ARRL Field Day
Call: K1N
Operator(s): MANY
Station: K1N
Class: 1A QRP
QTH: Maine
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160:
80: 67 41
40: 57 6
20: 113 20
15: 3 3
10:
6: 3 26
2:
222:
432:
903:
1.2:
2.3:
3.4:
5.7:
10G:
24G:
----------------------------
Total: 243 96 0 Total Score = 582
Club: NERDS
Comments:
Last year our group suffered through a horrible nor'easter with driving rains
that came in sideways through our tent. This year we had beautiful weather with
not a cloud in the sky for both days. We set up behind an elementary school in
Kennebunk, Maine. With all the sunshine, Our solar panels actually could charge
our battery bank effectively, so everything was right with the world. Our only
Murphy moment concerned our computer logging. (What else is new?) Our keyboard
keying kept malfunctioning and was so erratic that we unplugged everything and
threw it all in a heap. Plan B used a Vibroplex bug and a straight key.
One nice wrinkle in our operation this year was having an exercise bicycle
with a generator attached for charging our batteries. That was a welcome
addition as we could work off all the carbs and sugar from the donuts we
consumed.
The bands seemed to be in bad shape. Our QRP rig was a K3 running 5 watts
with two wire antennas and an antenna tuner. Antenna #1 was a 3 element 20M
array that worked well on 20 and 80. We had a second doublet fed with open wire
line for 40 meters. That worked well and we made a few contacts on 15 meters
with it as well. Making contacts on any band was a bit difficult with our very
low power. Many stations never heard us and those that did would ask for
repeats. We tried a six meter beam this year and had a separate K3 for 50 MHz
in hopes that it might open. Six finally complied late on Sunday morning and we
worked a few stations in Florida, Georgia, SC, NC, and Alabama. The ionization
got pretty intense and we heard a few stations from Eastern PA (350 miles) via
E skip. Our 5 watts on six meters made it hard to be heard, but we ended up
with about 30 contacts, so we considered that effort to be a positive one.
The best part of Field Day was that we had a number of rather new hams
present and they all chipped in and made contacts and got lots of experience
working stations. They learned about antenna tuners, open wire lines, six meter
DX, and got to play with different radios. We had lots of fun. Our Field Day
call was K1N and we had a few callers who thanked us for Navassa Island. We
also chuckled at the serious contest CW ops who we called 1X time, and then
heard them calling another CQ on top us us. Geez! K1N is about the shortest
call possible, and they couldn't wait!! We had another chuckle when a station
answered us by saying " K1N, you are too weak to write down so QRZ Field
Day". What's with that? Maybe next year we will run a 30 KW diesel
generator and 3CX3000A7 amps. Nothing finer than diesel fumes!
All in all it was a really great weekend. K1KI the New England ARRL
director, dropped by. We even had a newspaper reporter show up taking copious
notes and pictures. The town selectman also paid a visit. We had many non ham
visitors as well. Our press releases apparently worked!!
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