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Manager - N2MG
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Survey Question

Question

Field Day this year was...

Results (3143 answers)

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Survey Comments

Against the grain

I choose this year to FD'it with a smaller, less known, out of my local area group. Why? Well, first, they are a great, friendly bunch. I found that in my regular "local" club we have every walks of attitudes, of lifes too, but the attitudes is what made the decision for me. I have been a member for about 3 years in my local club and even to this day, I am not very well accepted by many, why? I have no damn idea. But last year when the regular sat operator dropped out, they came to me begging for me to do it, since I was a regular sat operator. So I did it and I got us the points. This year, the regular was back because he "felt like it this year" and I was basically looked over. Instead of broadcasting that I would NOT be participating with my regular club, I kept silent and just went on with my plans. It wasn't taken well by many of the "hard working", "time investing" members. Funny, I'm one of those hardworking, time investing members as well. When it came down to it, I told them "Too damn bad.". In the past years there was always this outcry for bodies and help. So, as the usual sucker I am, would show up 5 or 6 in the morning to help and what would happen? 90% of us would stand around and watch the same 3 or 4 people dop all of the work that they begged people to come help with. If you made an attempt to lend a hand it was always along the lines of "No, No, thats ok we have it under control, we don't need any EXTRA hands in here to confuse things." My other gripe was when I was setting up my station, everyone and they're brother managed to come by and tell me how I was doing everything wrong and they ALWAYS had a better way.

Now the other group, if you were there, you were used for help and it was great to feel useful. You were allowed to voice opinion and everyone got along. It was freakin' great. Everyone also recognized, if you were the captain for a station, you were PROBALY that for reason, gee, maybe because you knew what the hell you were doing! What amazed me was after how many people from my regular club came to me and said "Where were you this weekend? We missed you." Funny, at least I think it is.

Needless to say, I have found my new FD home for as long as I live in SW Virginia.

Jason KE4NYV
www.ke4nyv.com
Posted by KE4NYV on 2003-08-10

Field Day this year was...

almost 2 months ago! These surveys can get awfully stale when they change only with the seasons.
Posted by MY_OPINION on 2003-08-09

FD2003

This year, we put up a 24 foot blimp and hung a 160 inverted V from it. Talk about FUN!!! Take a look at www.kg6ena.com for details. Look for "Field Day" link.

Posted by KG6ENA on 2003-08-06

Survey duration

How about changing surveys more often? After about a few hundred replies, the percentages are not likely to change to any meaningful degree. I realize that participation is an issue here, as is the availability of new material. Maybe the surveys could be changed after a set period of time, say two weeks.
KK7WN
Posted by KK7WN on 2003-08-06

FD 2003

I joined the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda for field day. This was my first field day and as a new Tech licensee, and it was my assignment to work the low earth satellites. I planned working AO-7, UO-14, SO-50 and FO-29.

Despite discovering too late that I had a broken shield on the coax connector attached to the 70cm (downlink) antenna, I had one contact each on both satellites. I was also able to work 2m SSB and 1.2G and had much more contacts than anyone expected. One of the more experienced CW operators used my rig for a bit and racked up a few CW contacts on 2M - he was very surprised about this.

The most amount of fun was greeting visitors and demonstrating how to use an Arrow antenna with a handheld. I also put on an APRS demo, and worked with a colleague to put on an SSTV demo.

There were several lessons learned from FD - one was that if you are battery powered you need many extra batteries even if you are QRP. And redundancy is important - even if you think you have stuff in great shape. Transporting stuff 35 miles to the FD site was hard on my gear.

Will I do it again? Definitely! It was a welcome challenge, and I learned a great deal.

Posted by REMOVED_W0EEC on 2003-08-04

FD 2003 K1R

Was FD Chairman for the Port City Amateur Radio Club this year and used the special call, K1R as we celebrated our 50th year as a club. The club call, W1WQM was used as the GOTA station call and the group ran 4A and to the best of our ability, managed to get all the bonus points. Although conditions were terrible on the high bands, the low bands seemed to make up the difference. We made 200 Q's less than last year for a total of about 4900 QSO's. We did have one of the best FD's ever for the club and everyone got a piece of their favorite action - Satellite, Solar Power, Packet, Messaging handling, high QSO rates on both SSB and CW, had a BIG crowd at the GOTA station and may have inspired a few to join our crazy hobby!

