{"id":440,"date":"2017-06-28T14:55:54","date_gmt":"2017-06-28T21:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.n1rwy.org\/?p=440"},"modified":"2017-06-30T07:26:31","modified_gmt":"2017-06-30T14:26:31","slug":"queen-creek-arc-arrl-field-day-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.n1rwy.org\/?p=440","title":{"rendered":"Queen Creek ARC ARRL Field Day 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, hard to believe that another ARRL Field Day<\/a> is in the books.\u00a0 After all the talking and planning, the annual event went off well on the weekend of the 24-25th of June, 2017.\u00a0 I took part in the event as a member of the Queen Creek ARC, where we operated as N7Q on the Mogollon Rim- north of Payson in the Carr Lake Campground.\u00a0 With such an excellent view out the back windows of the tents and campers, it was hard to stay focused on the radio at times!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"view

View from the edge of the rim looking South East.<\/p><\/div>\n

Getting together for Field Day is always fun, but being able to do it 7000′ up in the air, that is just a hoot.\u00a0 Great views, awesome star gazing and usually decent weather makes for a great location to hold the event.<\/p>\n

With the fact that this campground is very busy in the summer and it is a first come first served scenario for spots, we had an advance party consisting of Joe, N2QOJ, Dennis, KF7RWX, and Dave, AC7FF head up a few days early to reserve spots.\u00a0\u00a0 Followed by several others the next day (Ron, Rick, Andy) This action guaranteed that we had two sites and they were on the rim side, which meant awesome views and windy conditions.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Since the weather in Phoenix had been over 110 degrees for the past 2 weeks, it was a solid plan to have them go up early to secure these spots.\u00a0 I, as well as as few others followed suit Thursday night and Friday am, with a majority of us on location by Friday morning.\u00a0 Star gazing on Thursday night and watching for satellites was awesome.\u00a0 The sky was perfect for it and the temps were cool.\u00a0 Down into the low 60s.\u00a0 It was great.\u00a0 Then came the heat.\u00a0 On Friday it was a solid 95 degrees on the rim, with no clouds and minimal wind.\u00a0 In other words, it was HOT.\u00a0 Unusually hot for this location.\u00a0 I blew through my water allocation for the day and 3\/4 of my spare back up water just on Friday. (Consuming over 400 ounces.. it was HOT!)\u00a0 We started setting up antennas based on the ARRL schedule, and by dusk I was exhausted- between the hot sun and the effort, I was tired.\u00a0 Knowing that I was going to be up for the entire Field Day event, I bailed out of helping on the last antenna – ate a quick bite and crashed.\u00a0 Asleep by 6:30 PM.<\/p>\n

We all awoke Saturday (some of us a lot earlier than others<\/em>) to blue skies and a slight breeze, with temps in the high 80s low 90s, which felt a lot better than the mid 90s the day before.\u00a0 Not having to scramble to setup antennas was real nice, and I was able to take time to setup the operation station just as I wanted it, knowing I was going to be sitting in front of the radio for a while.<\/p>\n

\"image

Twenty minutes before Field Day 2017, getting the Yaesu FTDX-1200 warmed up with having a rag chew before the event kicks off!<\/p><\/div>\n

With the band pass filter ready to go, the voice keyer programmed and the headset \/ foot switch plugged in, it was a matter of replacing the paper log with a the laptop and we were off and running.<\/p>\n

For my station, I had two HF antennas.\u00a0 A Mosley Jr 3 element Tribander off the back of the RV at 26′ for 20-15-10m that I parked facing East and then an 80 – 10m OCF antenna that was basically broadside E \/ W.<\/p>\n

\"image

N1RWY’s home for N7Q Field Day 2017!<\/p><\/div>\n

I knew that for the most part I would be on the tribander, with then switching to the OCF in the evening once Dennis called it a night and moved off 40m.\u00a0 At that point I would rock 40m until the wee hours that supported communications back on the beam, and switch back to 20 or 15m.<\/p>\n

