[PPRAANet] ARRL Field Day History - 2000

[Paul Signorelli]

"A No Coder’s Field Day" -  2000
By Ted Allison, NØNKG

This year I decided to set up my own Field Day Station. I had some work to do around the house, so I didn’t get equipment loaded and on the road until about 11 AM Saturday. I arrived at the site on Rampart Range Road, at 9500 feet elevation, exactly at noon—just as the rain began. The rain didn’t amount to much, so I proceeded to set up the 2-meter and 6-meter Yagi's, supported by 15 feet of 1-inch electrical conduit tied to a fence post. With my ICOM IC-706 MkII transceiver ready to go, I started on 2-meter SSB, but couldn’t get stations to hear me. I realized there was RF feedback when my 150-W amplifier was on. After trying different grounding schemes without much success, I ended up operating barefoot. After making 10 contacts on 2-meter SSB, I moved to 6 meters just as the band opened to California. Within 14 minutes I completed 10 QSOs! I also got a few into Florida and Mississippi, which were considerably harder. (I tried calling one station for nearly half an hour. You can imagine my excitement when he finally returned my call!) After operating for two hours I had logged 14 contacts on 6 meters, 13 on 2 meters and 1 on 70-cm FM. I broke down the station and went down the hill to the Pikes Peak Radio Amateur Association and Mountain Amateur Radio Club Field Day site. I had been in touch with them throughout the day on simplex. It was good to compare notes and see a slightly larger Field Day operation. The delicious food they had on hand was an added bonus! All in all, it was a great Field Day and I accomplished all seven of my Field Day goals: 1. To practice and test emergency preparedness. 2. To find out what needs fixing (i.e., the RF feedback problem). 3. Demonstrate ham radio (I had a visitor at my site). 4. Make radio contact with other hams. 5. Have fun on the radio. 6. Socialize with other hams. 7. Make yourself tired so you sleep like a log.

>From Dec 2000 QST
Via W0RW


>From QST