Friday, August 26, 2005
Field day
Field day in amatuer radio is a time for folks to get out, set up a radio station and get on the air and make as many contacts as possible. Some folks come for the socializing and food and some of us do it for those reasons and more. A couple of memorable field day events for me were in 2002 and 2003.
In 2002 our family made a journey to Arizona to work with Verde Valley radio club, My oldest daughter joined me while the rest of the lady folks went shopping. This was an overnight event and we had special permission to use a the potato patch campground. This was amazing because the national forests were basically closed due to extreme fire danger and the big fires that were already raging in the state. We could see the smoke in the far distance sky.
My daughter in the picture above was acting as the logger, when the big guns showed up and really had a pile up, she was really enjoying the logging at the rapid pace. She was welcomed back anytime by the club as she really shined.
In 2003 I put on a small portable station that was powered by solar. Band conditions were not the best, but the experience was great. I always wanted to operate using solar power and a compact station set up and this was it. The fellow below was a friend and guest operator for the whole time, and I had another guest from Washington who shared some time visting and operating. At this time there is obviously no sun in this photo, we were running on batteries that were kept charged during the day
This is my daughter operating the radio, she did a wonderful job. My friend was acting as a logger, logging on paper. We brought a laptop along but the power inverter was so noisy (RF wise, not audio sound) it wasn't worth using it. I have since picked up a DC-DC converter which I hope is quiet for my next time out.
My goal is to go to wizard island, hike to the top and set up a really portable station using qrp power levels (ie. 5 watts or less). I am getting gear prepared for it and will wait a while yet till we get out of the sun spot low and get a bit better propagation. I did manage to find a good deal on 20 watt flexible solar panels, if it turns out good when I get it, I intend to pick up one more. Everything will have to fit in a pack and carried up to the top of the cinder cone, so portability is important.
In 2002 our family made a journey to Arizona to work with Verde Valley radio club, My oldest daughter joined me while the rest of the lady folks went shopping. This was an overnight event and we had special permission to use a the potato patch campground. This was amazing because the national forests were basically closed due to extreme fire danger and the big fires that were already raging in the state. We could see the smoke in the far distance sky.
My daughter in the picture above was acting as the logger, when the big guns showed up and really had a pile up, she was really enjoying the logging at the rapid pace. She was welcomed back anytime by the club as she really shined.
In 2003 I put on a small portable station that was powered by solar. Band conditions were not the best, but the experience was great. I always wanted to operate using solar power and a compact station set up and this was it. The fellow below was a friend and guest operator for the whole time, and I had another guest from Washington who shared some time visting and operating. At this time there is obviously no sun in this photo, we were running on batteries that were kept charged during the day
This is my daughter operating the radio, she did a wonderful job. My friend was acting as a logger, logging on paper. We brought a laptop along but the power inverter was so noisy (RF wise, not audio sound) it wasn't worth using it. I have since picked up a DC-DC converter which I hope is quiet for my next time out.
My goal is to go to wizard island, hike to the top and set up a really portable station using qrp power levels (ie. 5 watts or less). I am getting gear prepared for it and will wait a while yet till we get out of the sun spot low and get a bit better propagation. I did manage to find a good deal on 20 watt flexible solar panels, if it turns out good when I get it, I intend to pick up one more. Everything will have to fit in a pack and carried up to the top of the cinder cone, so portability is important.
# posted by Trail Seeker @ 11:03 AM 
