[Elecraft] WN1GIV QRP Afield

[Bob Patten]

     Kevin, K4PG and I started the 110 mile trek to Guano Reef in the 
Florida Keys
(Fiesta Key KOA at MM70) at about 9AM.  We stopped to visit Tim, N4UM 
and his son
Mike, K4RUM on Islamorada at about 11AM where we enjoyed lunch, a tour 
of the shack,
and the opportunity to watch a huge manatee drink water from Tim's 
garden hose for
about fifteen minutes.  We trekked the remaining twenty miles to Fiesta 
Key, arrived
at about 1:45PM, and began setup.  It took us only about fifteen minutes 
to setup
the computer controlled, marine battery powered Elecraft K2 station on a 
picnic table
under the chickee at the camp ground and to erect the 4BTV on the nearby 
seawall.
We were up on twenty meters at just after 2PM and took one hour shifts 
for each of
the next six hours.  Conditions were fair - even fifteen meters was open 
- but
participation was very light as expected.  All afternoon, a thunderstorm 
hung off to
our north and gave us a fairly high noise level.  Fortunately, it never 
did come ashore.
Later in the afternoon, the storm clouds gave us one of the most 
beautiful sunsets ever.
As I write this, however, Hurrican Rita is heading directly for the Keys 
and expected
to cross our exact location this evening!

     Tim and Mike came down from Islamorada to visit us around 3PM, but 
chose not to
operate.  But at least Kevin and I were able to chat with them since we 
wouldn't have
been able to talk to each other.  When they arrived back at their homes, 
first Mike,
K4RUM called us on twenty meters and we walked him through four bands.  
A few minutes
later Tim, N4UM called us and did the same.  We tried eighty meters, but 
apparently
we couldn't tickle the 4-band vertical with enough RF there for Tim to 
hear us.  Later
in the afternoon, Kevin worked K4P, a special events station set up on 
nearby Pigeon
Key to activate the IOTA.  The organizer was Nelson, NE4LS, and I think 
he later told
me they had about nine operators.

     We had planned our six hour operating period to include at least 
one hour after
sunset to give us some forty meter propagation.  Unfortunately, the 
above mentioned
thunderstorm prevented us from hearing any but the loudest stations on 
forty.
Kevin did that last hour.  I kept urging him to go to forty and log some 
mults,
but since he was wearing headsets, I wasn't hearing the static levels 
that was making
that near impossible.  During the last few minutes though, signals 
starting peaking up
and Kevin was able to work a few.  In retrospect, we might have done 
better if we had
started an hour or so later giving us more opportunity on 40M.  But 
trying to figure
which "six contiguous hours" out of the twelve would have the most 
participants was a
guessing game at best.  I beg the contest committee to reconsider that 
rule and
designate the same six hour period for everyone next year!

    Breakdown of the station took about the same fifteen minutes and we 
were on the road
for home by about 8:15PM.  Traffic was a little heavier driving back up 
the Keys
and the drive was slow until we hit Homestead and the Florida Turnpike.  
We finally
arrived at my house at about 10:30, dog tired but satisfied that our 
final operation
as the Guano Reef Bashful Perverts was a success.  We had been using 
this same KOA
campground for Field Day for almost every one of the past 38 years!  But 
the campground
is to close in March and a developer will break ground for condominiums 
next summer.

     This operation is dedicated to Grant, N4GM - the third pervert 
during our past few
Field Days - who was unable to join us this year for health reasons.  We 
also want to
thank Pat Larcomb of the Fiesta Key KOA staff for giving us the perfect 
FD site for each
of the past few years, and for day passes in the occasional QRP sprint 
such as this one.

     Here is the band by band breakdown:

                 CW        CW
     band    QSOs      pts   mults
     -----------------------------
      40       11         110      10
      20       72         720      34
      15       25         250      13
      10         2           20        1
     -----------------------------
     TOTAL   110   1100     58    SCORE: 63,800
 
 

-- 
73,     Bob Patten, N4BP                Plantation, FL

E-Mail: n4bp at arrl.net                   Website: http://www.qsl.net/n4bp
QRP ARCI #3412    SOC #1    ARS #799    SMIRK #6625          FISTS #7871