AFTER "field day " 2006 good points

[ai4ep]

Ok you DID participitate in FIELD DAY 2006, from wherever your location, for what ever amount of time. What GOOD STUFF happened ? Tell us all about it....!!

[KC2ESD]

I'll tell you L8er, Field Day does not start to 18:00UTC http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[K6BTM]

A little early for this !?? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif Just loaded truck with gear and about to head out to the club site. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[K4MSM]

Several stations on 20 meter CW started the contest at 1700 UTC, actually calling 'CQ FD' and swapping info. How dumb can you get???

[KG4YUV]

I personally worked W1AW on 10 meters from Georgia, and did a satellite demo on SO-50. Heard a station I worked on 40 meters on the bird http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

A great field day, good food, my friend (also 17) passed his test, what more can I say? I'll also be in the paper tomorrow!

[ai4ep]

YUV ---get your picture taken by the local paper ?

good for points total. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[KI4CIA]

10 months of CW really does make a difference http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif Worked quite a few stations on 20 and 40 meters at about 20-25 wpm - there were always two operators there so had help with the higher speed ops, but I think I really impressed the guys this year http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

It is possible to survive without commercial power - the only equipment on commercial power was the Collins gold dust twins. Everything else was on the generator - of course, it ain't over yet.

Did not get blown away by the wind, not struck by lightening, and all the equipment survived the thunderstorm.

It cooled off about 20 degrees once it finally quite raining.


All in all, the best Field Day yet.

[KG4YUV]

Quote[/b] (ai4ep @ June 24 2006,22:00)]YUV ---get your picture taken by the local paper ?

good for points total. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Ah we don't play for points, just for fun.

And yes, picture taken.

[K3UD]

Using a "jump it" 27 amp battery running about 15 watts. Decent results so far but am time limited.

73
George
K3UD

[KI4CIA]

Yes, pictures here too. And TV crew as well ... yuck! Maybe I won't make either, I've managed to miss it the last two years but we kind'a got cornered this year http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif (at least there was no activity when the TV crew was around)

[KG4YUV]

We haven't had a TV crew come to ours in recent years, or at least not while I've been a ham or been a part of it.

My first Field Day in '03, the local paper got a picture of me and Heidi Henderson (KF4KPN) working HF. Later in the week the caption read "Above, Heidi Henderson and Patricia Wilson talk to distant stations" (or something to that effect)

Talk about embarrassing... http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[KI4LFG]

Setup was almost painless, had a bad balun on a dipole and missing bolts for the 20m beam but other then a bad T-STORM it was a great experience, I was logging for a CW operator for a hour or so and SSB phone for several hours, working out calls and reports all around the place. I also got my phonetic alphabet nailed down to a little stutter or delay.

[w8cbc]

See my bit in the "Solo" thread.

A wonderful day!

A boat battery, some wire, and a 100-watt transceiver can get it done. I ran about eight hours without the slightest bit of trouble. There was plenty left in the battery when I tore down the operation. I could have gone at it many hours longer.

[N1MLF]

I'm not in it for the points. moreso to learn where I can reach on various bands at different times of day with the existing 1E setup.
Having the contact rich environment of field day helps greatly.
So far..so good with about 100 contacts..

On the plus side (I guess it's a plus - others may see it differently) I've convinced myself now that it is possible to make contacts with fair reliability on 80 meters, during the summer, surrounded by thunderstorms, with heavy QRM, and running QRP with only 2.5 watts.

[AA0CX]

Yup! Thoroughly enjoyed it. Did some 20 meter phone contacts on W0ILO (Red River Radio Amateurs) operating from pop-up camper in MN. First field day in years. I had to leave early, but fun, fun, fun, despite nasty thunderstorms Sat nite when qe had to QRT for the wx.

[W4HAY]

Had other obligations, but managed to crank out a couple of hundred 1D CW points on 80, 40, & 20 while kicked back in the recliner. Did some QRS stuff in the Novice bands, one guy at about 2 WPM. Thanked me for his first HF contact. That alond made it worth while!

Noticed The WX Channel had a blurb about FD, showing someone banging away on a set of paddles. Dunno what they said, I was busy digging a VE6 out of the last-minute confusion.