Looking for other 4A scores - since W2GD chose to not compete with our group this year, now wondering if anyone has a better score? Let me know folks! Can't wait for the results this year!

73, Mark, K1RX
Posted by K1RX on 2003-08-02

FD 2003

We had a great time. The Alexandria Radio Club (Alexandria, VA) set up outside next to the Fire Training Center on the south side of historic Old Town with 2 CW, 2 phone, 1 digital, 1 VHF/UHF, and 1 GOTA station. Some of the newly-minted CW ops even got on the air and tried in that mode, with experienced ops copying along beside them giving lots of encouragement. It proved to everyone that even a good fist can break through pileups even if it is a slow one. Several of our new ops, and some old timers, got their first taste of PSK31 and 6 meter DXing. It was a blast!
Posted by N5LF on 2003-07-26

Field Day 2003

Ellsworth Amateur Wireless Association, along with the Naraguagus Bay ARC, particpated in a group effort for Field Day this year, as we did last year. We operated as W1TU. And as last year, a great time was had by all involved! Sure the band conditions didn't allow for as many contacts we would have liked, but in my opinion, that simply added to the challenge. We ran 2A, with a CW station, a SSB station, and a GOTA station. And we had all 3 operating non-stop, even through the overnight. (A VHF station was set up, and monitored, but if there were any 6 meter openings, we must have missed them!) A good cross-section of experienced and newer operators were there, and I for one had a great time just talking radio, even when I wasn't talking "on" the radio! And the setting up and tearing down (OK, maybe not so much the tearing down) of the antenna's and station's was a good part of the fun, too. Yup, I'm looking forward to next year already.
73
Bruce, N1VLQ
Posted by N1VLQ on 2003-07-23

Great Fun

Field Day was lots of fun.We went to a state park.Later we had a fish fry.Cant wait till next
Posted by KC0LKE on 2003-07-23

NCQH Field Day 2003

The New Cuyama Quad Hoppers (N6PC) set up again for Field Day 2003 in Bakersfield CA. Ran 1A 5W battery and a G5RV. Bands were a little difficult at times, however we kept 4 operators busy most of the time. Planning for propagation was a good start for selecting bands for operation. WX was 104 in the shade(but it was a dry heat). Good operations on 20/40, both CW and SSB and a great run on 80M SSB early morning. Also ran Satellite, Digital modes and Natural Power for additional points.
This is our 17th year as a group and it seems like it just gets better and better each year.
Hope those 40+ %, as not participating, will give FD a try. It is a good opportunity to test your capabilities to provide "emergency operations" even if it is from your own backyard. When the "phones, power etc" go out in the neighborhood it is possible to establish local communications within walking distance for needed services. STAY PREPARED!Hope to see more stations next year.
73, N6PC, K6MAR, KN6OZ, KB6YNN
Posted by N6PC on 2003-07-18

NCQH Field Day 2003

The New Cuyama Quad Hoppers (N6PC) set up again for Field Day 2003 in Bakersfield CA. Ran 1A 5W battery and a G5RV. Bands were a little difficult at times, however we kept 4 operators busy most of the time. Planning for propagation was a good start for selecting bands for operation. WX was 104 in the shade(but it was a dry heat). Good operations on 20/40, both CW and SSB and a great run on 80M SSB early morning. Also ran Satellite, Digital modes and Natural Power for additional points.
This is our 17th year as a group and it seems like it just gets better and better each year.
Hope those 40+ %, as not participating, will give FD a try. It is a good opportunity to test your capabilities to provide "emergency operations" even if it is from your own backyard. When the "phones, power etc" go out in the neighborhood it is possible to establish local communications within walking distance for needed services. STAY PREPARED!Hope to see more stations next year.
73, N6PC, K6MAR, KN6OZ, KB6YNN
Posted by N6PC on 2003-07-18

FD2003

Despite the difficult band conditions, our club, NPARC had a great field day this year. We ran QRP in the 2A class. Everything was battery powered, even a breadboard tube transmitter and receiver! We had also GOTA station, a VHF station, and the class F station (running under a different call) was located at a local firehouse.