Christi, KG7NAD, who was parked next to me was tag teaming her second Field Day with Andy, KG7KWG- which was his first Field Day event, and a bit awe struck with all the wires and antennas that we had up in the air.\u00a0 Christi had another OCF (the highest one in the air for the site) and planned to start on 15m and jump to 10m if the bands got hot.\u00a0 We had talked about her either using the FT-891 or the FTDX-3000, and I told her the 3000 was a better choice for her due to the filtering options (she agreed).\u00a0\u00a0 So, the pair of them would log and work the mic using a headset splitter so they both could hear the stations that they were trying to work.<\/p>\n

On the other side of my was Dennis and Joe, in the “Bro-ham”.\u00a0 Dennis was going to be our 40m mainstay, operating the FT-991 and a ZS6BKW (G5RV clone) antenna (not visible in the picture below<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\"Dennis'

The “Bro-ham”<\/p><\/div>\n

For our GOTA station, Dave, AC7FF acted as the GOTA coach and supplied the station for us to use.\u00a0\u00a0 He also had a three element tribander as well as a ZS6BKW antenna in the air for the low bands.<\/p>\n

\"Dave

N7Q GOTA station and coach – 2017 (AC7FF)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"putting

Dave directing Rick and Andy on how the elements need to sit for the HF beam. Ron, the camp chef – taking notes in the background.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Cushcraft 3 element tribander is a bit much for the “military mast” push up poles, especially the fiberglass ones, however, we made it work.\u00a0 Several of the fittings cracked and creaked as we raised up the antenna, but it held its spot for the duration of the event.\u00a0\u00a0 Next year, we should upgrade to the aluminum masts or go with an extension ladder or some other arrangement.\u00a0 Hearing the fiberglass cracking was a bit unnerving as we were putting this antenna up surrounded by vehicles and campers.\u00a0 However, we did utilize the guidance of our Safety Officer, who ensured that we followed the right steps as we raise and guy the antenna to ensure that no one got hurt.
\nSuccess!<\/p>\n

\"Antenna

Antenna is up! Cracking fiberglass support poles and all!<\/p><\/div>\n

Friday evening before the last antenna went up, Ron and his wife treated us to a glorious pork roast.\u00a0 Christi organized a Pot Luck to go with it, and it was an excellent spread.\u00a0 Pork, chicken, pig slaw, fresh fruit, salad, chips, Dennis’ famous Cherry and apple cobbler and plenty of smiles.\u00a0 Of course, we were not more than 30′ from the edge of a 500-700′ drop off the rim, which made it even nicer with great views and wind.<\/p>\n

\"Friday<\/p>\n

Band Conditions<\/h4>\n

For Saturday, the band conditions on 20 meters were average, if not a bit down for us here in AZ.\u00a0 40M was fairly robust, and 15M \/10M were dead.\u00a0\u00a0 Christi quickly worked all she could on 15m and 10 meters was dead quiet.\u00a0 Dennis had plenty of stations to work, as he trained\u00a0 Keith, KI7KDD, on using the N3FJP logging software as Dennis pulled in the stations.\u00a0 As we got started I quickly noticed on the master log that they were logging QSOs for the wrong band and shouted over to them.\u00a0 I figured it would be better to get this fixed now, then having to chase all the corrections in post processing.<\/p>\n