[NO8M]

Field day was a blast. As one of the many operator's of KH6J's voice station, we logged a ton of contacts on 15 meters.
All in all, I'd say it was a great way to spend the day in one of Oahu's many waterfront parks. ;-)

[w8cbc]

I was all over 15 metres yesterday! I haven't heard it that lively since December. It's a shame I didn't hear you guys. I guess there wasn't enough of a multiple Es connect.

[w5mlr]

This year I wasn't able to mount a solo effort as is usual. So I went around to the different club stations here in San Diego County. First was the Ramona Outback Amateur Radio Society (ROARS), in Ramona, CA. Next was the El Cajon Amatuer Radio Club, running a 7A op at the Al-Bahr camp near Mt. Laguna. The ECARC was running quite an op, but the ROARS op was a more friendly, downhome kind of station, and I had the opportunity to meet up with my old elmer, Duncan Campbell KF6ILA. And, as usual, I learned a lot. Can't wait until next year!

73,
Mark

[K5UOS]

I operated a little before FD began. I helped 6 stations test there antennas. An unintended pleasure and it was fun to help. A few were QRP stations camping or operating from remote areas.

I listened a couple times on both the CW and SSB portions of 40M. The operating was skilled and it appeared that everyone was having fun. I usually don't even fire up my gear on field day. With all due respect, in past years, the exercise always seems way to chaotic and many stations seem to forget the rules and good manners.

Maybe next year. One thing I will enjoy is getting on the air tonite. Everybody else who made the effort to work FD will be too tired.

I hope you enjoyed FD and all your rigs came home in good working condition.

K5UOS

[VE3EN]

Field day was great... operated as a 1D station to give out contacts.. worked just over 500 Q's, most on 10m, had a great short skip opening from here in Eastern Ontario to WPA,EPA,NNJ,SNJ,Long Island NY,CT,RI,MA,DE. 400 mile propagation is always fun.
6m opened up also saturday night for field day, also worked some good runs on 20 and 40ssb.

Lots of children were on the air too, making contacts at field day locations. Good stuff.

73, Kevin
VE3GIB
http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[w8cbc]

One of my 15-metre contacts was a very young kid at a 1D in New York. He sounded a little fumbly and intimidated but was getting it done nonetheless. That was neat. I hope the kid has a long future in this hobby.

[VE7NOT]

I was fairly independant of field day ops as my other posts said. On the bright side I made some good dx contacts from the van and it has been perfect weather.. Temp now is 81F here at the beach and around the same on hilltops I was on. Good for mobile operation. Oddly the 102" whip I often use for 11m actually tuned out well on 15 and 17m. The 20m hamstick was good for 20m only it seemed

[kr2d]

I had little time to operate, but made a few contacts as 1D on 15m and 10m. Listened to 20m for a bit, what a zoo! I wasn't in a contest mood, so no contacts on 20 or 40 for me.

One of my errands took me near the spot where the Sussex County (NJ) Amateur Radio Club was set up, so I stopped in to say hello. Miserable rainy weather, but the ops looked like they were having fun anyway. They had VHF station set up that was being operated by a bunch of Boy Scouts.

[w8cbc]

Those 102" whips will work well down to 20 metres if you tune 'em right. I tagged one of the German World Cup event stations in 20 metres mobile one night.

The hamstick is probably pretty sharp.

[KG4YUV]

I heard a 22A station

22? I mean really...

[KI4MRU]

I operated with W4BTI (Kennehoochee ARC in Cobb County, Georgia) for quite a bit. We were a 3A station and made about 700 contacts. The only downside was a stubborn mess of thunderstorms that shut us down for about 7 hours late Saturday night, but I took advantage of the opportunity to go home and get some sleep. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif This was my first Field Day after getting my license last year, and I had a blast. We had about 8 boy scouts come by Saturday afternoon to learn about radio and make the 2 contacts required for their radio merit badges. One of them even stayed and made more than the required 2! Imagine that! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

I wasn't sure what to expect from Field Day, but it certainly exceeded my expectations. I even came away with a loaner HF rig since I don't have one of my own yet. So all in all, a fun weekend! Already looking forward to next year...whether it's with another club or just by myself.

