So I have been invited to substitute for the long standing CW station
captain in this year's Field Day (W6CUS, EB Section) which I consider an
honor..... and a challenge!
I doubt I will get anywhere near his typical 3000+ scores so I will
have 24 hours of fun and see where the chips fall. I don't mind the 24+
hours as I typically do that but in digital/RTTY modes instead of CW or
SSB,..... but I do want my level of success due more to my operating
skill (or lack of) rather than a bad choice of equipment.
Now to what is of interest to this reflector....
Of the rigs that I currently own (please let's NOT discuss other rigs in
this thread), I am looking for your personal contesting/Field Day
experiences.... good or bad.
INFO: There will be three HF stations operating simultaneously within
the 1000 feet circle.... usually on the same band.... The SSB station
will be running 100+ watts to a tri-bander/wire combination. I will be
running the same. The tribanders are at max distance from one another
and fixed in direction so that their sides are to one another. The
digital station runs on dipoles and centered off the back of the other
two stations.
Although I have about nine different Ten-Tec HF rigs to choose from I am
really only considering three:
My first choice is my Corsair II station (with remote PTO). It has all
optional filters and in prime condition. I am very comfortable using it.
The lack of computer control doesn't seem much of an issue for this
particular contest as I won't be using packet spots. The Corsair II
doesn't really have a 'roofing filter' per se but it does have a 2.4 kHz
first IF filter and the ability to totally bypass the front end RF
stage. Easy to use. Optional heat sink fan in place.
My second choice is my Omni-VI+. Also full filters including the
optional 1.8 and 500 hz N-1, and N-2 filters, and fan on heat sink. I
use this for general DXing and my modest contest efforts. I am very
comfortable using it although I am NOT too comfortable taking my best
rig out into a secluded park.
My last choice I guess would be my Paragon. Also full complement of
filters, fan, etc. I suspect that it would be a poorer performer
compared to the Corsair II in this strong RF environment. Thinking....
For the fun of it I'll probably take along one of my Argosies as a
spare... (2.4 kHz, 600 Hz, and audio filters installed).
I won't be using internal keyers. Probably key from logging program
backed up with an AEA MM-3 keyer.
I started collecting a set of I.C.E. transceiver filters for 80, 40,
20, and 15 meters. Hopefully I will find an entire set by Field Day. I
believe having them in line will help any transceiver that I choose.
I haven't decided if I will operate the transceivers off deep-cycle
batteries/charger combinations or off the matching Ten-Tec power
supplies connected into the club's generator. I have done both in the
past. Last year I had a computer-type UPS between the generator and my
TS-940SAT which kept it from going down when the generator was being
re-fueled, etc.. The Corsair II would probably be easiest to please off
the battery/charger environment I would think....
So which of these three Ten-Tec transceiver have you used in a contest
environment (Field Day especially) and what issues did you encounter?
73,
Jerry, KG6TT
Fairfield, CA
Two years ago I used my Jupiter and although it didn't cause problems
for the other stations those stations wiped it out if on the same band
(sorry no Jupiter this year).
Last year I used my Kenwood TS-940SAT. Disaster! It's transmit phase
noise wiped out the other two stations! Even cross band it was a piece
of work. That transceiver is no longer in my shack.
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