Field Day 2001 - Experiences ++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 07:46:26 -0400 From: Charles Greene Subject: [Elecraft] K2 on Field Day Hi all, Another Field Day has come and gone for W1SYE. The plan was to operate my K2 for 5 contacts at 5 watts on its internal battery charged with a solar panel for 100 bonus points and then shift to an Omni-VI for QRO operation. This plan worked well except we got a lot more than 5 contacts and had to tear the CW operator away from the K2. The Omni-VI developed a case of RF feedback, so we had to cut back power and the power level was so low on PSK31 that we decided to go back to the K2 for that mode. I hastily redid all the program CAT macros for the K2 and we were back in business. Using the K2 at 6 watts on PSK was a little disadvantage over the 40 watts of the other rig, but it performed well. One operating aid that helped the K2 was the PSK31 program that had a macro that centered the signal at 1400 and correspondingly retuned the VFO to keep the signal centered using CAT control of the VFO, thanks to the new KIO2. This kept the power output of the K2 constant on a band. I set the power output at 10 watts and applied enough drive to get the idle power at a little over 3 watts with no ALC action. If you clicked on a signal around 1000 Hz the power was higher and the HI CURRENT indicator came on, or if you clicked on a signal higher in frequency the idle power dropped to 2 watts or less, both requiring a readjustment of power level using the screw driver adjustable pot in my home brew interface. This is an problem caused by the ripples in the OP1 transmitter filter. I have ver 2.0b of the firmware and the new KIO2 interface which enabled the CAT control. So the procedure to respond to a new station was of course to initial tune him by clicking on his signal then hitting an F key that started a macro that simultaneously grabbed his call for the log and return call, cleared the transmit buffer, retuned the signal to 1400hz and retuned the transceiver VFO, then hit another F key that started a macro that called him. One of the features of the new firmware is a data mode that lets you optimize your filters for both SSB and Data independently. It also has a FINE RIT mode that lets you adjust the receiver VFO to minimize the frequency off set between the TX and RX frequency you get when you shift filters. I set all filters centered at 1400 Hz and when you shift from OP1 used in FL1 to FLx, you manually turn off the program AFC and quickly tune the RIT control to recenter the signal under the cursor in the waterfall screen, then turn the AFC back on. This is a simple procedure, but it was difficult during field day because the exchanges are so short. Fortunately, if you do it once for one filter then that filter is set for the remainder of the session until you shift bands. The only time we needed to shift out of OP1 for the receive filter was when a KW+ Pactor station opened up on a nearby frequency under automatic control broadcasting his availability. I guess the operator forgot to turn off automatic control for field day :-). BTW, we operated on 15, 20, 40 and 80, and the K2 held its own. Two bad all stations were not using K2s as we could have operated class 3B QRP and have gotten a lot more points. Well, maybe next year. GL in the contest! 73, Chas, W1CG ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 08:36:09 -0400 From: Doug Netherton Subject: [Elecraft] FD - 2C from Sailboat Place: 27 ft. sailboat at Prinyer's Cove (two hours sail from Picton, Ontario) Antennas: Hamstick vertical from pulpit (metal railing at front of boat). Thumbs down for performance probably due to lack of good ground. Good ears but no voice. Pure frustration in QRP operation. Horizontal dipole (hamsticks again) placed four ft. above top of mast (~43 ft. above water). Great antenna. Worked most stations we heard on 20 meters using QRP battery power. Rigs: K2 and a TS-850. No interference between the two even when they were 10 inches apart on the small table in the cabin. (Earphones required.) Hams: John, VE3LM as band leader; Karl, VE3MB; Doug, VE3MCF Enjoyed the sailing as much as the field day operation. We did not get on the air till Sat. evening and packed up when 20 meter band suddenly went flat about noon on Sunday. Great Field Day! Doug, VE3MCF k2 #1322 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 