[Elecraft] Field Day at Home

Sun Jun 25 21:31:27 EDT 2006

I've learned to be ready for operation under short notice.  I prefer the  
small HF rigs, low power, and wire antennas.  Since CW is so darn  
efficient (and I am lazy ;) it is simple to carry the required gear in a  
day pack.  Since I had missed out on my group thing I simply called my  
friend N7NLU (QRPTTF buddy) and asked about his inverted V.  He smoked me  
during QRPTTF because he could both hear and be heard much better than I  
could.  But he told me to go with a long wire against a counter poise  
instead simply for ease of setup and teardown.  That was good advice.  I  
could move from one location to another without much problem.  The biggest  
difficulty was finding a comfy tree to sit against and log contacts.

Since I design and build computers for a living I don't use them for  
amateur radio.  I like to get away from work while I am relaxing!  So my  
paper logging has become second nature.  I do it each week for two nets so  
why change?  It is easy enough to transfer to my database later; but I  
enjoy the tactile pleasure of a pen or pencil on paper.  I keep all of the  
printouts from work because I don't like to see one side of perfectly good  
paper go to waste.  I use the back side to copy code (read scribble here)  
and keep my log sheets.  FD is pretty simple: grab their call sign, get  
their designator (1A, 1E, etc) and their state while you are waiting in  
the queue.  Then all you need to do is give your info and send any fills  
required.  Log the time and frequency and on to the next victim.  The nets  
run a little differently.  I get to chat with them a bit and find out  
about their kids, their weather, both get and give an RST, and wish them  
well for the following week.  My rate for ECN is much lower due to the  
chatty nature of the venue.

FD was not the same as ECN.  The range of experience of the senders was  
much broader.  Fists ranged from very, very good to 'I think I will wait a  
year to work this op' ;)  I don't mind miskeying, heck I do enough of that  
myself!  What I cannot figure out is folks who send in one long  
character.  Makes it very tough.  Some of the folks I worked had very  
sticky paddles too.  There was one op who just could not get his tamed.   
It kept sending for long after we had exchanged information and I was  
tuning to the next spot on the dial.  But field conditions can be dirty  
which causes all sorts of odd things to happen with close spaced paddles.   
I like to take two of them just in case one goes awry during a contact.   
Then, during a pause where I copy in my head, I switch instruments and  
move on.  A good whack often dislodges the offending bit of crud so you  
can move back to set 0 when time permits.

Hopefully I'll get out in the field again soon.  The weather has broken.   
It has broken big time in Oregon.  Today it is over 85 at 2000 feet.  I  
cannot imagine what it is like in downtown Hillsboro.  I was told it may  
hit 100 today and again tomorrow.  If it were not for the fir and hemlock  
forest around me it would be much hotter.  As it is Sam is lying in a daze  
in the front yard.  Hopefully the coyotes will not awaken any time soon to  
eat him!  I am not quite as warm as he is but I don't have three inches of  
fur to contend with.  I would hose him down if he wouldn't freak out :)   
Good thing it cools off rapidly when the sun sets or sleeping would be  
difficult.

Until next week and next year.
    See you on the air,
       Kevin.  KD5ONS  (Net Control Operator on a break)

On Sun, 25 Jun 2006 17:45:12 -0700, Alexandra Carter  
<alexandracarter at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Thanks for the encouragement! Actually, I feel this is a valuable  
> learning experience:
>
> (1) Bring your own gear and be familiar with its use in the field  
> through practice, that way you'll always have a rig to plop yourself  
> down in front of and operate - yours.
>
> (2) Bring salt and pepper for the burgers, and mayo too, sriracha  
> perhaps too, just to see if anyone tries it (super hot sauce found in  
> all vietnamese noodle shops)
>
> (3) Be good at code - If I were more up to speed on code, I'd have felt  
> confident to just wait in the very short line to get on the CW station.  
> Problem is, while I've been putting in work on it and getting better, I  
> just wasn't "there" yet.
>
> (4) Nice simple antennas work great, think long hunks of wire + tall  
> trees = happiness.
>
> (5) Computers are NOT your friends!! I signed up to do the digital  
> station (psk31) because I can type better than most in the group and at  
> least it's one thing I can do. Computers crapped out both for logging  
> and I think when the one guy who set up the PSK31 station went home, the  
> station went with him, at sundown. At the SSB station, same story,  
> computer problems and unreliability. The GOTA station started humming  
> right along once their computer died and they started a proper paper  
> log. Learn to write well, quickly and cleanly, look up "directed script"  
> or whatever it's called that the old time CW ops used. It can be  
> transferred into a logging program that checks for dupes etc later, but  
> in the 24-hour time window of FD, computers only slow ya down.
>
> Now, I actually don't have any Elecraft rigs right now. It's a long  
> story. if I build yet ANOTHER KX1 I'll prolly just get the stock one and  
> the internal tuner, and not mess with additional bands. I could always  
> add them later, but keep it really simple at first. And I'll probably  
> just use my own paddle - I have one of the little American Morse jobs  
> and it's neat. Also, a Vibroplex Code-Mite straight key which looks like  
> a toy but isn't, it's a very nice, sturdy, good-feeling little key.
>
> Oh, and I have an IC-7000 I just got.
>
> 73 de Alex NS6Y.
>
> On Jun 25, 2006, at 4:05 PM, Joseph Trombino Jr wrote:
>>
>> Howdy Alex:
>>
>> I gave up on participating in club Field Day efforts many years ago  
>> precisely because of the points you raised.
>>
>> But don't give up on Field Day altogether.....you are a QRP'er which  
>> makes you a special breed....take your QRP gear out to the field and  
>> have fun.
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