This year represents my fifth consecutive effort in
the ARRL Field Day event, operating a portable station at low power.
After 4 years operating from Flagstaff, Arizona, I operated from a campground
in the Prescott National Forest south of Prescott. Once again, I used my
Icom IC-703 HF/6m
transceiver for my station, operating at 5 watts. Unlike my past 4
efforts, I changed from the 1B category to the 1A category to prepare for more
operators at my station. I ended up being the only operator, but I kept
the 1A classification for this weekend.
I operated from the
White Spar Campground, in the
Prescott
National Forest south of Prescott, Arizona, in grid DM34sm. I camped there
for the weekend, and operated for much of Saturday and part of Sunday morning -
my first camping Field Day in at least 15 years!
My station
- Icom IC-703 HF/6m transceiver, operating at 5 watts!
- Wire dipole for 40 meters, fed with 450-ohm twin-lead to a 4:1 balun,
suspended between two trees approximately 12 feet high, with an
Elecraft T1
automatic antenna tuner
- Xantrex xPower 300
12V/20Ah gel-cell batteries with 300-watt AC inverter
- (assorted tools, accesories, food, drink, and lighting)
Field Day Bonuses
As part of Field Day, ARRL has bonus points awarded for many activities in
order to encourage activity. I am claiming 250 bonus points this
year:
- 100 points for locating in a public location - the campground, where
people could walk or drive by and see my station
- 100 points for operating my station on 100% emergency power - everything
was powered by my gel-cell packs
- 50 points for submitting a summary of my Field Day effort through the ARRL
web site
On the air...
I arrived at the campground on Friday afternoon, but did not begin setting up
until a little after 1100 (1800 UTC) Saturday. By doing this, I could
operate until 1400 (2100 UTC) Sunday. I put a dipole between a couple of
trees, fed it most of the way with 450-ohm twinlead cable into a 4:1 balun,
then used 50-ohm coax cable for the remainder of the run to my radio and
antenna tuner. An easy setup, once again.
After briefly listening to each of the bands between 80m and 10m, I decided to
start working on the 15m band. I heard nothing on the 10m band, and
wanted to start on the highest band I could hear stations. My first
contact went into the log at 1258 (1958 UTC), with AD6YS/7 in western
Washington state. I made 2 more contacts on this band, then moved to the
40m band for the next 90 minutes. I made 15 contacts, mostly in
California but a couple in New Mexico and one in Idaho while on 40m. I
then moved to the 20m band, making only 2 contacts (Wisconsin and Illinois),
followed by 2 more contacts on the 15m band (California and Mexico - my first
Field Day contact ever with a station outside the USA and Canada!), before
returning to the 40m band.
Back on the 40m band, I made 17 more contacts in the next 3 hours or so,
including 3 more Mexican stations (friends of mine - Francisco XE2MXZ, Marco
XE2TG, and Benjamin XE2TH), in this time. I tried the 15m band again at
1749 (0049 UTC), for 3 contacts, followed by a single contact on the 20m band,
before returning to the 40m band one last time. I made just 6 more
contacts before calling it a night at 1909 (0209 UTC). This brought my
count to 49 contacts on Saturday - much lower than 2004, but not the end of my
effort.
Sunday morning came, and I put WD9EWK back on the air at 0858 (1558 UTC), up on
the 15m band. At this hour, I contacted many California stations along
with a few further away (Colorado, Idaho, North Carolina, Oregon, Wyoming, plus
British Columbia in western Canada) in the next 45 minutes. I went back
to the 40m band to add 5 more contacts in the next hour or so. In the
last half-hour or so, I added 3 contacts on the 15m band and 3 on the 20m band
before ending my Field Day effort at 1136 (1836 UTC). I added 28 contacts
to my log Sunday morning, bringing my total to 77 for Field Day 2005.
Statistics...
I made a total of 77 contacts (all SSB):
- 40 meters: 43
- 20 meters: 6
- 15 meters: 28
I had contacts with 16 US states, 2 Canadian provinces (Alberta and British
Columbia), one other country (Mexico), and a total of 26
ARRL/
RAC sections. Since I used
my IC-703 at 5 watts output, I claimed the 5X power multiplier for my efforts,
for a total of 385 points through my contacts. I also claimed 250 points
in bonuses, for a total score of 635 points. Not as good as 2004,
but I am not complaining about this effort.
This score was first place in Arizona and the ARRL's Southwestern Division for
my entry class (1A - Battery, or "1AB"). I was the only entrant
in this class for Arizona and my ARRL division. :-) There
were 18 other stations across the Americas in the same entry in Field Day 2005,
but I had the lowest score of these 19.
Want a QSL card from WD9EWK for Field Day 2005?
Just drop me an e-mail with your name/address and
information about our contact. I'll mail a card to you, no SASE or stamp
needed.
What now???
I enjoyed camping in my youth, and thoroughly enjoyed this weekend camping with
friends for the first time in at least 15 years. I know I will do this
again in the future, and should not have to resort to day-trips away from
Phoenix to get on the air. Higher power output would have certainly lead
to more contacts, but still operating in the 5-watt (QRP) power classification
is a challenge I relish.
73!
WD9EWK/VA7EWK - ARRL Field Day - WD9EWK (in USA) - QSL VIA WD9EWK
