand out (for finding them, and to prevent tripping over them). The distance between the traps were the tubes came together were then marked with bright colored electrical tape.

The standard locking clamps that originally came with the antenna were replaced with standard automobile type hose clamps. All that had to be done, was to slip the pieces of the antenna together against the electrical tape, and then tighten the clamps. For safety reasons I did the following. About 3 feet up, I attached a nylon tie wrap that I used to hook one of the glow in the dark light sticks. Those are the disposable plastic lights that you bend and shake to produce a glow that lasts for hours and come in different shades of green. This avoided the hazard of walking into your antenna at night. Two 25 foot pieces of RG-58 Coax and some connectors completed the set. (Fig 2)

Does it work, my friend asked?,. Yes, I tested it last week, the SWR was a little high on 40 but I got it down to 2.3 to 1 with the tuner. What about a computer and a tent, he asked? No tent, I'll use the car, and no computer either, that's what the pen and log books are for, didn't you ever hear of roughing it, they didn't have computers back in the 50s and 60s and they still had field day. He was absolutely amazed. I asked him do you want to see it in action? Oh Yes was his reply. We then went back to my house, and I started to set everything up. The antenna was set up first. The weights were set down on the stand. Next came the radials. 4 of them were clamped to the base with their alligator clips. Next came the feed line. I used 2 25 foot lengths and ran them to the car. I took the `station attaché case' and hooked the coax to the tuner. A jumper then went to the rig. The power leads were hooked to be battery. We were up and running in 15 minutes...

How long will the battery last? A couple of hours at the most, but then I have another to replace it, it just doesn't fit in the case. We just stood there looking at it....Oh, by the way, the best part about it....it only takes 15 minutes to take it down too!!!!

*** Operators note, I worked the West Coast from Central NJ using the above setup with a modest 50 watts. 

Not only can it be used for FD but also for RACES or ARES too ***