[w8cbc]

Quote[/b] (KG4YUV @ June 25 2006,17:48)]I heard a 22A station

22? I mean really...
Yep. I worked 'em once.

Lessee...

160m, 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m: 6 MW/SW
6m, 2m, 135cm, 70cm, 33cm, 23cm, 13cm: 7 VHF/UHF
I suppose there are nine microwave bands...?

[ke7fho]

My first field day. More traffic than I've seen and/or heard! Accidentally hit paddle with my coffee cup, started a pileup! Contacts in MI,TX, LA,NY and a few others. Guy in Wisconsin sounded like 2 or 3 KW, but nobody seemed able to get through to him. Another op logged a GERMANY contact. Overall good experience. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Quote[/b] (KG4YUV @ June 25 2006,20:48)]I heard a 22A station

22? I mean really...
W3AO which is the Potomac Valley Radio Club was running 22A this year. They always seem to be in a class by themselves.

I think if they were to run CW, Phone and Digital stations on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, and 6 meters that adds up to 21. Throw in a 2 meter station and that would make 22.

Last year or the year before, they actually claimed to be 51A. I don't know how that can happen. Not unless they had multiple transmitters on each band/mode.

Quote[/b] (ke7fho @ June 26 2006,00:33)]Guy in Wisconsin sounded like 2 or 3 KW, but nobody seemed able to get through to him.
Not the only one with big power but no ears.


I get a kick out of the ones who are frantically and constantly calling CQ FD at about 50 WPM but leaving only about a millisecond between to listen! I always wondered if that helps or hurts their scores.

[AG3Y]

Yup, we worked the 22A station, too. MDC I believe. Sounds like they must have been working everything from DC to daylight! But lets see, CW, Phone, and Digital on lots of bands would add up fairly quickly, am I right ?

It was a real rush when we had a mini-pileup going, as I mentioned in another post. Only thing that brought it to an end was a reset of the rig, and losing the frequency when I didn't recall where we had parked the VFO. Remember to jot down a frequency somewhere when you start working a string!

FD is a lot more fun when you are working with a logger rather than all by yourself.

This has always been my favorite organized activity , and my only complaint would be about the temperatures. I don't believe I have ever experienced an FD weekend when it wasn't absolutely broiling! Someone mentioned setting it up earlier in the year. Yes, I agree, wouldn't April or May ( probably May ) be better?

Regardless, it's a real Hoot !

73, see you on the grounds next year. Jim

[NO8M]

Quote[/b] (kd8bsr @ June 25 2006,11:39)]I was all over 15 metres yesterday! #I haven't heard it that lively since December. #It's a shame I didn't hear you guys. #I guess there wasn't enough of a multiple Es connect.
Ah! Too bad you didn't get in. We spent most of the time around 21.307-8 calling CQ FD. We did have a few 8-landers get in...one in the Cincinatti area I believe. And it really opened up in the late afternoon here...starting pulling tons of FL, GA, TX and even a CT station.

Helluva band, it was. ;-)

[kb9iou]

I had a blast... wish I could have ran a different class... 1 Delta was great, but it limited working the other delta stations lol... Didn't really run too hard, but managed around 300 or so contact points in about 8 hours of solid operating. Making bigger plans for next year.

I did learn a couple of things:

1: The MC-42S hand mic on my TS-440Sat works great but your hand will fall asleep and it's a pain to log & hold that mic lol Time to buy a headset/boom or a good Desk mic

2: PC Logging is a lot easier than Paper logging.. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Thinking about talking a buddy of mine into selling me his small stripped out camper and making it into a field day camper.. use it once a year lol.. last time I checked he only wanted $200 or so for it.

[N1MLF]

As always field day was a blast.. I operated 1E, not so much for points, but to see what my gear could do.
I worked 15, 20 & 40M SSB & a few CW on 40.
Being a solo op.. a foot TX switch & computer logging was worth its weight in gold.
I'd operate for 15 min's or so per band then break for a few hours & hit it again. Now I'm gonna pour over the logs & see what the propagation vs time of day vs band looks like.
All in all it was fun & I learned a lot..

