[Elecraft] 2018 Field Day

[K8TE]

We (the Albuquerque DX Assn) will operate W5UR in the Sandia Ranger District
of the Cibola National Forest at Cedro Peak Park.  We hope, like 2016, the
District will not close due to fire restrictions.  That year, I took my K3
to the NM DHS EOC and operated in a trailer with the ARRL SM and others. 
They used an IC-7600 for SSB and PSK while I operated just CW.

We had a tri-band beam up about 35 ft. and an 80m OCF dipole about 50 ft.
away which I used most of the time.  If I tried to operate on the same band
(different mode), the 7600 crashed.  That rig desensed the K3, but I could
continue to operate.  I made more contacts than the SSB/PSK guys who
operated more than I.

A friend and fellow contester received his IC-7610 a few months ago to
replace the IC-7600 he won years ago.  Even on different bands, and with
bandpass filters on my K3, the 7600 suffered some in RX sensitivity when we
were on different bands.  It will be interesting to see how his 7610
performs under similar circumstances when it comes back from Icom.  Like
many of them, it has an intermittent problem that drops TX/RX unexpectedly
and sporadically!

Due our to demographics,  we will operate 1A again like, last year (21st in
1A) with a second K3 sharing antennas (triplexer and filters) for
training/practice.  We made 754 contacts, 73% CW, with five hours downtime
due to lightning.  In 2012 we operated three K3's and two K2's and placed
4th overall!  

We could operate two K3's and a K2 on 20m (SSB, GOTA, and CW) with NO
inter-station QRM until the SSB rig's battery ran down.  Somebody hit the
surge suppressor switch, disconnecting the generator power.  A CW op asked
what changed.  This is a good example why we run 14 VDC on the K3 for a
cleaner signal and not 10 VDC.

73, Bill, K8TE



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