Bill and All, Like Bill, I've been doing this ham radio stuff for a long time--54 years. It still "floats my boat!"
I committed very late to join a couple of ham friends on a camping outing up on Mt. Lemmon, which is 9K feet and 30 degrees cooler than the 100's here on the desert floor. The best part is I can go from my house to the top in about an hour. That fact alone makes Tucson a better place to live than Phoenix!!! I took my K2, and some battery packs, and headed up the mountain on Friday. I also used an end fed HW for simplicity. The others with me are hams, but alas, they aren't all that interested in CW or QRP. So, I was the only "op". I've been on many intense Field Day operations, but I'm just as happy to do it very casually. I operate a couple of hours, then go visit with everyone for even longer, or just go take a long walk! I also like to sleep, so you won't hear me in the middle of the night. I only made about 160 contacts, but since I'm not really a threat to win anything, I usually just try and see how many different sections I can work. In the process, I pass up a lot of contacts I could easily make to up the total. I probably didn't operate more than 5 or 6 hours total, and much of that was searching for new sections. I ended up with 67 sections, and I missed a few that I shouldn't have. But what the heck! It's fun to have a "mini" objective like that if you aren't trying to rack up a big score. K2 worked great, and the WX at 8400 feet was very nice too. Ate well, and even had a little "nectar of the Gods" with my steak! Now, how can you beat that? Dave W7AQK ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill W4ZV" <btipp...@alum.mit.edu> To: <elecraft@mailman.qth.net> Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2009 7:12 PM Subject: [Elecraft] Field Day Fun! > > My XYL was participating in a singing event this afternoon so I made a > hasty > decision to pack up my QRP K2 and head for the top of Morrow Mountain (NC > State Park). After several misfires with my slingshot (out of practice) I > got my Par EndFedz-20/40 installed in a tree over a picnic table. > Connected > my 7AH SLA battery to the K2 and turned it on. Nothing! Are the > conditions > that bad? Went to 40 and it sounded the same. > > I hadn't used the EndFedz in several years after removing it from a > semi-permanent installation at a mountain cabin. Apparently I must have > had > a nearby lightning strike sometime which blew out the sealed matching > unit. > Fortunately I had my Emtech ZM-2 tuner which loaded the wire from the > EndFedz (no radials). I set the K2 to 5 Watts on 20m and was finally > ready > to go. > > I made my first QSO at 1846z and operated ~3 hours, mostly S&P on 20m but > also a few on 15 and 40. Made 107 total QSOs including KH7 and KP3 with > the > last one at 2201z when it was time to pack up and head for home. If you > worked me, you can congratulate yourself on your good ears. I was frankly > amazed anyone could hear me with QRP to that band-aided antenna! > > After almost 52 years on the air I'm still thrilled with this hobby. It's > just amazing that we can communicate across the country with 5 watts to a > piece of wire. What fun!!! And thanks to Elecraft for the K2...the ideal > Field Day QRP rig. > > 73, Bill W4ZV > -- > View this message in context: > http://n2.nabble.com/Field-Day-Fun%21-tp3168641p3168641.html > Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
