[SCCC] AA6FD ARRL FD 1A

[Clayton Nall]

Call: *AA6FD <https://www.3830scores.com/findcall.php?call=AA6FD>*
Operator(s): AG4ZP <https://www.3830scores.com/findcall.php?call=AG4ZP> K2TJ
<https://www.3830scores.com/findcall.php?call=K2TJ> N1VF
<https://www.3830scores.com/findcall.php?call=N1VF> NF1R
<https://www.3830scores.com/findcall.php?call=NF1R>
Station: AA6FD

Class: *1A LP*
QTH: CO
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:   Compare Scores
<https://www.3830scores.com/comparescores.php?arg=POcvadzHvmaqo&call=AA6FD>
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
160:
80: 84 0 26
40: 385 0 29
20: 456 109 10
15: 191 36 6
10: 2 0 0
6: 0 0 73
2: 0 0 1
222:
432:
903:
1.2:
2.3:
3.4:
5.7:
10G:
24G:
Total: *1118* *145* *145* Total Score *5,792*



Club: [none]
Comments:     [email]
<https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=clayton.nall%40gmail.com>
  2023-07-24 19:01:31
Score includes bonus points for W1AW message, natural power QSOs, emergency
power, social media, and web submission. This marks the second Colorado
Field Day for the AA6FD group. The four of us started doing Field Days
together with the Harvard/MIT group on the Boston Harbor Islands in 2007.
We reconnected in the Bay Area in 2016 and got a vanity callsign (AA6FD)
and sought out remote camping locations with good terrain for serious Field
Day entries. Over the late 2010s, we operated from SCV (at Henry Coe SP)
and SV (Brushy Mountain in Mendocino National Forest). Our operating QTH
this year was a glamping yurt at 10,600 feet, looking out over Leadville,
CO. We had ample space and trees for our wire antennas. Every year, we try
a new antenna project. At our first Field Day at Henry Coe in 2016, we set
up a Hexbeam and a 40-meter fixed wire Moxon. At Brushy Mountain we used a
20-meter G4ZU "Jungle Job" (2-element Spiderbeam) and a 168-ft 40 meter
extended double zepp. This year, I joked that we should hang a
bidirectional VOA-style dipole curtain for 10-20 meters. Ben, N1VF, went
down the rabbit hole doing research on curtain arrays and correctly decided
that if we were going to build one, we should maximize performance on a
single band. Ben and Ryan, AG4ZP, settled on a 3-dipole, 20-meter collinear
array fed with switchable delay lines to slew the signal in desired
directions. In the weeks before FD, they built a customized "HF Switching
Bawx" to control the phasing lines. The relay box was programmed to operate
from a web browser. According to EZNEC and research, this antenna could be
expected to deliver 6dB gain over a single dipole at the same height. We
aimed the antenna at 90/270 azimuth, and the delay lines allowed us to slew
the signal to direct the main lobes to 70/250 (SoCal and New England) or
110/290 (Pac NW and Florida/TX) azimuths. Andy, K2TJ, flew in from
Rochester, NY with 2 500-foot Beverages, which he strung down and along the
mountain. These helped greatly with the weekend's thunderstorm noise and
might have helped with some noise generated by high-tension lines about a
mile from our site. Andy is also our best CW operator and was able to
squeeze lots of QSOs out of 40 and 20 meters. We were able to hold a run
frequency for much of the weekend, turning in great numbers on 20 meters.
With a Hexbeam perched at 20 feet over great terrain to the East, we were
able to set fire on 15 meters during the Sunday morning opening. We had a
nice opening on 6m FT8 on Sunday morning. We heard a few weak signals on 10
meters but it was mostly a bust. We set up antennas for 6m, 2m, 70cm, and
23cm, but above 6m only made a single QSO on 2 meters. For next year, we
plan to find a QTH somewhere along the Front Range to better on VHF. Thanks
to everyone for the QSOs. Rigs: -2xK3 on HF and 6m (FT8) -IC-9700 on higher
VHF bands. Antennas: 80: Dipole 40: Inverted vee 20: Hexbeam or
three-dipole slewable collinear array 15: Hexbeam or 40M inverted vee 10:
Hexbeam 6: 5-element Yagi 2: 9-element Yagi 440: 13-element Yagi 1296:
Long-Ranger TV Dish

-- 
Clayton Nall
http://www.nallresearch.com
Cell: (617) 850-2062