Day time on 20 meters I head around a 90 QSO\/ hour rate, but it never really broke free (like last year) until we hit grey-line.\u00a0 Seeing how limited Christi was on 15m, I switched bands with her, and jumped there, confirming how dead it was, maybe adding another 5stations to the count.\u00a0 She got on 20m and had her first taste of a “busy” band for about an hour, then messaged me to take it back.\u00a0 I called for another few hours, ate a quick bite, made some more coffee and prepared for the grey-line event.\u00a0 Grey-line, that moment of the sun going down to dusk, then dark, has always been the magic zone for me during Field Day.\u00a0 That is when the QSOs starting piling up.\u00a0 My best rate was 164\/hour right around 0200z on 20 meters.\u00a0 That was fun<\/strong>.\u00a0 Five to six stations deep all calling at once for about 2 hours.\u00a0 I did my best of working the strong and weaker stations, alternating between them, so that I would frustrate either party and have them move off frequency.\u00a0 At the same time, trying my best to get partials and stick them into real short term memory- so I could complete one qso and address the partial as the next station to go to speed up the exchange.\u00a0 All the while repeating the station calling me and logging.\u00a0 It was exciting and a chance for me to really stretch my contest legs and work stations as efficiently as possible.\u00a0 By 0400Z the bottom had fallen out and I was back down to around 60-80 QSOs per hour.\u00a0 A good run – I just wished I had another few hours of it. Al, KF7BMI, my lucky observer, came by several times to watch me work – and I have to say I always have good luck on the bands when he comes to visit.\u00a0 It is strange – but when Al comes and hangs out with me when I operate, my rate improves.\u00a0 Go figure.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Regardless, after asking him several times if he wanted to operate .. “No no no.. you keep going”, I plowed through more stations on 20 meters before his family came over and he took off to head back to Queen Creek.<\/p>\n

We had some visitors from the Fire crew who were working the wild-land fires in the area show up to our Field Day event, and they got on the air and pose for pics.\u00a0 It was great to have them there to see what we were doing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Soon after I saw that Dennis had shut down his station and was heading to bed.\u00a0 Seeing no one posting or telling Christi or I that anyone was on 40m, I jumped over to 40m and started calling there, grabbing another few hundred stations in the wee hours of the morning.\u00a0 She soon moved to 80 meters and started to work stations there, waiting for Andy to relive her and take the late shift.\u00a0 For the most part- camp was dark, aside for the tent lights where Christi was operating from and the LED lights in my station.<\/p>\n

At several points in the early hours of the morning on 40m I was clearly in the zone.\u00a0 Pulling out calls of stations that, to be honest were 3\/7-4\/1 at best.\u00a0\u00a0 Just a hint of audio followed by a “roger roger 3A Arizona.. we are….”.\u00a0 I caught myself a few times- questioning if I really head a station at all.. then I would hear them reply again.\u00a0 Wow- I was really into it. \u00a0 The it hit me like a brick wall.\u00a0\u00a0 Massive QRM.<\/p>\n

QRM and Bonus points<\/h4>\n

Around 1-2 AM I was slogging though stations around 1 a minute on 40m then I suddenly got hit with massive QRM on the band.\u00a0\u00a0 40 over nine levels of noise.\u00a0 I looked at the radio.\u00a0 Nothing had changed, I was still in LSB.\u00a0 I looked to the right of the radio, I did have my 40m band pass filter installed. Why was I hearing this noise?\u00a0 Was this Troy sending digital down by the GOTA station?\u00a0 I sent him a text.\u00a0 No reply.
\nI went from working stations fairly quickly to these long pauses as I fought through the noise.<\/p>\n

“Repeat again.. I just picked up a ton of noise here..”
\n“The Kilo 6..”\u00a0 “Was that Sierra Juliet Charlie or just Sierra Charlie??” and so on.<\/p>\n

After about 15 min I discovered it was on 40m and it was in the voice section of the band, but it was definitely a digital signal.\u00a0 I decided to shut down for a second and walk to talk with Troy to see if he could reduce power or something.\u00a0\u00a0 As I by passed the Bro-ham.\u00a0 I saw Joe sitting in there, awake, surrounded by laptops (I think at least three).\u00a0 I stopped and asked through the window.<\/p>\n

“Hey – Joe, are you sending digital?”<\/p>\n

His reply.\u00a0 “Yes, I am sending emails for the message bonuses”.<\/p>\n

“Ahhh…. ok.\u00a0\u00a0 Well, you are wiping me out on 40.”<\/p>\n

I flipped off my head lamp and headed back to the RV and tried to work a few more, however, it wasn’t possible until a message\u00a0 Joe was sending was ending before another was being sent.\u00a0 Incoming stations were S3-5 at best, and the noise was 40 over 9 – wiping out everything I would be hearing.\u00a0 However, if it took an hour to send them, and we get a 100 point bonus, that would be a better use of the time then me trying to work 60 – 70 stations during the same hour.\u00a0 However, after a few hours of hunting and pouncing and dealing with the noise, I went back over to Joe and asked how much longer it was going to take to finish sending them.\u00a0\u00a0 He informed me he had moved from 40m\u00a0 to sending them on 80m, however, the signals were just as bad on my end on 40m, and according to the other stations (GOTA and Christi), just as strong.\u00a0 (Something we need to look at \/ address for next yer for sure!)\u00a0 Joe finished off the messages for the points and Christi and I were able to start working stations again.<\/p>\n