The weather went against all laws of field day and turned out to be beautiful. A good time was had by all. Feel free to check out the pics!

http://www.qsl.net/nparc/FD2003.htm

73's de James, KB2FCV
Posted by KB2FCV on 2003-07-18

FD 2003

We had a great time at W9CA (2A IL). What a difference with skilled operators from SMC & NIDXA and few, if any, kibitzers standing around yakking & distracting operators. A few of us old dogs learned some new tricks that we'll take to next year's FD.

This was the best FD for me since first one in 1978. The food was great (steaks Sunday for lunch ! ... reward for sticking it out to the bitter end.). For many of us FD is about operating and not about having a picnic; picnics & visiting are for club meetings and hamfests. It's a contest ! Why else would they keep score ?


73 de n9avy
Posted by N9AVY on 2003-07-18

FD 2003

We had a great time at W9CA (2A IL). What a difference with skilled operators from SMC & NIDXA and few, if any, kibitzers standing around yakking & distracting operators. A few of us old dogs learned some new tricks that we'll take to next year's FD.

This was the best FD for me since first one in 1978. The food was great (steaks Sunday for lunch ! ... reward for sticking it out to the bitter end.). For many of us FD is about operating and not about having a picnic; picnics & visiting are for club meetings and hamfests. It's a contest ! Why else would they keep score ?


73 de n9avy
Posted by N9AVY on 2003-07-18

FD 2003

I was the digital station (PSK & RTTY) Band Capitan for our club (www.rars.org), W4DW this year. What an experience! We had decided to setup a multi-band digital operation this year (80 & 20 m) and that really paid off when the bands died and started changing by the minute. We improvised and modified our setup to match the changing conditions. In the end, our station ended up working 166 stations on 80, 40, 20 & 15 meters, which was much better than last year(that is another story altogether). Some of the new operators who had never worked a contest (yeah, FD is a drill, but it is a contest too) or been exposed to lousy conditions got new and worthwhile operating experiences with more Elmers standing around than you shake a stick at. Not every signal can be 599 hi hi. Yes, the conditions were poor and the weather hot and humid in Central NC, but what made it a memorable wonderful experience was the variety of operators (hams & non-hams) that participated and the teamwork that came together to make our effort a success. Bottom line - it was fun and a great way to get hams involved in something other that ranting on reflectors. If you haven’t done FD for a while, definitely check it out next year.

73 de W4TME
-Tim

Posted by W4TME on 2003-07-17

Memories-best rig?

I started hamming at 16 years of age. My first rig was a Ten Tec argo 509. QRP! What a thrill. A coaxial Bazooka for 15 meters and a straight key(Novice at the time). I once worked Hawaii on less than 5 watts from Texas. I'll never forget Field Day 1976 in a Fire tower up about 100'-must've worked nearly 100 stations on fourty meters that night. Nearly gave myself a scare when I woke up from the walk-around on the fire tower having slept out there during the early mornin' hours. (after all the exhaustion of FD). Next came an upgrade to General Class and a new rig-Kenwood TS520S. Sweet Radio. It's hard to say which radio I enjoyed more.
Posted by WB5PUN on 2003-07-16

A great club activity!

FD was a great success for the ARROW Comm Assn (Ann Arbor, MI, www.w8pgw.org). We operated class 2A (2 HF stations, plus a VHF station and a GOTA station), and so many people showed up that we kept all four stations busy for most of the 24 hours.

One thing that really helped was that at each of the HF stations, the operators could choose between a vertical and a horizontal antenna. (One of the stations had a loop antenna available, while the other had a multi-band dipole available). The operator could choose the antenna that he or she felt was giving the best results at a particular time. Overall, we made about twice as many contacts this year as we did last year.

