[3830] W3TB 1C (QRP) RI

[BlairBates at aol.com]

ARRL FIELD DAY       1999


      Call: W3TB                     Section: Rhode Island
      Mode: CW                       Category: Multi Single, 		Class 
1C QRP

      BAND   CW QSO  CW QSO PTS   SSB QSO  SSB QSO PTS


      160        0       0             0       0
       80       32     320             0       0
       40       64     640             0       0
       20      124    1240             0       0
       17        0       0             0       0
       15       94     940             0       0
       12        0       0             0       0
       10       22     220             0       0
      --------------------------------------------

               336            +         0     =    336  QSO
	SCORE:  336 Q's x 2pts (CW) x 5pts QRP = 3,360


Operator List: Blair Bates K3YD,  Ted Edwards W3TB
Equipment Description: Ten-Tec Argosy @ 5 watts
                       Butternut HF6V vertical

QTH:  Sailboat Honah Lee at Napatree Anchorage, Watch Hill, Rhode Island
                                                                          
	The W3TB FD operation was aboard a 27' Sloop, the Honah Lee, anchored 
in Rhode Island waters about 1/2 mile off Watch Hill, RI, in Napatree Inlet.  
The bay water and ocean breeze 
provided relief to the 95+ temperatures most of the east cost "enjoyed" that 
weekend.

	Our Butternut vertical (26' high) on a 27' sloop suffered high SWR 
from interaction with the steel mast support cables and a 33' aluminum mast, 
and we haven't perfected shipboard RF grounding--yet.  We finally got the 
antenna playing on 5 bands using a combination of an antenna tuner, a single 
tuned radial, and untuned radials dropped into the salt water.  We wondered, 
but couldn't confirm, if we had some degree of directionality--particularly 
on 40 meters--due to the proximate 33' mast.

	We powered the entire contest with a single 12 V. marine battery with 
solar panel for daylight charging.  Neither of us had enough batteries to 
operate a laptop for 24 hours and the current drain through a 12V. inverter 
was more than the marine battery could sustain, so we used ancient operating 
techniques--a K4 CMOS memory keyer and paper logs.

	The QRP power and somewhat crippled antenna made for hard work on 
both ends of many QSO.  We couldn't "run" on any band.  Only 1 station 
answered our many CQ's and we worked only 1 tail-ender.  So, it was 24 hours 
of hunt-and-pounce.  Some stations were worked on the 1st call, others on the 
10th, some never!  We seemed to have our best signal into the upper mid-west. 
 Thanks all you 8's, 9's and 0's.  Double thanks to the ops who made the 
effort to dig our signal out of the noise--after multiple repeats.

	The decision to operate with paper logs (and no dupe sheets) resulted 
in about 9% dupes when we ran the log through CT on Monday.  (Does anybody 
know of a logging program for a Palm Pilot or the WindowsCE operating system?)

	After removing the dupes, we compared our final score with the 1998 
FD results.  Our score would have placed us second in the 1C category among 
those scores.

	73 from RI,  Blair K3YD

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