ARRL Field Day
Call: K7IA
Operator(s): K7IA
Station: K7IA
Class: 1B QRP
QTH: New Mexico
Operating Time (hrs): 7:57
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160:
80: 1
40: 48
20: 290
15: 20
10:
6:
2:
222:
432:
903:
1.2:
2.3:
3.4:
5.7:
10G:
24G:
----------------------------
Total: 359 0 0 Total Score = 3,590
Club:
Comments:
Class 1B Battery
not included in score:
ARRL FD message
battery power
solar charging
5 watts
Wife, KB5ZKE, and I escaped the June heat of SW New Mexico by going to our
usual FD site in the Gila National Forest of NM at 8700 feet elevation, tall
Ponderosa Pines (for wire antennas), and unobstructed terrain in all
directions. Perfect setting to go "all out" this year (no sleep, no wasting
time making SSB or RTTY Q's--see 2009 FD 3830 post). Great plan, and great
site for it, no?
We took the heat with us! Temps reached the mid- to high-80's, and there was
no evidence that monsoon rains had even started in the extremely dry forest. A
controlled burn in Arizona, about 20 miles away, run by Forest Service, put out
a hugh smoke plume that we could see, and eventually pass through, en route
from home QTH to FD site. But we passed through the plume before arriving at
our FD site and could detect only faint wisps of smoke. But we didn't set
aside the evidence of extreme fire danger in the area. We parked the camper
and connected antennas in a way that we could pull chocks and get out quickly.
In the maze of forest lanes, we had three escape routes, in case of fire
anywhere.
For whatever smoke was in the air, the deer flies paid no attention to it.
Rather, they enjoyed two easy two-legged targets whenever we left the slide-in
truck camper. Sure glad we weren't tenters! Except for a recon run into
Arizona to find a potential county line site for Arizona QSO and Seventh Area
QSO Parties, we were camper-bound by the heat and the winged feeders until
Friday, when the first monsoon rain began. That certainly cooled things off
(and halted the insects), but rain and lightning activity made afternoon
antenna work difficult. But that's Field Day, no?
Everything was ready by start time, noon local. The equipment had been checked
and rechecked. The 20 meter Moxon Rectangle at 60 feet was a killer, and I
worked a few of the EU contesters easily with QRP. I had copied the ARRL FD
message on Friday evening on 40 meters (a vee at 60'), and condx were great.
At event start I worked a little S&P on 20 meters to populate the bandmap in
the hopes of finding a little extra space where I could run. I enjoyed some
pretty good rates for QRP (40-60 per hour), but I had to keep moving around.
As propagation on 20 changed, either someone was on top of me, or I was on top
of someone else, and that's a contest a QRP station cannot win.
All was going well until early evening when I got the first of several blue
screens on the primary laptop. It's setup was identical to the setup used at
home--even the cabling, keyer, etc. were the same. I restarted the computer,
reinstalled the freeware logger, did a System Restore to an earlier date, but
could not get the logger to talk to the radio after the first blue screen.
Being very well acquainted with Murphy (my great, great, grandfather), I had
packed along a second laptop, which I put into service. I could transfer QSO
data via a USB RAM stick (I use that stick to store all software related to
contesting, so if necessary, I can restore programs, drivers, etc. I also pack
a second, duplicate, stick.). The secondary laptop worked well for a few hours
until it, too, displayed the Blue Screen.
For some reason, this Murphy has never seen a Blue Screen with Win XP.
I did a System Restore, reloaded logger software and latest update, reloaded
keyer driver, etc. just as I did with the primary laptop, and everything came
back to life again, but a few hours later there was another Blue Screen, and
that ended it for me.
A few thoughts about contesting and skills:
First, I realize that FD is an event and not a "contest," but as long as the
required skills are the same, and as long as QST reports scores in descending
order for each class, the FD event is functionally the same as a contest.
Next, there have appeared several surveys lately investigating whether or not
amateur radio is a "greying" activity (it is) and how we grey folks can
stimulate younger folks to get into the hobby (read: how can we replace
ourselves?). Ditto for contesting, and ditto for CW ops. I think back to my
youth, when I saw my first ham radio station--at a Field Day held by the Los
Alamos (NM) Radio Club in the mid 1950's. It was on that weekend that I
determined to get a ham ticket. Bottom line: FD is a great way to recruit
folks into the hobby. We tend to think of teens, but let's not forget the
middle-agers (no definition available), who may be raising their own teens
and/or who have some spare $$ for used gear they can put on the air. I needed
an Elmer when I was a teen, and whoever we recruit need them as well.
I worked a number of folks who, by the quality of their fists, may never have
operated a CW station before. Yep, the contester wants to make the QSO and
move on to the next one ASAP. But the Elmer, hundreds of miles away, has the
opportunity to QRS and help that newcomer to CW get the QSO into a log. I
didn't hear very many experienced ops (by their fists) match speeds with the
slower ops, though. It's worth the effort to do it in FD because, well, it
isn't a contest.
Each of the slower ops with the jerky fists that I worked were in a multi
transmitter class. That meant there were other ops around. Were they helping
their fledglings? Sometimes, I thought not: jerky fists weren't the only
problem I saw. Some ops simply didn't know the exchange procedure and got
stuck on what to do next. Example: I call a CQ, and not at contest speed,
either, say at 24 wpm. An isolated caller responds at considerably slower
speed. I match his/her speed whether or not the fist is jerky (a keyboard may
be in use, but the speed is slow), and I send my exchange, "1B NM." A simple
exchange for a contest type, but to a newcomer, with heart in throat, perhaps
not. I listen for his/her exchange. Nothing. I repeat my exchange and then
wait. Still nothing. One more time, and still nothing. Every contester knows
that if you don't use your "run" frequency, you'll lose it, and every QRP
contester knows that you will lose it sooner rather than later. After three
tries with no response, I call CQ again to hold the frequency, hoping to hear
that slow reply once again. Still nothing, so I finally wipe the exchange
window of the logger and continue running, wondering why the QSO wasn't
completed. Was anyone helping that op with procedure? with CW copy? Did the
generator at the other end quit? Are other computers getting Blue Screens?
Club Stations: please pay attention and help, mentor, and Elmer your
inexperienced operators about the process and the rhythm of making a QSO.
Encourage them to practice their sending as well as their CW receiving skills
before the contest. You might just say and do something that will replace
yourself in our greying avocation.
Thanks!
Equipment lineup:
K2 (completed build 6 weeks ago)
20m: homebrew Moxon Rectangle at 60 feet (the limit of my slingshot and 3/4 oz
fishing weight)
15m: homebrew Moxon at 60 feet
40 & 80m: vees at 60 feet
10m & misc: 32 foot fiberglass mast atop camper supporting vertical wire,
tuned with SGC 230 Smartuner (not used this year, but ready to go)
two 80 watt solar panels roof-mounted on camper
Wife. No interest in operating, but plenty of interest in helping. Great
company, too!
backup equipment to attempt thwarting Murphy:
second laptop computer
complete software on USB RAM sticks
K3
Icom 706 Mk II G
As they say, "thanks for the QSOs," but special thanks go to the newer ops who
participated and navigated new waters. I hope you had wonderful experiences,
find Elmers for yourselves, and will do it again!
73,
Dan MURPHY
K7IA
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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