We did pretty well on the bonus points, too. We scored an extra 100 points for making 100 GOTA contacts, 100 points for setting up a public information table, 100 points for making a packet contact, and another 100 points for getting an article in the Ann Arbor News (http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1057400130147980.xml?aanews?NEA).

We blew a couple of good opportunities, though, by not copying the W1AW bulletin and not passing any traffic. Oh well. We're talking about making one volunteer responsible for bonus points next year to make sure we take advantage of as many of those as we can.

All in all, we had a lot of fun, and learned a lot. For example, one thing we learned is that next year we really need another operating position so that all those who want to operate can operate.

Finally, I'm in complete agreement with KE4MOB who found 80m to be the perfect band for late-night FD operation. Since there are no multipliers for Field Day, there's not much reason to operate 10 or 15, unless the band's in such good condition that making contacts is no problem.

73! Dan KB6NU
Posted by KB6NU on 2003-07-16

A great club activity!

FD was a great success for the ARROW Comm Assn (Ann Arbor, MI, www.w8pgw.org). We operated class 2A (2 HF stations, plus a VHF station and a GOTA station), and so many people showed up that we kept all four stations busy for most of the 24 hours.

One thing that really helped was that at each of the HF stations, the operators could choose between a vertical and a horizontal antenna. (One of the stations had a loop antenna available, while the other had a multi-band dipole available). The operator could choose the antenna that he or she felt was giving the best results at a particular time. Overall, we made about twice as many contacts this year as we did last year.

We did pretty well on the bonus points, too. We scored an extra 100 points for making 100 GOTA contacts, 100 points for setting up a public information table, 100 points for making a packet contact, and another 100 points for getting an article in the Ann Arbor News (http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1057400130147980.xml?aanews?NEA).

We blew a couple of good opportunities, though, by not copying the W1AW bulletin and not passing any traffic. Oh well. We're talking about making one volunteer responsible for bonus points next year to make sure we take advantage of as many of those as we can.

All in all, we had a lot of fun, and learned a lot. For example, one thing we learned is that next year we really need another operating position so that all those who want to operate can operate.

Finally, I'm in complete agreement with KE4MOB who found 80m to be the perfect band for late-night FD operation. Since there are no multipliers for Field Day, there's not much reason to operate 10 or 15, unless the band's in such good condition that making contacts is no problem.

73! Dan KB6NU
Posted by KB6NU on 2003-07-16

Thanks to the survey manager for accepting my survey.
I had great fun at this field day, due to a great group of individuals (thanks DVDXS!), and a well-thought-out and appropriate setup. We ran 1A on only 20 and 40, and ran a kilowatt. That did a lot to fight the bad condx.

However, after FD I noticed that there were some real whiners out there. One guy even complained in his soapbox entry about someone taking 'his' frequency! Welcome to contesting, buddy! If you can't stand the heat...

I read the results (so far, at about 1400 votes) as the following:
51% had fun.
18% are whiners.
32% chose not to participate.

Perhaps that's a bit unfair - some of those 18% may have valid gripes, especially those complaning of grouchy operators. Condx were tough, but that wasn't any surprise. The key thing was to be prepared for bad propagation condx. If you run the same FD setup every year, you'll necessarily have up and down years. If you tweak it each year for the anticipated condx, you'll do well every year (unless Murphy visits in force!) Looking forward to next FD! 73's KB5HWS
Posted by KB5HWS on 2003-07-13

FD 2003

Field Day for the W3OK Group was great fun. Conditions were'nt the best but contacts were made anyhow and I had fun. See you on the air!