07:15:08 -0700 From: "Cam Hartford" Subject: [Elecraft] Elecraft Field Day at the Zuni Loop Not surprisingly, Elecraft was well represented at our FD effort this year: N6GA, 5A, LAX K2 for 20/40 SSB K2 for 10/15 CW/SSB K2 for 40 CW K2 for PSK-31 on various bands K1 for 20 CW Many Qs (about 1K) Many happy campers. Many thanks to the Elecraft crew for great little radios. -- Cam, N6GA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 11:28:53 -0500 From: "John Rodenbarger" Subject: [Elecraft] K-2 and QRP at W9YB Hey Gang! Poor Props notwithstanding, we had a great time at YB this year. First FD ops in recent memory. I had 2-7AH Jelly-Cellies and didn't really shave down power consumption other than to run with the LCD off and dot mode during the day. Needed the LCD lit once the sun went down. The antenna was a 200' Random wire up about 50', fed w/a "T" match tuner of my own construction. I ran 20M from start-up till 2100Z, took my YL out to dinner (in exchange for running the whole weekend w/o "static") Got back to it around 0200, ran 20 again, listened to 15, ran some Q's on 80, then switched to 40. Lots of noise on the 200' wire. Not a lot of fun. turned on the SW-40+ I had along for a "spare", and with it's low dipole, no noise, so I gave 2077 a rest for a while and S n'P'd my way up 40M. Went home to catch some Z's around 0700, got back at 1400Z and spent the rest of the day on 40m with the dipole until quittin' time. I see some posting on here from stsns that I worked during the 'test. Great to have K-2 to K-2 Q's! Some impressions about the rig: The filters are just unbelievable! I had thought that the band was dead until I went to wide filters and only then heard everybody on top of each other. The RX is very tight! The Omni V station was across the table from me, and our tuners were back-to-back. seldom heard the Ten-Tec, and then, only when we were both on the same band, or I was on his 2nd harmonic. At times, I could see the needles on my NoGAWatt meter moving, but the RX hung tuff. Use good-quality shielded cable for the paddle leads. I was getting stray RF into mine, and that explains the QLF thing early on. Most the other Ops were running between 23 and 27 WPM, according to the keyer knob. 10Mhz WWV was great for spot time checks... I'm hooked! QRP CW for FD for me, please! 73, John A. Rodenbarger, WB9OFG Purdue University Division of Instructional Services TV Repair 1092 STEW West Lafayette, IN 47907-1092 765.494.1041 (Vox) 765.494.5111 (Fax) mrfixit at purdue.edu +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 10:50:46 -0700 From: "James A. Doty" Subject: [Elecraft] K1 FD Hi all: As is the norm, my friends and I gathered in the mountains north of us bright and early Saturday morning. We set up our 50 year old tent, three dipoles (Two of which are G5RV's) and rigs. We had a pair of Icom's, a pair of K1's and a Kenwood. We're not serious contesters, we do this mostly for the fun so we're never high up in the points. I had the K1 and the Kenwood. Once everything was together I powered up the Kenwood only to discover the battery I was using was dead, so we switched batteries and all was fine. I checked to make sure the Kenwood was working and then setup up my K1. I have a solar panel connected to a charge controller connected to a 4AH 12 volt gel cell battery. Once all the connections were made and the solar panel was tossed up on the south side of the tent roof I went to work. My friends and I have been participating in Field Day for probably eight years maybe nine, yet none of us has ever done any cw for Field Day so this was a new experience for me. It was close to 3:30pm pacific when I turned the K1 one on, switched to 40 meters, hit the tune buttons and started keying cqfd. Within minutes I'd made my first every solar powered qrp contest contact. We were nearly jumping around the tent in excitement. Things went pretty slow for me but I managed six solar contacts before the sun was too low to charge the battery. I stayed up until 3:30 am pacific working stations. We took an hour off for dinner around 5:00pm and I took a couple of breaks to play with my dog during the day. My total contacts for the entire weekend were 18. Not great but I don't mind. I had a great time as did our other two operators. Oh, and I didn't go turn the Kenwood back on. I worked 40cw qrp the entire time. Saturday night I caused a