73..JW

[n8yx]

Operated 2B/WPA...got to work W1AW...and a whole bunch of 1-landers. Darned near every station I worked was from the 1 call district. I'll bet that in the 12 or so actual hours we had the station up and running I worked more 1's than I have in the last 15 years from my Ohio shack...!

[K3UD]

I downloaded the entire Field Day packet of information from the ARRL website. It is an incredible amount of paper and information.

Field Day started out as an emergency preparedness exercise but has morphed into something completely different over the years. I found the elimination of 60, 30, 17, and 12 meters interesting, especially 60 meters which we received with the expectation that it would be a good band for emergency ops. In fact, that was one of the reasons we asked for it in the first place.

If Field Day really is some kind of a test of emergency operations then I would think that ALL bands available to us should be included. If there was a very serious national emergency situation that involved ham radio emergency coms, we would be using any and all bands and frequencies that would be useful.

I had fun using low power, limited battery power, and a simple wire. Very portable and easy to set up.

73
George
K3UD

Quote[/b] (K3UD @ June 26 2006,08:23)]I had fun using low power, limited battery power, and a simple wire. Very portable and easy to set up.
I enjoyed running 1E here. Run off batteries only and 2-1/2 watts from my FT-817, using one of those portable car-starter batteries for power. I've found in the past that I can operate for many hours at 2-1/2 watts with one of those, but only for a limited time at 5 Watts before the voltage drops too much to use.

I used a low dipole for 80 meters to start with. After I noticed the activity on 15 meters Sat afternoon, I strung up a 40/15 dipole too and worked both those bands too.

Made a few contacts by SSB, mostly on 80m right after the start of the contest. Otherwise, all CW, about equally divided between 80, 40 and 15 meters. Did not even try 20 meters any mode, or 40 meter phone.

Actually had some practice for Field Day on Friday. Our power went out in a thunderstorm Thursday night and didn't come back on until late Friday. So I was operating QRP/battery even before field day!

I started out logging on paper but after awhile wimped out and switched over to computer logging.

I did have a few people insist on calling me C4RH, no matter how much I spaced out that "NN".

There were a few contacts that required a lot of repeats on my part, but only a handful of stations that I called could not hear my 2-1/2 watts at all. I was impressed that I had so little trouble running QRP amongst the QRM and big guns.

[w8cbc]

NO8M - I recall attempting to sneak through a pileup at 21307U. I don't remember it being a KH6 though so likely it wasn't you guys.

There was some fairly long-distance propagation to the south in 15 metres, Caribbean and South America. I don't know if it was F2 or multiple Es. F2 does tend to open up that way from here before it happens in any other direction.

I'm willing to bet you had a good combination of the two going for you. Any connect to the mainland would get you into that big Es cloud that was practically covering the continent. Very nice!

[NO8M]

It was definitely a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to having my own HF rig so I can enjoy the action on a more regular basis. I think between our 3 stations....voice, cw and GOTA, we had over a 1000 contacts on FD. When I left the voice tent around 1630 (local), we had already topped 200 just for that mode and that's when 15 really opened up to the east coast.

I had so much fun, I just can't fathom folks that have no interest in HF operations. Now I've just got to get my morse up to 20 wpm so I can play on those segments as well. ;-)

[AK7V]

No field day here - no working radio. Nice, relaxing weekend with the XYL, though. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[ky5u]

Worked CW on Saturday with the JARC in Mississippi here. Good FD where they love to operate on the bands but they don't take it to "contest nut" levels. Alot of socializin'. That is what I loved about the Pensacola group too. I am lucky to have moved to an area where the folks are as cool as these people.

Went home and worked 1E for awhile. 706 on battery power on CW. Antenna is in my attic (Alpha Delta DXCC). Works suprisingly well. Used mostly 10w.

[kj5t]

I made it out to W5ZDN (Heart Of Texas Amateur Radio Club) for Field Day, I haven't joined the club, but I think I will. They meet on the campus of Texas State Technical College and since I will be a student there I might aswell join the club and start going to meetings. The Field Day event was an event, like previous years I stayed the course all night.