N3SNZ/AG Bob
Posted by N3SNZ on 2003-07-12

Fun for all

Sadly. the conditions up here near the Great White North really sucked on Saturday night. 40 and 80 were useless with S9+ rain static from major storm systems. It was a struggle to get 100 contacts with the GOTA station mostly on 40 and 80 but we managed, eventually. Had lots of fun, anyhow!
Posted by K0RGR on 2003-07-11

RTTY

I looked around the 20m RTTY band Saturday night, hoping to work some of the FDers, but only worked a couple of home stations, because I never heard any portable stations!
Posted by AD1C on 2003-07-11

W2YRC Field Day

While conditions were not great, the Yonkers Amateur Radio Club, W2YRC prepared for the worst! We had a new 40M yagi and an 80M dipole amongst our many antennas. These two antennas made a huge difference in the number of contacts made as 10 / 15M were dead and 20M wasn't that hot. We are already planning for next year with an 80M vertical and 160M loop. We had a great time. See you next year!
Posted by KC2HZW on 2003-07-11

fd 2003

The bands were awful, but we got our club's oldest member, who is 97, out to the FD site, and had a blast.
Posted by KB1GYQ on 2003-07-10

Make it a semi annual event

Fun despite tough conditions. Why not make Field Day a semi-annual event - June and October? It does more for amateur radio and is enjoyed by most as one of the best events of the year. Let's not wait until next year!

73
M_O
Posted by MY_OPINION on 2003-07-09

FD 2003

FD 2003 was a great time for all involved in the Plateau ARA/HamJones DX Association joint effort. The weather was great and the food was even better. We operated as 5 Alpha WV and used the callsign of my good friend WV8T.

We opeated CW, PSK31, RTTY and of course SSB. The bands weren't in the best of shape, but we were still able to make some real good contacts.

The whole thing about Field Day is that it is an event where we as Amateurs hone our skills in setting up a station and operating. This is a good way to test our emergency preparedness, but everyone is always planning Field Day a month or two in advance so we actually defeat that purpose. The reason that I feel this way is due to the fact that when a emergency happens you don't have much time to plan. You grab very quickly what you think you need and you always forget something. But, Field Day is still a good way to practice setting up and getting on the air.

Our club this year went without beams and towers. All stations were operated from dipoles tied up to whatever we could find for support.

All in all everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I want to thank the HamJones DX Association for coming to our Field Day and participating.

73
Juddie KC8CON
President Platea ARA
http://www.qsl.net/kc8lob (PARA Website)
Posted by WD8WV on 2003-07-08

FD-2003

The N3IC operation (2A MDC) had no 10M contacts this year, and only a few on 15. Not surprising. But the real battle this year was with Murphy, who made up for his failure to visit us during the last few years. We lost one generator, one HF radio, 3 laptops, a Moxon that didn't work, and one fallen antenna (during the night when we couldn't see what had happened). Also, some of the equipment was not set up to use the new Power Pole connector system. But the GOTA ops learned how much fun it can be to run a frequency, the weather couldn't have been better, and everyone had their usual great time!

Posted by K3AN on 2003-07-08

FD2003

I decided to operate from my in-laws summer home in Northern Ontario, hoisting a G5RV up on their flag pole and operating the FT-897 from a couple of gel-cels inside a 8' X 10' bunkhouse with a great view of Six Mile Lake, away from electrical and the other man made noise I deal with at home. It was an absolute pleasure to make my 100 contacts as well as some neat ones before and afterwards. Poor band conditions and a couple of severe thunderstorms not withstanding, it was an fantastic experience.
Posted by VE3OZ on 2003-07-08

20-M Solar QRP

I made a quite a few contacts with my FT-817 on 20-meters running 5-watts solar charged QRP. Had to call most stations several times -- but usually managed to get though. It was a blast and seemed to be in the spirit of the activity, as it was very minimal.

Call used was AD5LA, in North Texas.

joel / N5LXI

Posted by N5LXI on 2003-07-07

Still the premier event of the year.