small pile-up when a station in California that I'd just worked came back with "QRP?" I said yes and that I was using a K1 running on a 4AH battery and that I'd been running solar until the sun went down and was using a G5RV up about 30 feet. The guy came back with "Gud luck with the kit." It's funny because I'd never even heard of Elecraft before about April and the guy I talked to knew the K1 was a kit. Pretty cool. So suddenly I had a group of hams calling me and since we're a small operation I worked them all then checked for dupes and filled in the log. At around midnight Pacific one of the guys was asleep in his van. I was working another California station and Jessie was doing cw with a friend of ours up on 80 meters. I looked across at Jessie and asked "Is it getting dim in here?" Right then the lantern we were using ran out of propane, and Jessie's candle burned out. It was pitch black in there. I was using a black card table and a single paddle Ten Tec keyer which is also black, my pen was black and the K1 gray. I couldn't see any of them. I had one glow stick out that I was using to check my K1 display for frequency and battery conditions and held it in my right hand while I wrote with my left. When it was my turn to key I switched the glow stick into my left hand and swept my right hand to the right until I bumped my paddle. I finished my QSO and included the fact that I was working with no more light than a glow stick. Jessie was telling our friend the same thing except she'd dug out a small flashlight she had in her pocket. Our friend keyed back that one of us should change the tank and turn the light back on. Jessie keyed back that we were both on the air and neither of us could. Our friend was cracking up. I could just go on and on. Anyway we had a great time, the K1 was a blast to use for Field Day, and next year, I'm leaving the Kenwood TS-140s at home! Oh, we worked Field Day under my call, KI7EL. de KI7EL James K1 s/n 644 ++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 07:46:26 -0400 From: Charles Greene Subject: [Elecraft] K2 on Field Day Hi all, Another Field Day has come and gone for W1SYE. The plan was to operate my K2 for 5 contacts at 5 watts on its internal battery charged with a solar panel for 100 bonus points and then shift to an Omni-VI for QRO operation. This plan worked well except we got a lot more than 5 contacts and had to tear the CW operator away from the K2. The Omni-VI developed a case of RF feedback, so we had to cut back power and the power level was so low on PSK31 that we decided to go back to the K2 for that mode. I hastily redid all the program CAT macros for the K2 and we were back in business. Using the K2 at 6 watts on PSK was a little disadvantage over the 40 watts of the other rig, but it performed well. One operating aid that helped the K2 was the PSK31 program that had a macro that centered the signal at 1400 and correspondingly retuned the VFO to keep the signal centered using CAT control of the VFO, thanks to the new KIO2. This kept the power output of the K2 constant on a band. I set the power output at 10 watts and applied enough drive to get the idle power at a little over 3 watts with no ALC action. If you clicked on a signal around 1000 Hz the power was higher and the HI CURRENT indicator came on, or if you clicked on a signal higher in frequency the idle power dropped to 2 watts or less, both requiring a readjustment of power level using the screw driver adjustable pot in my home brew interface. This is an problem caused by the ripples in the OP1 transmitter filter. I have ver 2.0b of the firmware and the new KIO2 interface which enabled the CAT control. So the procedure to respond to a new station was of course to initial tune him by clicking on his signal then hitting an F key that started a macro that simultaneously grabbed his call for the log and return call, cleared the transmit buffer, retuned the signal to 1400hz and retuned the transceiver VFO, then hit another F key that started a macro that called him. One of the features of the new firmware is a data mode that lets you optimize your filters for both SSB and Data independently. It also has a FINE RIT mode that lets you adjust the receiver VFO to minimize the frequency off set between the TX and RX frequency you get when you shift filters. I set all filters centered at 1400 Hz and when you shift from OP1 used in FL1 to FLx, you manually turn off the program AFC and quickly tune the RIT control to recenter the signal under the cursor in the waterfall screen, then turn the AFC back on. This is a simple procedure, but it was difficult during field day because the exchanges are so short. Fortunately, if you do it once for one filter then that filter is set for the remainder of the session until you shift bands. The only time we needed to shift out of OP1 for the receive filter was when a KW+ Pactor station opened up on a nearby frequency under automatic control broadcasting his availability. --- snip --- GL in the contest! 