I pulled into the site roughly around 12:45PM CDT and as greeted by a good friend of mine also the trustee of a local school club. He introduced me to a few of the hams there that I had not met before, and then I got a chance to shake hands with a few locals I had not met before. I also got a chance to meet and operate with a guy around my age for awhile. During the duration of the event I spent time being social, in the afternoon and evening I was control op at the GOTA station. Saturday afternoon there was a VE session, and so those who were there, after they tested we showed them the GOTA station and they each got to get on the air (three of them, and they all passed, and will be getting callsigns soon). Also there were four kids that came from the houses behind our field day site, they saw the antennas and wanted to stop by. They each made a contact. The boy who is closer to my age (actually is a couple of years older) is a tech, and fairly new to radio, so he worked the GOTA station for a bit with my logging and being control op. We had a couple of guys stop by who weren't hams but interested and so they got on the GOTA station. Also some local politicians came out and operated the GOTA station. All in all the GOTA station was a great success (we operates W5TSA on the GOTA station for those who might have worked our GOTA station).

I also worked the two actual Field Day stations while I was there. I worked 20 meters for the early morning hours and then a bit of 40 and then 15 meters for awhile, too. We were working W5ZDN for those two stations. I had a lot of fun working the pile-ups on 20 all through the morning, I was amazed at making contacts before 8 O'Clock on 15 meters. It was a lot of fun and we did great.

I look forward to next year, though I may go out and operate with W5DXS (Heart Of Texas DX Society). They usually have a couple of stations running, we have talked briefly about putting a third on the air (my IC-718) and I think that might be nice. But it is too early to make my plans for Field Day for next year.

Edit: I forgot to mention the sats. We tried a pass Saturday night on AO-51, someone heard us but we didn't confirm a contact. We tried AO-27 in the morning but didn't hear anyone. So we didn't get that sat contact, but that was the first I had ever seen someone try to work the sats, and now I want a dual bander and a Arrrow antenna.

[nq3x]

We at the Delaware/Lehigh Amateur Radio Club's W3OK (2A EPA) had a fantastic time! We had ops on the air the entire time, which hasn't happened in the last few years (or so I'm told; this is my first FD with this club).

We had good equipment and good ops.

Equipment:

Radios:
IC-738 (HF1)
TS-940 (HF2)
FT-857D (VHF)
Antennas:
40/80 trapped dipole; 40 NVIS loop (HF1)
15/20 Superantennas portable 2-element Yagi on 25' guyed mast & tripod; Cushcraft R8 vertical (HF2)
6m OA-50 "Omniangle"; lots-of-elements Cushcraft 2m yagi; 30' AB-155 guyed mast (VHF)

Each station had a laptop running CT for logging. Using interfaces, either HF station could run CW using CT (and did). Each station had Heil headset mics and foot switches. The VHF station used a Logikeyer and Vibroplex single-lever paddle for CW.
Power provided by gasoline-fired generator. Only had to refuel once.

Things to sustain -

1. Lots of ops. Quality doesn't matter so much as quantity on Field Day, at least at the beginning. A good op running stations while an inexperienced op is logging will quickly produce another quality op. After an hour or so, the experienced op should stand aside and switch seats with the logger. If you have to let a run frequency go, so what? You're gaining a trained op.
2. Lots of antennas. The best radio in the world doesn't matter a damn if the antennas are crap. DLARC is lucky to have a club member who makes his living at manufacturing multiband wire antennas, so we're set for skywires that work very well. Adding a directional antenna for the upper HF bands was good luck on our part, as one of the chairmen had recently purchased the Superantennas setup. The 6m omni was brought by a club member. Each station had two antennas from which to choose.
3. Lots of off-the-air time for each op. Field Day is just as much about socializing as operating. Each op needs to be fed and watered. If you've got an op who, like me, will forget to eat once he gets on the air, pull him off the radio and force him to take a breath and say "Hello" to the other crew once in a while.

I somehow ended up spearheading the assembly of our VHF weak-signal station. This surprised me, because I've never really had an interest in this aspect of amateur radio before. I also had not focused on equipment for this, since I've always been an HF operator, when we were packing up the equipment. One of the other club members had, in years past, brought along his own equipment for the VHF station, so we didn't worry about it. We included the 857 as a backup for HF.