I still get aggravated by a few bad operators and mis-conceptions about Field Day each year. I still have a few pet peeves. So here they are: 1)It is NOT a contest, stop calling "CQ Contest" 2)1D,2D, any D! should never under any circumstances be allowed to call CQ FD. This event is for the other classes and their efforts. 3) I wish they would open up the WARC bands for the weekend.... Despite all this, it is still one of the best learning experiences for everyone in Ham Radio. Each year that I can participate, I make it a point to work on something that I want to learn more about or experiment on (this year it was PSK31). It's fun and I feel like I come out a little smarter and a better operator. 73's
Posted by K7DWI on 2003-07-07

FD 2003

i went to the local clubs FD site as a new to amateur radio type looking to see what it was all about. i knew a little going in as my background is in electronics.

i learned a great deal in the few hours i was there. visited the 3 bands they were operating and enjoyed listening to the bands pile up.

it was excited me to try to get my ticket this weekend. i have since purchased an old IC-24AT HT and was given an FT-227RB by a local ham.

i am looking forward to being a part of FD next year. the worst thing i can do is to stop learning new things, and part of learning is teaching. maybe there will be someone like me there next year - ready to learn all they can and eager to get into amateur radio.

thanks to the Maryland Mobileers for taking the time to invite me out and show me the ropes (literally).

-steve hanlon
severn, md
Posted by NS2CSX on 2003-07-07

Home FD ops

Since I was not able to make the trip with our club this year, I ran 1E from my house. Just to make it more interesting, I ran only 20m/CW/QRP. Conditions weren't great, but I hit the other three corners of the continental US, all through an attic dipole. Since FD was designed as an emergency drill, I know that I can "deploy in place".
--... ...--
Doug
Posted by K1RDD on 2003-07-07

FD 2003

Since I was 2D operating mostly H&P and CW only, I had to delete many contacts of similar FD Class from my log. For that reason, I have to agree with KA5DWI. Class D stations should be restricted to H&P. Such a rules change would more realistically simulate disaster comms. Let the other Classes have maximum flexibility, while the Class Ds enjoy air-conditioned comfort!


Posted by N8CPA on 2003-07-07

40m

40m CW was great. Very interesting to sit on a band all night and watch it change. Around 4am I was working KH6 from Virginia - I never hear Hawaii on 40m during normal waking hours!
Posted by N8IK on 2003-07-07

Who needs the high bands?

Well, I never thought I'd say this...but God Bless 80 meters!!!

During most FD's lately 80 meters was an afterthought when 10, 20 and 40 ran dry. Unlike all the other FD's, the bands this time didn't close at 11 pm. We worked 20, 40 and 80 into the wee hours of Sunday, working everything in sight...and at 2 AM we were turing the beam to work European DX on 20. At 3 AM most of us went to sleep. I stayed up and waited...at 5 AM I was calling CQ on 80 and was rewarded with a 45 minute pileup on 80 meters!! Imagine being the only person awake handling a pileup...a definite "Oh Sh#t, what have I gotten myself into??" moment!!

We got 3 or 4 kids thier first QSO as well, which was just icing already on the proverbial cake. We nailed this Field Day to the wall.

I'm already itching to do it again.

So if you worked WR4RC...thanks and CU agn next FD!!

Steve, KE4MOB


Posted by KE4MOB on 2003-07-06

Oh oh!

Well it was a blast as usual... but I am concerned by the fact that at 56, I was one of the "young" guys... at this rate, in a few years... we won't be able to pull the tower up. We used to use 40'... now we use 30'... 20' next year?
Posted by VE2DC on 2003-07-06

Great Fun !

VE2DC, you think your young at 40, try 15 ... I seem to be one of the only 2 SSB ops at our FD that was operating into the morning hours... being young has its dis-advangtages at FD,but the advantage is that most will give up thier spot to let me work the bands!!

73s
N5EIL, Neil
Posted by N5EIL on 2003-07-06

FD2k3

Had fun 1B-Battery fighting the bands and the bugs. 21 contacts in a few hours up on the hill with a FT-817 and long wire. More info at http://home.thegrid.net/~cn86/fd2k3.htm
Posted by N3EG on 2003-07-06

FD 2003

I had a great time and learned a lot! This was my first Field Day since I joined are local radio club, Umpqua Valley Amateur Radio Club. I had a chance to help with the setup at our sight, learned a ton about portable operation, and got the bug to get my CW skills up to snuff! Can't wait until next year!
Posted by KD7QZA on 2003-07-06

