2006 ARRL Field Day
07/03/2006 |
AA6SS
FUN IN THE SUN - 2006
The hammer of the hot summer sun slammed down on the anvil of the Salton Sea like a god seeking vengeance on all below. The fierce heat pounded everything into an ethereal steel grey, the sky, the mountains in the distance, and the sea. Strangely, the air was humid due to moist monsoonal air pumped up from the Sea of Cortez, making it seemed more like being in the Cotton South than one of the driest Desert in the world.
Into this cauldron I ventured for Field Day. When I arrived and parked I was not prepared for what greeted me. It was 115 degrees in Palm Springs, about 30 miles away. But the Salton Sea is 230 feet below sea level, about 500 feet in elevation below Palm Springs so the temperature was probably closer to 120. Of course, the slight breeze and the accompanying wind chill factor made it seem more like, say, 117.
I expected the heat and so had arranged a recreational vehicle for shelter from the forbidding elements. My temporary QTH was a marina at Salton Sea Beach on the Western shore of the Salton Sea. RV parking was available with an electrical hook-up for the vehicles Air Conditioning system. When I arrived and hooked up, however, nothing happened. In a panic I reported the problem and, being optimistic about a solution, began to erect antennas. A half hour later the electrician, who had been doing some work the day before, showed up and threw the main circuit breaker up at the management office. Whew!
My goal for the weekend was to demonstrate that with vertical antennas next to the salt water, I could operate a QRP station successfully and have fun. I hoped to male 500 contacts during the event.
My antennas were a Force 12 Sigma 5 multi-band vertical for 20 meters and 15 if it ever opened. My other main antenna was a Force 12 40-XP, another multi-band vertical but one I set up exclusively for use on 40 meters.
I was finished erecting the two verticals by sundown and sat down to see if we were going to be effective. I fired up my trusty K2 and, first, noticed how quiet the bands were, not unusual when you consider the small population and lower number of electrical wires. I heard a few stations with S7 and better signals and was surprised to find that they were all European stations. In fact, I could not hear a Western Hemisphere station!
Over the next hour with power at 5 watts I managed to work over a dozen stations, including SM6CLU and SM5CCE who seemed as if they were next door. Stations in Russia, Poland, England, Germany, Slovak Rep., Serbia, Croatia, Greece, and Israel followed in short order. I even managed to work a new DX entity too, 9K2MU, although I needed to turn on the 100 watt amp to get him.
The next morning, I got everything ready for the event which was to begin at 11AM. . I erected an 80 meter dipole using extendable fiberglass poles and got everything ready.
The actual operation experience was pretty straight-forward. I made about 25 to 35 contacts per hour S&P. Calling CQ seemed to be a non-event. Most stations seemed to hear me, especially the obvious better operators. Some appeared to be less experienced, to be expected and even desired during Field Day, and some of them asked for repeats. So I had the idea that the signal was getting out OK. And, not everyone I called, even on a clear frequency and no competition, came back to me. I also could hear stations in the mid-west and east working other eastern stations I could not hear.
Mid-afternoon, I tried to operate PSK and, although I had tried to set up everything at home, it took me a while to get used to it and finally get a response. I made 6 QSOs which was clearly not worth the time spent, but I proved that it could be done. Another waste of time was that spent on 80 meters later in the evening, clearly not worth the effort expended.
I was not planning on doing an all-out effort and went QRT at midnight with the alarm set for 6AM. I need my beauty sleep but would have been better off getting up at 5AM as the bands were quite active at 6AM, almost a half-hour past local sunrise.
Final results were 460 CW contacts, 6 digital contacts in 18 hours of operation. I believe that I got as good results as I could from the station so any short-comings were a result of operator errors and misjudgments and lethargy. Clearly, I could have spent more time in the chair and I could have probably been a little more zealous about keeping track of opportunities, where I knew a station was operating but I didnt want to join a pile up.
I will try again in the future as I think that the concept worked well and given my comfort in my RV cocoon, it was not a struggle, by any means. I was thrilled at coming close enough to my original objective and I learned enough so as to think that I would improve the performance on a subsequent visit.
