For 2012 ARRL Field Day, we operated from the cabin in portable style. Temporary wire antennas were tossed into the trees and the trusty Honda EU1000 generator provided emergency power. The Spousal Unit, Joyce KØJJW got on the air and made some contacts, making this a multi-op effort.
We used a similar approach as last year, see my post, ARRL Field Day: Season to Taste. The main difference is that the sporadic-e on 50 MHz wasn’t as good this year, but we had a fun time working the event.
Band Mode QSOs 7 SSB 15 14 USB 78 21 USB 73 50 USB 33 144 USB 3 420 FM 1 Total Both 203 Score: 406
As usual for Field Day, most of the time the 20 Meter phone band was crammed with stations calling CQ Field Day. There were many times that I responded to one call and had another radio operator think I was working them. It occurs to me that we have this emphasis on exposing new people to ham radio during Field Day via the GOTA stations and public demonstrations. However, this is kind of like showing someone the joy of driving a car by having them experience a giant traffic jam. Is this really the best way to introduce people to ham radio?
Field Day: Make it your own!
73, Bob K0NR
We did CW QRP on batteries and solar cell! 10 points for each QSO. 200 Q’s could have been 2500 points if some 100-point bonus points were taken advantage of. No one calling on top of each other, everybody evenly spaced across the band, if you heard ’em you could work ’em. And you could send at 5-WPM, they’ll reply at 5-WPM. Nice.