[SCCC] N6WIN 2012 ARRL FD 1E LP

[Timothy Coker]

                    ARRL Field Day

Call: N6WIN
Operator(s): N6WIN K6ZZ WA6KEK W2IJ
Station: N6WIN

Class: 1E LP
QTH: ORG
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Dig Qs
----------------------------
  160:
   80:    79    38
   40:   226   343
   20:   484   173
   15:   367   239
   10:
----------------------------
Total:  1156   793    1949  Total Score = 6,556

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Comments:

Last year we were battling the heat of our local desert with rattlesnakes
visiting those who dared relieve themselves outside of the trailers in the
evening. This year we decided to take a break from camping in the desert.
The
question became, where shall we go? The answer, let's simulate that an
earthquake has knocked out power for the transmitters at the shack (oh and
we'll try to contact as many as possible and exchange categories and
sections,
because that's what we would do right?). :)

We decided that we would make this a multi-single 1E entry using two K3's at
N6WIN's home QTH. We would use two K3's with interlock hardware (old WRTC
style) to test our teamwork skills.

We used N6WIN's toy hauler as a transmitter power source and sleeping
quarters.
Four Trojan T105's fed by 385 of solar panels provided our power source.
Alan's,
WA6KEK, Honda EU2000 provided an ability to top off the batteries just
before
sunset and after the neighbors were awake after sunrise. I learned that two
K3's (one signal transmitted at a time) could be powered by the trailer's
internal battery / solar supply for an entire Field Day operation if I am
willing to let the battery bank discharge as low as 60% reserve capacity.

Bob, K6ZZ brought over an A3S driven element with 40m add on kit for
installation at 60' on my mast, replacing an existing A3WS. This new antenna
was run in parallel with the booms of my other antennas in order to cover
the
Pacific North-West. A Stack Match was installed to allow switching between
10-40m antennas or multiple-direction transmitting while running on radio A.
When switching between my main yagis oriented at 60 degrees and the A3S
driven
element we consistently witnessed a 2-3 S-unit increase in signal heard from
the Pacific North-West. (This setup will stay for my future contesting use).

Tina, KJ6JET, cooked for us throughout the weekend. Her cooking really added
morale boost to the guys as they'd be relieved in pairs to eat. It provided
each operator with some much needed refueling and social time with the
headsets
off.

Jay, W2IJ, came back from vacation a couple days early in order to join us.
He
has mentored me and designed, built, and / or helped install much of the
hardware here.

The W3NQN filters and some home brewed stubs for 40m-15m allowed us to have
no
noticeable interstation interference (except on the harmonics).

The only hardware issue that we had was an audio ground loop between both
K3's
headphone output. This occurred because I had installed a couple of Dunestar
842's to allow each operator to hear left, right, both, or mixed audio. I
should have installed a couple of transistors in each audio box to break the
shield lines or strapped both K3's chassis together as a band aid fix.

All in all we had a great time working together as a team on Friday and
during
the event. Bob even commented that Alan didn't seem like a newbie to contest
style operating (Alan was a GOTA op with us last Field Day). That is a huge
part of why I like Field Day... something not so competitive that we can
bring
less experienced guys along for the ride and see them improve.

73,

Tim / N6WIN.

Operating Equipment:

Two Elecraft K3's with interlock box
Two Dunestar 842 audio sharing boxes
W3NQN band pass filters
Two Top Ten band decoders steering an AS Sixpack
AS Stack Match for the A3S driven element on radio A

Two computers with Wintest and Winkeyer's attached

LM354HD 54' Tower
Force 12 C31XR
Cushcraft XM240
A3S driven element (40-10m for NW)
80m inverted-v
160m inverted-L