When Saturday morning rolled around, we found that N3NVA wouldn't be coming (he gave me a contact on 6, which was cool). So I just grabbed the 857 and pressed it into service as our SSB/CW VHF radio. Nobody yelled at me for it, so I guess it was considered a good idea. Also, there was this massive 2m beam - I don't know if it was the club's or one of the members' - and K3YD had brought along a still-new-in-the-box 6m PAR Electronics OA-50 "Omniangle" antenna. I had planned on getting the guys interested in how the AB-155 mast systems works, anyway, so we strapped the 2m beam to the mast a section below the OA-50 - because the OA-50 would only clamp to a 1.25" mast, and the untapered parts of the AB-155 are 2" - laid out the guys, and tried to hoist it.

No go! The 2m beam was just too bloody heavy. One of the sections bent like a banana, and another was bent slightly enough that we didn't notice until tear-down Sunday. So we removed the horribly-bent section and another straight one and ran it up. We also decided to forego the second set of guys. It stayed up, so we must have done something right.

Worked quite a few contacts on 6m using the OA-50 up about 30 feet. We had to work like dogs for pretty much every contact, but we got some. Sometimes we even had to work half-SSB and half-CW to complete the contact; those contacts were logged as SSB only. Activity was spotty on VHF.

We didn't have a computer for the VHF station at the beginning, because we all expected someone else to supply the whole kit and caboodle. We logged on paper for the first few hours, and after dinner I ran home to get my laptop, on which I had installed CTwin.

Had a great deal of fun running stations on 40m CW Sunday around lunchtime. Ran for about 30 minutes, which was forever to hold a frequency with 100 watts.

I operated pretty much continuously from start of event until 0400L, and I racked out from about 0430L to 0715L. I drifted off to the sweet sound of "2A eastern Pennsylvania, good luck. This is Whiskey Three Oscar Kilo, Q R Zed?" I roused myself at about 0715, then got back on the air off and on until end of event.

If memory serves, W3OK ended Field Day 2006 with better than 1500 contacts in the log. By any measure, that's a respectable total. And we did it with more club members coming out than in the last four or five years, and had a lot of fun in the bargain. I'm already hatching plans for next year, and the VHF weak-signal bug has bitten pretty hard!

[KG4YUV]

W3AO - "W 3 Atlantic Ocean"

Heard them on SO-50 too...

They and "K2 Voice of America" get on my nerves every field day lol... There's some "cute phonetics" that just make you want to stab someone.

[kb9iou]

Worked W3AO and K2VOA also... I think everyone did this year lol.

I did get to hear from nearly every contact I made "By the way, Love the call letters!"

I can't come up with any "cute phonetics" for mine.. perhaps someone here can http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[w5ljm]

I got most of my points on Echolink!





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[wu3u]

I helped out on both SSB and CW at Field Day station N3NZ, 8A EPA.

Wonder if anyone reading this worked us. (??)

If you worked us on 40 SSB, chances are I was the operator.

Also ran a good deal of 40 meter CW too.

Aside from the lousy WX at the beginning (we had to leave the air several times due to passing thunderstorms) it was a good time!

Hope to work all of you next year - 73!

Tim
N8LXR

[n8yx]

Quote[/b] (N8LXR @ June 27 2006,02:05)]I helped out on both SSB and CW at Field Day station N3NZ, 8A EPA.

Wonder if anyone reading this worked us. (??)

If you worked us on 40 SSB, chances are I was the operator.
That call sounds familiar; have to check our logs. 20M absolutely stunk for the most part, but we did well on 40 and 10...with a few contacts on 15 thrown in for good measure.

Of course, I got the RTTY gear up and running after everyone else had gone to bed so my digital demo of sorts was for naught...

[WZ4I]

Quote[/b] (w5ljm @ June 27 2006,03:32)]I got most of my points on Echolink!





http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif
1ISP STX ?

