[3830] ARRL FD WB4ZPI 1A LP

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                    ARRL Field Day

Call: WB4ZPI
Operator(s): KE4GWW, KC4JBF, KJ4VDE, KJ4LTA, KK4DVJ, N3FU, M5MTJ, WD0HBR, KF4YEP, JOHN DUTY AND MAVETTA ADAMS
Station: WB4ZPI

Class: 1A LP
QTH: AL
Operating Time (hrs): 23

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Dig Qs
----------------------------
  160:                   
   80:           1       
   40:   2     339       
   20:   1     330     23
   15:          30       
   10:                   
    6:                   
    2:                   
  222:                   
  432:                   
  903:                   
  1.2:                   
  2.3:                   
  3.4:                   
  5.7:                   
  10G:                   
  24G:                   
----------------------------
Total:   3     700     23  Total Score = 1,502

Club: 

Comments:

The Wiregrass ARC Dothan Alabama organized for a FD activity this year as a 1A
station (which include a free VHF station).  Actually with the turn out of
participants and the antennas we had, we could have easily turned into a 2A
entry.  Maybe not a strong 2A competitive station, but certainly we could have
had more people operating and thus more fun.  Perhaps next year we will do
this.  

Our equipment included a FT990AT for HF and a TS2000 for 6m.  Our antennas were
a Mosley TA33JR at 25', a homebrewed G5RV for 80m at 20' and a Hustler 5BTV with
about 24 radials.  We used a 5 element beam for 6m at about 32'.  We had a very
interesting tower assembly mounted to a 5 x 12 utility trailer.  It had two
sections of Rohn 20 with a 32' mast mounted on a hinged base with a winch to
pull the whole kit and kabootal up.  We put rope guys about 40' from the
trailer and about 24' up the tower to secure it once everything was in place. 

We had a bit of trouble with the HF beam, because I got the traps from the
director mixed up with driven element--wonder how many times this happened this
year?   Once we got that squared away, that antenna played very well. Otherwise
the vertical played excellent on 40m and the G5RV allowed us to pass our
traffic via the Alabama Emergency Net Mike on 80m and make one other Q.   6m
was a big disappointment here.  We hoped that we could really have a good 
opening and be able to work both radio, but the propagation did not cooperate. 
Oh well.

Actually most of our activity was on 20 and 40 meters.  I am not exactly sure,
we made close to 700+ Qs including a few on Digital (PSK31), CW and majority on
PH.  Everybody got to operate, including a couple of individuals that are
working on their license.  One of our members, a strictly QRP CW straight key
man got in and worked a few PH Qs.   I even caught him earlier giving some CW
instruction to one of the non code members, so he was true to his CW
conviction.  I ask him about it afterwards and he said, "that these were the
first PH contacts that he has made in 20 years"...he also said, "he really did
not enjoy operating PH, but was glad that he could help the FD effort", spoken
like a true CW man.  BTW, he stayed all night and logged for one of the PH ops.
 hi  

We had about 20 participants and a few visitors.  The Alabama Section Manager
and Assistant Section Manger visited our site for the first time in many years.
  We had a reporter and photographer from the Dothan Eagle newspaper.  Here is a
link to the article that resulted from their visit  

http://www2.dothaneagle.com/news/2012/jun/24/amateur-radio-
enthusiasts-ready-emergencies-ar-4029212/

We also were able to get the Mayor of Dothan to sign a proclamation declaring
the week of Jun 18 - 24 "Amateur Radio Week in Dothan, Alabama". 

We had a great meal on Saturday night.  

Believe it or not we had 6 that were there for station take down on Sunday.  

All and all we had a great time and nobody got hurt.  We were able to build our
station(s) and make contacts.  We had a few problems along the way and worked to
resolve them. We definitely demonstrated our ability to respond to a need for
emergency communications and had some fun doing it along the way. 

So really a one word summary: "Successful!"

Jim/KC4HW


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