73, Chas, W1CG +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 22:13:15 -0700 From: "John Grebenkemper, KI6WX" Subject: [Elecraft] Field Day Operation with DK9SQ Mast & Loop For a Field Day antenna, I used the 33 foot DK9SQ mast with the associated loop option (see www.bright.net/~kanga/kanga/). I made one modification to the loop by opening the loop wire at the bottom center of the loop. This converts the loop to horizontal polarization with an offset feed and increases the radiation resistance when you are driving it on bands below 20 meters. The mast, cross poles, and matching network only weigh about 4-5 pounds. I also strung up a 40 meter dipole at the same height as the center of the loop. With the KAT2, the loop and dipole tuned up fine on all bands 80 through 10 meters. When compared to the dipole, the loop generally had somewhat stronger signals than the dipole. The only exception was for stations off the side of the loop, and the difference was always less than 1 s-unit. The only problem with it was that the strong winds at Henry Coe Park (peak gusts of about 25 knots) several times caused the mast to collapse down - the various sections are only held up by friction. The mast was easily re-extended and if I had duct taped the sections, it probably wouldn't have collapsed at all. This combination seems to be a good lightweight antenna for portable operation. It should definitely radiate better than a physically small portable antenna. In my setup the mast was only supported in its first four feet of length - the rest of it was free-standing other than a light nylon line to one of the loop crossbars to keep it from rotating in the wind. - -John KI6WX ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 08:22:23 -0400 From: "Russell A. Mumaw" Subject: [Elecraft] Field Day and K2s We are the North Penn ARC W3BTN, located 25 miles north of Philadelphia, Pa. We meet on the third Saturday of each month at O'Grady's Restaurant, Souderton at 8 AM, and usually have a core group of ten or so operators for FD. This year due to health, weather, and prior commitments our group was limited to 4 operators, so the activity had to be scaled back a bit. We had 3 K2s, 1 FT817, and 1 TenTec Scout for equipment. We had wanted to do some antenna experimenting to find a highly productive antenna system to use in future years, but due to the constant threat of thundershowers, (two went over us and dropped about an inch of rain all together) we put up a loop of 280 feet length, horizontal at about 30 feet high and used it for all bands but 15 M the whole weekend. This loop was somewhat after the design of L B Cebik, and was very quiet and seemed to be able to hear a whisper of RF. The K2s performed great as expected. It was the second FD for Ser # 196 (a CW only rig) Ser # 575 was used on SB and to relate one incident of many, when I reported being 5 watts would usually get a WOW from an operator in Michigan who said he had picked up a K2 at Dayton and if his sounds as good as mine he will be happy. I advised him that I never hear a bad K2!! The comparison to the FT817....well what do you say for a rig that is half the size of a K2 and has less than half the performance? There just is no comparison folks. To wit one of our operators is active also with a QRO club and operated an 1000MP there right after operating my CW K2 and he reported that the K2 heard better, quieter, and was easier to learn to operate. May Wayne and Eric live long and continue to supply amatyeur radio with many more fine and affordable radio kits. 72 de Russ K3NLT ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 06:12:04 -0700 From: Bruce Grubbs Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Field Day and K2s We (K7ZEN and I) also use a 270 foot horizontal