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[KC2ESD]

I worked W3AO 22A MDC 13:00hrs 6/25/06 from K2B 3A SNJ on 40M 7282.5Khz
Rick K2B/KC2ESD

[KC2ESD]

The Good Points were K2B was able to go on despite the weather, We set the hook in some Tech Hams and let them operate HF. The young people who came by just looked then went upstairs to bs with them selves, the older folks took an interest in what we were doing. One man came by on sunday morning just to read his Bible before going to Church. He took a Interest in Ham Radio so much he was late for Church. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
He rushed off to go to Church but left his 7X50 Binoculars behind. He came back 1 hr later with his girl Friend and stayed for 2 more Hours. Then he told us that he was a Electronics Engineer in the US Navy. He is retired. I think we have a new Ham soon. Another man came by as we were breaking down and asked for out website which I gave him. Over all it was a Great Exercise. We learned allot that Rainy Field Day. Note I said "Exercise", I don't think of Field Day as a Contest, I think it is a Exercise of back up emergency communications, showing off Ham Radio to the Public, and Pigging Out. I even said right before FD begun when I did some on air testing to other stations "good luck with the exercise". It was a adventure I will never forget.
73 de Rick KC2ESD

[kj5t]

Quote[/b] ]FD is a lot more fun when you are working with a logger rather than all by yourself.

I found that having a logger slowed me down when I was running rates. Also when I was the logger I kept getting frustrated becaue I was pulling all kind of calls out of the pile-up and the op who was using the radio (not a contester) was having trouble.

So during the period of time when I was logging and working the radio we had a nice rate :P

[KI4LFG]

Well this was my first time near or even seeing paper logs & HF radios. Afterwards I was almost up to the logging speed of eveyone else, with a minor slow down if there was a odd call or DX station.

[kj5t]

Quote[/b] (KI4LFG @ June 28 2006,23:59)]Well this was my first time near or even seeing paper logs & HF radios. Afterwards I was almost up to the logging speed of eveyone else, with a minor slow down if there was a odd call or DX station.
You will get better at it. The reason I am fairly good at it is because for the past two years I have been operating SOLP in the contests. So those that were at field day who are not contesters obviously wouldn't be as good as pulling out the calls logging the stations and making fast exchanges. But overtime everyone improves, and even I have A LOT of work to do when it comes to contesting in order to produce higher scores.

[k5jyd]

Field day gave me a chance to check out my ap8v old cushcraft vertical which a tech gave me a week before when he could not get it to work. Worked 27 states on 5 bands plus canada so its working .
k5jyd

[W4HAY]

I've always preferred to do my own logging when using CW. I operate the 3P's -- paddles, pencil, & paper. A logger breaks my concentration.

On SSB it's the other way around. I prefer a logger -- IF he/she pays attention.

[KA4MAY]

My 14 year old daughter helped me set up the gear and the 40/15m dipole. Weather was cool and not humid so that helped a lot. On a whim tried my noise cancelling headphones in the 706 and WHAT a difference!

What a thrill working KH6 on 15 meters after cracking a large pileup on third call with 10 watts. Missed NM and AK for all 50 states in about 15 hours of operation.

With a busy work schedule limiting operating time it's great to get out on the bands to work everything you can hear.

Everyone I heard was polite and friendly and it definitely adds to the enjoyment.

See you next year.

Mark

[ki4nzu]

Hi guys,

Just came across this thread. Some of you may remember me from my "infamous" story on QRZ.
This year was my first Field day considering Im a new ham, (well, since March '06). I am now hooked on getting into contesting because of it. I ended up having a blast. Not trying to win, but just to have fun and get on the air.

Here are some pics from the K4KQ site I operated from. There, I was the favored one, because the hams here who do know my story, know I am a rare breed!

http://www.k4kq.com/FieldDay2006/

[KG4RUL]

I attended the very FIRST Berkeley County South Carolina ARES Field Day! Full Info and Pictures are here: FD WRAPUP & PIX (http://home.comcast.net/~dzabawa/FieldDay.htm)

http://home.comcast.net/~dzabawa/FdQslFront.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~dzabawa/SectionMap.jpg

[ke5cwn]

field day is not for the begenner ham.
a new cw op does not have a chance at all
with this "contest" #i think next year ill go fishing #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif