ARRL Field Day - 2021
Call: K0AV
Operator(s): K0AV K7TD
Station: K0AV
Class: 1B LP
QTH: Custer County, CO
Operating Time (hrs): 19:52
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160:
80: 135
40: 445
20: 568
15: 6
10: 51
6:
2:
222:
432:
903:
1.2:
2.3:
3.4:
5.7:
10G:
24G:
----------------------------
Total: 1205 0 0 Total Score = 4,970
Club: Richard Olson K9BWI Memorial FD Club
Comments:
Operators: Alan K0AV and Terry K7TD
We dedicated this operation to our friend Dick Olson, K9BWI (SK). When trying to
solve some antenna or technical problem, many times we'd find ourselves
referring to how Dick would solve it. He may be gone . . . but he's still here
with us.
Shack: Pop-up camper on the back of Toyota Tacoma pickup.
Location:
On a cattle ranch at 8800 ft elevation
Custer County, Colorado Grid: DM78ie
Nice drop-offs to the east and west
Honda EU 2000i 2 kW generator
on ECO-mode (ran flawlessly) used astonishingly little gas
Equipment:
Elecraft K2 (operated 100 percent CW)
QSK really helped with delayed callers
SWR issues on 15 meters with A3 beam caused K2 to reduce power to 20 watts!
Computer logging:
N1MM+ running on Dell PC laptop
Antennas:
*** Extended Double Zepp - Designed for 40 meters - mounted in trees at about 40
feet with the sloping ground to the east and west. Fed with 400-ohm window line
to Viking Matchbox and a short run of coax into the shack. Aligned so
bidirectional lobes heading east and west toward population centers. This
antenna performed EXTREMELY well! Fun to compare its performance with 40-meter
dipole. We were able to hold run frequencies without getting chased off. Also
loaded the EDZ on 80 meters.
*** Dipole - 40 meters - Ran it east-west at 40 feet (to favor north-south
directions)- At right angles to EDZ - made very noticeable difference vs. EDZ
*** A3 tri-bander on ~40 feet of AB577 - Pre-FD testing of the tri-bander missed
the problem with the beam. It had worked well on all bands last year - but this
year it was unusable on 15 meters. Also - the K2 significantly folds back its
output if SWR is too high - and even with the KAT100 tuner, we couldn’t solve
the problem.
Weather:
Lots of rain, with threatening storm clouds coming close.
Fortunately, the cell service was marginally sufficient to support weather radar
and we could watch approaching storm cells.
Weather caused us to tear down 1 hour early.
Time lost:
We wasted 3 hours of prime time soon after the start - when realized tri-bander
not working properly. Got involved in fruitlessly chasing the cause of that
problem. The total time lost was over 4 hours.
Lessons learned:
** Generally, the value of Field Day is emergency preparedness.
But, specifically, it provides a chance to sharpen other skills such as: working
together as a team; troubleshooting and solving problems; decision making;
learning and testing new technologies; maximizing performance (radios and
operators).
73 and thanks for the QSO's
~ Alan K0AV
~ Terry K7TD
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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