loop, up about 30 feet, for Field Day from northern Arizona. We've experimented with all sorts of wire antennas, and have reached the same conclusion as you- the big loop hears very well. We easily worked stations as close as NV and as far as Lithuania. We used to set up the 270 foot wire end-fed, but it was too directional on 20 m and up. We also use a 1/4 40 m vertical, hung from a DK9SQ mast, and fed with twin lead, to work all bands with the KAT2 and K2. Sometimes we could catch someone on the vertical instead of the loop. 72 Bruce N7CEE (W7TAO field day op +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 11:35:01 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Studer Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Field Day and K2s I ran my K2 for FD as well, #1974. I made 60 contacts on 15m CW using a dipole antenna. Due to some operator shortages I had to move around to other operating positions. I did get to do an interesting experiment on 40m CW. We were using a 2el 40m beam. I swapped out the 817 for my K2 and WOW! What a big difference in received signals. It was MUCH quieter on the K2. You could actually hear people. We ran up 40 contacts or so on 40m using the K2 in a relatively short period of time. I needed more power though. Many people I could hear didn't answer me. I ran 15watts. Since we are not running a qrp operation more power won't hurt our score. Overall I was quite pleased with my K2's operation. Plus I can fit the whole station in a duffle bag. Mike AB6CV ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 16:58:47 EDT From: K4ZM at aol.com Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Field Day and K2s Mike: I made over 90 qso's in about 2 hours of operation here and used my K2 at 5W on 20 and 15 meters. I rarely had to call a station the second time. I think a lot of it has to do with timing of the call and making it a short one. I only recall one station that I was not able to work. I was using a 130ft center fed zepp at about 50 feet feed with 450 ohm ladder line and an old Heath B1 airdux 9:1 balun and the KAT2 in the K2. 73 Jim Younce K4ZM K2 SN:18 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 14:59:31 -0700 From: Phil & Chris Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Field Day Operation with DK9SQ Mast & Loop Hello all, I too have been using the DK9SQ mast for several years now. I have found if you do tape the sections together they will still slip. Then you get duct tape goo on the sections...yuck. The only way you can keep the mast from slipping is to apply tension to the mast and keep it under tension. Here is what happens: You extend the mast in the morning...no wind and its kinda cool too... The sun comes out and heats the mast...it black...it expands very slightly... Now the wind comes up moving the mast back and forth... The sections start to creep... The mast slides. Sooo keep the mast under tension at the start of the day...it will still get hot and expand but it wont be able to creep because of the tension. BTW two of these 33 ft masts set end to end in a horizonal manner make a wonderful 40 meter dipole that you can aim via the armstrong method. I like the loop the best for 10-40...its easy and fast. - -- Phil and Christine Lontz Tucson in the winter Summer in Santa Fe 503 551 7030 Elecraft # 1273 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 00:28:11 -0000 From: "Charles Fulp" Subject: [Elecraft] K1/K2 at Fieldday I did 40 meters with the RF Hill group (5A). The antennas were inverted V's fed with 50 ohm coax. one at 50 ft, the other at about 25 ft. I ran my FT1000MPmkV as the main station, on the big antenna. I used the K1 and solar cells to work 10 stations on the small antenna between QSOs running with the big radio. After quickly completing the natural power task, I put the K2 on and used it to S/P while running with the MP. Pretty effective, although the 400 mw comming back into the low antenna did manage to make copy pretty difficult while transmitting with the 150 watt rig. I had done a lot of same band listening/attempted running with both radios at 5 watts, but these antennas were just too close even for the K2 (the MP didnt like the K2 either... ) Im leaning heavily toward going back and terrorizing the 1B battery/1 op category next year.. 73 Chas K3WW +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 22:39:25 -0400 From: "Dave Benham" Subject: [Elecraft] K2 FD Three of us worked an all QRP solar/battery setup from northern Michigan, operating as K8JV. I used my K2 #630 on 20M SSB and 80M SSB running a G5RV up about 35', while Jim, K8JV, worked his FT-817 with brand new CW filter on 40M CW with a 40M full sloper and Roger, N8KV (our gracious host -- he owned the cottage), ran a QRP++ on CW on various bands with a 40M fullwave loop about 60' up. Jim and I set up on a pontoon boat (tied to the dock) which was very pleasant, although it required pretty long runs of coax. We weren't fanatical about it -- we wanted to have a good time, which we did. We also wanted to try some different antennas (the 40M fullwave loop and the 40M full sloper), which we did. If there weren't so many trees there, I would have tried a kite to support a 40M J-pole or such. Next time I'd like to switch rigs and antennas and modes a few times. I made 110 QSO's about evenly split between 20 and 80 SSB. The K2 has a great receiver, which I can't say for some of the stations who didn't hear me. ;) I had a few disbelievers when I told them I was QRP -- that's always fun. And I had some favorable comments on the audio. I really think those who work QRP SSB should get two points and CW get one rather than the way it is now. I think it's much more difficult and takes more skill to operate QRP SSB during a contest where the bands are crowded. I think the QRO stations who work QRP SSB stations should get extra credit too, as it takes just as much skill on their end sometimes -- it would also serve as a motivator to work us. But, I'm not a big time contester and am not really that interested in the score. Field Day is a fun exercise which I've enjoyed for many years, although other than making the 10 QRP contacts for our club in the past, this was my first all QRP FD. I'd recommend it. 73, Dave K8TRF ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 06:03:28 -0700 From: Bruce Grubbs Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Field Day Operation with DK9SQ Mast & Loop I use the DK9SQ to hold a vertical radiator. I've found that if I let the #26 Teflon wire hang free down the side of the mast (instead of wrapping it around), the slight bow seems to keep the sections from working loose. It was breezy going on windy at or FD site, and the mast stayed up for 25 hours. 73 Bruce N7CEE ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 13:59:47 -0500 From: "Stuart Rohre" Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K1/K2 at Fieldday Were the N vees on the same pole? Maybe if so, putting them at right angles would have helped. We separate our antennas by as much as we can, but did have some cross at right angles with feeds within 20 feet of each other. One was a 20 foot high, 849 foot around square horizontal loop, the other 350 foot Double Zepp inverted Vee doublet. One end of it had to terminate inside the loop. Both ladder line fed, with ladder lines almost paralleling for part of the run, and no problems, as they were separated by five feet or more. We did 796 QSOs on 5 watts battery, with 2/3 of those on SSB on the big loop, as W5KA. Many on both coasts and Canada said were the strongest signal they heard on 20m. We had to get off 4 hours due to a storm coming thru, and we had to hold down the tents from inside to keep them from blowing away! Hills have problems! 72, Stuart K5KVH +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 01:11:05 -0700 (PDT) From: Bob Patten Subject: [none] 2001 ARRL FIELD DAY Call used: N4BP Location: SFL Category: 1E Mode: CW Power: 5W Callsign of Operator(s): N4BP W4FMS Exchanged Information: N4BP 1E SFL Hours of Operation: 23:57 CW CW SSB SSB band QSOs pts QSOs pts ---------------------------------------- 160 0 0 0 0 80 0 0 0 0 40 223 2230 0 0 20 427 4270 0 0 15 383 3830 0 0 10 59 590 0 0 - ---------------------------------------- TOTAL 1092 10920 0 0 SCORE: 10,920 Club or Team Name: Guano Reef Bashful Perverts Comments: Elecraft K2 at 5W powered by marine battery TH7-DXX at 65ft, 402BA at 50ft Half of our team dropped out prior to the FD weekend, so we decided it wasn't worth the effort for two of us to take it to the Florida Keys like we usually do. ===== 73, Bob Patten, N4BP Plantation, FL E-Mail: n4bp at yahoo.com Website: http://www.qsl.net/n4bp QRP ARCI #3412 FISTS #7871 ARS #799 SOC #1 Whiners #6 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++