And working those European stations on QRP! Heck, Im ready to go back again this weekend! -- W6SJ
The hammer of the hot summer sun slammed down on the anvil of the Salton Sea like a god seeking vengeance on all below. The fierce heat pounded everything into an ethereal steel grey, the sky, the mountains in the distance, and the sea. Strangely, the air was humid due to moist monsoonal air pumped up from the Sea of Cortez, making it seemed more like being in the Cotton South than one of the driest Desert in the world.
Into this cauldron I ventured for Field Day. When I arrived and parked I was not prepared for what greeted me. It was 115 degrees in Palm Springs, about 30 miles away. But the Salton Sea is 230 feet below sea level, about 500 feet in elevation below Palm Springs so the temperature was probably closer to 120. Of course, the slight breeze and the accompanying wind chill factor made it seem more like, say, 117.
I expected the heat and so had arranged a recreational vehicle for shelter from the forbidding elements. My temporary QTH was a marina at Salton Sea Beach on the Western shore of the Salton Sea. RV parking was available with an electrical hook-up for the vehicles Air Conditioning system. When I arrived and hooked up, however, nothing happened. In a panic I reported the problem and, being optimistic about a solution, began to erect antennas. A half hour later the electrician, who had been doing some work the day before, showed up and threw the main circuit breaker up at the management office. Whew!
My goal for the weekend was to demonstrate that with vertical antennas next to the salt water, I could operate a QRP station successfully and have fun. I hoped to male 500 contacts during the event.
My antennas were a Force 12 Sigma 5 multi-band vertical for 20 meters and 15 if it ever opened. My other main antenna was a Force 12 40-XP, another multi-band vertical but one I set up exclusively for use on 40 meters.
I was finished erecting the two verticals by sundown and sat down to see if we were going to be effective. I fired up my trusty K2 and, first, noticed how quiet the bands were, not unusual when you consider the small population and lower number of electrical wires. I heard a few stations with S7 and better signals and was surprised to find that they were all European stations. In fact, I could not hear a Western Hemisphere station!
Over the next hour with power at 5 watts I managed to work over a dozen stations, including SM6CLU and SM5CCE who seemed as if they were next door. Stations in Russia, Poland, England, Germany, Slovak Rep., Serbia, Croatia, Greece, and Israel followed in short order. I even managed to work a new DX entity too, 9K2MU, although I needed to turn on the 100 watt amp to get him.
The next morning, I got everything ready for the event which was to begin at 11AM. . I erected an 80 meter dipole using extendable fiberglass poles and got everything ready.
The actual operation experience was pretty straight-forward. I made about 25 to 35 contacts per hour S&P. Calling CQ seemed to be a non-event. Most stations seemed to hear me, especially the obvious better operators. Some appeared to be less experienced, to be expected and even desired during Field Day, and some of them asked for repeats. So I had the idea that the signal was getting out OK. And, not everyone I called, even on a clear frequency and no competition, came back to me. I also could hear stations in the mid-west and east working other eastern stations I could not hear.
Mid-afternoon, I tried to operate PSK and, although I had tried to set up everything at home, it took me a while to get used to it and finally get a response. I made 6 QSOs which was clearly not worth the time spent, but I proved that it could be done. Another waste of time was that spent on 80 meters later in the evening, clearly not worth the effort expended.
I was not planning on doing an all-out effort and went QRT at midnight with the alarm set for 6AM. I need my beauty sleep but would have been better off getting up at 5AM as the bands were quite active at 6AM, almost a half-hour past local sunrise.
Final results were 460 CW contacts, 6 digital contacts in 18 hours of operation. I believe that I got as good results as I could from the station so any short-comings were a result of operator errors and misjudgments and lethargy. Clearly, I could have spent more time in the chair and I could have probably been a little more zealous about keeping track of opportunities, where I knew a station was operating but I didnt want to join a pile up.
I will try again in the future as I think that the concept worked well and given my comfort in my RV cocoon, it was not a struggle, by any means. I was thrilled at coming close enough to my original objective and I learned enough so as to think that I would improve the performance on a subsequent visit.
And working those European stations on QRP! Heck, Im ready to go back again this weekend! -- W6SJ
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