[TenTec] Field Day Drill

[Kevin Anderson]

Hey, Steve, there is no reason for you to "pick up a microphone" if you don't want to.  If you enjoy CW, stick with it.  On the other hand, if you do want to work more modes, by all means.  I operate CW most of the time, but I also will do SSB in contests, even QRP when there isn't a category.

For Field Day, I usually operate for a club about 25 miles away that I am not a member of, but invited each year to help out as a guest op because I know several of the guys and they know I like to operate.  (So if you worked KC9KQ this weekend, either phone or CW, it might have been me.)  When I do participate in their Field Day, I am primarily there to operate, and do tend to concentrate on rate just like a contest.  That is what I enjoy doing.  And I like to operate both modes, about half to two-thirds the time on CW and a third to half my operating time on phone. 

To do so, this means I'm calling CQ.  In fact, I am only comfortable (and enjoy) operating in a contest if I can get a frequency and call CQ.  If I have to operate only in search and pounce mode, then I don't like to operate.  I don't know why, but when I call CQ, I have all the confidence in the world and seem to be able to pick out calls and exchanges just fine.  But when I operate S&P, for some reason I can't, and seem to second guess myself all the time; my confidence, and my rate, goes into the toilet, and I don't enjoy the contest at all.  Strange, but that is how I am.

Rick is right - CW operators tend to be a strange bunch, and often a close-knit clique.  And more often than not, CW operators in my experience like to operate solo.  I want to do my own logging, which works well because I am almost always using a computer to both log and key the rig.  And because I am using a computer (as are lots of the CW ops with contesting background) to do much of the keying, it is harder to slow down for many people.  I have a paddle/keyer hooked up in parallel, so I am able to key for slower operators that get my attention, and will do so, but if I can get away with not, I won't just to keep the rhythm going.  But as a compromise, I usually have the computer set for somewhere around 18 wpm or so, which works okay for most contacts on Field Day.

At Field Day operations, I tend to see more operators who operate SSB as being Search and Pounce types, and not usually calling CQ.  The SSB station at Field Day is more often than not where also two operators are sitting, one on the microphone and the other doing logging.  I think the nature of the mode, and the phonetics involved, make it easier to do this.  But again, when I operate, I prefer to operate solely, or at least do my own logging and speaking.  And phone easily allows one to operate fast or slow as the conditions may dictate, and change your speed at an instant.  One of my joys at operating at Field Day is that I usually get to use headphones with attached boom microphones and foot switch - a setup that I have yet to afford at home - which also make rapid flow and smoothness in operating so much easier.

I also agree with everyone else who has said that Field Day has something for everyone.  I tend to see it as a contest myself, striving for rate and improvement over what I did the previous year.  But I agree it is much more than that, particularly in the opportunity to see Field Day as a great training event.  (Something that is much harder than with Sweepstakes, which is so competitive, or with a state QSO party, which are often a smaller event and not active enough for training to be a contester.)  The club Field Day I used to operate at, before it got harder for me to get to their event, being its much further away, used to stress quite a bit the training opportunity that Field Day provided operators.  They also often had a friendly wager, such as buying pizzas for everyone, between the CW and SSB tents.  Even with the extra point advantage that CW Qs provide, there were years when the phone group won.

Obligatory Ten-Tec content:  One of my joys also at operating the KC9KQ FD is that I also get to use some Ten-Tec equipment, because Paul, K9OT, a member of this forum, provides the CW rig, and it is always Ten-Tec.  Usually it is his Corsair II, which is what we started with out on Saturday.  But because we were having some problems, he elected to use his Omni VII for Sunday's operation.  My, what a joy that rig is to use!  I particularly like the increments in the Bandwidth setting, which I put to full use on 40 meters, variously widening and narrowing the setting as conditions on the band got busier and crowded.  (Now you need to realize that this was really my first time using one of the modern Ten-Tec rigs.  Other than a very brief use of a Jupiter once many years ago, I haven't really used any the new DSP-based rigs like the Eagle, Omni VII, Orion, or even the Argo V - and so I haven't had the opportunity to use the DSP bandwidth adjusts, with its
 30-some increments.)  Thanks, Paul, for bringing the Omni VII this year!

Cheers/73,
Kevin, K9IUA

-- 
-------------------------------------
Kevin Anderson, Dubuque IA USA, K9IUA
k9iua (at) yahoo (dot) com
-------------------------------------