[3830] ARRL FD K1LT 1B LP

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ARRL Field Day

Call: K1LT
Operator(s): K1LT
Station: K1LT

Class: 1B LP
QTH: 
Operating Time (hrs): 19

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Dig Qs
----------------------------
  160:                   
   80:   291             
   40:   661             
   20:   282             
   15:   137             
   10:                   
    6:                   
    2:                   
  222:                   
  432:                   
  903:                   
  1.2:                   
  2.3:                   
  3.4:                   
  5.7:                   
  10G:                   
  24G:                   
----------------------------
Total:  1371    0       0  Total Score = 2,742

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

A couple of years ago K8ND, WD8AMX, and I made about 1440 CW QSOs in a
tent in my "far" backyard.  Since Jeff and Bill no longer want to do
Field Day with me, I operate by myself.

Last year, I simplified the operation, using my pole barn in place of
the tent.  I didn't try particularly hard and I didn't submit my log
but I was surprised that my 1050 QSOs would have been 2nd place in the
1B1 category.  So the plan for this year was to repeat last year's
operation but with more determination.

The antennas were the same: a low 80 meter open-wire-fed dipole and a
full sized 40 meter vertical.  The dipole was strung between the
highest point on the house and a 35-foot pole made of surplus aluminum
mast sections.  The middle was about 25 feet above the ground.  The
40-meter vertical is just my regular 40-meter vertical relocated to a
temporary 4x4 pole and 32 32-foot radials laid on the ground.  By
soldering the radials to a ring-wire ahead of time, one can make a
reasonably quick to deploy temporary radial system.  It took about 40
minutes to set up the vertical, not counting the time to dig the hole
(or re-dig last year's hole).

The barn has a concrete floor and a big garage door.  I put a 10x10
foot carpet on the floor for comfort and a 8 foot folding table.

During the day I used a padded folding chair, and at night I used a
recliner.  Sitting in a folding chair gets quite fatiguing after a
while which makes me very, very sleepy, while the recliner allows me
to relax which results in more time awake than than with the folding
chair.

I used the K3 and P3 and an old laptop that has a real serial port.  I
find that USB serial ports screw-up CW via RTS and DTR regardless of
who makes the USB chip.  An old Viking matchbox handled the open-wire
to coax conversion, and an old Astron power supply did the AC to DC
conversion.  I use a cheap Ramsey stereo FM transmitter and wireless
FM headphones so I can walk around while listening.  A Honda e1000u
provided the necessary AC for 7 hours per tank of gas (about a quart).
A fan on a pole at low speed was the only creature comfort.  I didn't
need the fan at night.  Actually I needed a sweater.

The K3 is supposed to route SO239 #1 to the main RX and SO239 #2 to
the sub-RX which was the plan for diversity reception.  However, the
sub-RX would not accept any RF from the SO239s unless it was the same
SO239 as the main RX, regardless of the Config:KRX3 setting.  So I
used an adapter and plugged the 2nd antenna into the "aux RX" port
for
the sub-RX to get diversity reception.  That made band changing a
nuisance, so I didn't change bands very often.

The bands were remarkably quiet despite the extensive collection of
thunderstorms that passed through Ohio on Friday.  I started on 40 and
went to 20 for a while in the evening.  15 didn't seem to have much
activity although KP4 and W5 were quite loud.  At dusk I went back to
40 until the 6s and 7s started to come in.  For the late night, I went
to 80.  Sunday I reversed the process and finished the test on 15
which was very productive the last couple of hours.

I operated until about 0730Z and set my alarm for 4 hours and somehow
managed to use up 4 hours and 40 minutes, despite waking up early.
Last year I left the barn door open so the sunrise would wake me up,
but this year it was too cool for that.

The end result was 1371 QSOs which seems decent considering nearly 5
hours off-time and a half-dozen trips to the house to fetch food and
forgotten widgets.  I worked all states although the KL7 said "SC"
and
the KH6 said "AZ".  Thus I missed SF, AK, PAC, NL, NT, and MB. 
Worked
EI6 and 6Y5.

I transmitted "1A" as my category because I forgot to change the
messages from last year but I'll submit the log as "1B1".  I believe
I
qualify for the 100% emergency power and ARRL bulletin bonuses.


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