FD 2003

As 40 phone band-captain for our club for the 5th year running I usually come prepared. My setup seemed ok. My camper was rain-tight (as rain tight as a pop-up can be). Setup the recently acquired Telex/Hygain DX-88 with 8 resonant radials on 40 phone. Ran the RG-8 125 feet from the camper to the antenna (at the edge of our circle). Powered up when we hooked up the generator line, the Icom 746 came alive. SWR was 1.3:1 and signals seemed ok at 10am. But by our start at 1300 hours local I had S-9 noise and S-7 signals. Saturday afternoon was like pulling teeth to complete contacts. You would get most of the way through the exchange and then the band stepped in to wreck the contact. Don't believe in logging any partials even when I have all the info. Until that final QSL I don't count it. The band was definitely run by Murphy Sat. As evening moved in the band got better, almost good. Signals just were ok though, not really as good as last year. We struggled through the night with what seemed like lower than usual signals. At 0500 local on Sunday we decided to change antennas to my 25 year old Hygain 18 AVT. Signals were up 6 db! I should have believed in old trusty from the beginning.



I can hear everyone saying "why didn't you use a dipole or G5RV? They work better than a vertical!" I always try to run different radiation polarity from the CW crew on whatever band I am running. The vertical seems to not bother the CW stations when they are running horizontal, and face it, CW scores better.



I had 9 different operators on 40 phone. Some experienced, some new, some really good and some not aggressive enough (they kept waiting for an opening!). My last operator was a fairly new tech. As his control operator I stayed with him and was there to help. The rare time I didn't have to help or say a word happened. He was handling the band like a pro. I think he held a frequency for a good 2 hours on 100 watts and a vertical. Aggressive but polite and encouraging to every contact he made. I think I have a good operator in the making.



I don't know how your club handles tech operators, but it is worth the trouble to place a control operator with them and train them to be good operators. All in all, field day was pretty good. Identifying a new crack operator in the process was just a gift.

See you next year on FD, K9FE Mike
Posted by K9FE on 2003-07-05

FD 2003

As 40 phone band-captain for our club for the 5th year running I usually come prepared. My setup seemed ok. My camper was rain-tight (as rain tight as a pop-up can be). Setup the recently acquired Telex/Hygain DX-88 with 8 resonant radials on 40 phone. Ran the RG-8 125 feet from the camper to the antenna (at the edge of our circle). Powered up when we hooked up the generator line, the Icom 746 came alive. SWR was 1.3:1 and signals seemed ok at 10am. But by our start at 1300 hours local I had S-9 noise and S-7 signals. Saturday afternoon was like pulling teeth to complete contacts. You would get most of the way through the exchange and then the band stepped in to wreck the contact. Don't believe in logging any partials even when I have all the info. Until that final QSL I don't count it. The band was definitely run by Murphy Sat. As evening moved in the band got better, almost good. Signals just were ok though, not really as good as last year. We struggled through the night with what seemed like lower than usual signals. At 0500 local on Sunday we decided to change antennas to my 25 year old Hygain 18 AVT. Signals were up 6 db! I should have believed in old trusty from the beginning.



I can hear everyone saying "why didn't you use a dipole or G5RV? They work better than a vertical!" I always try to run different radiation polarity from the CW crew on whatever band I am running. The vertical seems to not bother the CW stations when they are running horizontal, and face it, CW scores better.



I had 9 different operators on 40 phone. Some experienced, some new, some really good and some not aggressive enough (they kept waiting for an opening!). My last operator was a fairly new tech. As his control operator I stayed with him and was there to help. The rare time I didn't have to help or say a word happened. He was handling the band like a pro. I think he held a frequency for a good 2 hours on 100 watts and a vertical. Aggressive but polite and encouraging to every contact he made. I think I have a good operator in the making.



I don't know how your club handles tech operators, but it is worth the trouble to place a control operator with them and train them to be good operators. All in all, field day was pretty good. Identifying a new crack operator in the process was just a gift.

See you next year on FD, K9FE Mike
Posted by K9FE on 2003-07-05