The wee hours<\/h4>\n

Around 2:30-4 AM conditions started to change, the 40m broadcast stations started hammering in, and I couldn’t find any new stations to work on the band.\u00a0\u00a0 I would park and call in the Extra section, work a few, then hunt and pounce on new ones, then find an open frequency in the General portion of the band and call again.\u00a0\u00a0 With each passing hour conditions started to drop off.\u00a0 Dupe after dupe I worked the same tired stations.\u00a0\u00a0 I kept flipping to 20m, finding and working all the mega stations, you know, the 16 \/ 22 Alphas that had some poor sucker stuck on 20 meters early early in the morning. Well, if I could break their attention from hitting the button on the voice caller – I worked them. Then back to 40m to try to find a new one. \u00a0 I was hoping that 20m would start showing serious signs of life soon.\u00a0 Andy had replaced Christi at this point and was getting his feet wet with the first time<\/strong> contesting alone, the first time<\/strong> on 80m at his first field day<\/strong>.\u00a0 Nothing like jumping in with both feet!<\/p>\n

Andy’s recap:<\/p>\n

\n
The whole trip was fun… but I can honestly say I had a pinnacle of fun in HF ham radio while sitting in the dark at 2am<\/span><\/span> on Saturday<\/span><\/span> night (Sunday morning) in front of our station. \u00a0I took the mic from Christi, who had stuck with our station for the previous several hours while I slept. \u00a0It’s critical to have night owls around!<\/div>\n

I took over the station…<\/p>\n

Cool of the night…<\/p>\n

Hot coffee in hand…<\/p>\n

Jay was 20 yards away working 20m and 40m…<\/p>\n

No other sound except for the faint sound of Jay logging contacts on 20\/40m… N7Q..QRZ?<\/p>\n

Moths bouncing off the Yaesu station’s LED lights and the laptop screen holding the logging software…<\/p>\n

I started calling CQ on 80m… \u00a0(my first time on 80m)…<\/p>\n

and then…<\/p>\n

They started coming…<\/p>\n

one after another…<\/p>\n

Contact after contact…<\/p>\n

A cool experience to see all those 80m contacts fill up the laptop logging screen…<\/p>\n

Calling CQ lasted quite awhile, and then I moved to a hunt and pounce approach which was effective as well.<\/p>\n

Back to calling CQ… and stations started coming again…<\/p>\n

I put the mic down at 6am<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0 It was time to head home.<\/p>\n

So much fun.<\/div>\n

-Andy KG7KWG<\/p>\n

\"Andy,

Joe and Dennis and Andy hanging out in the Bro-ham.\u00a0 Enjoying the AC, television, and dark chocolate covered peanuts.\u00a0 Yeah.. I’m not jealous..<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n

Soon Andy and I had passed 800 QSOs, then soon 900 QSOs.\u00a0 We were using the chat feature of the N3FJP Field Day software<\/a> (If you do not use this software for Field Day, you are missing out!<\/em>) As we hit 900 we hatched a plan to try to hit 1000 by sun rise.\u00a0 We had about an hour and a half but it was doable.\u00a0 At this time in the morning,\u00a0 Andy had the hot band, and I was just trying to keep to the “latest 10 QSOs” in the log from all saying that he worked them. Yeah, my competitive spirit was sneaking in, and I was trying any competitive trick to keep working stations.<\/p>\n

Around 6 AM we hit 1001 QSOs.\u00a0\u00a0 I celebrated with a short “wahoo!” another quick meal and brewed another pot of strong coffee, letting Andy know that hot Java was on the way soon.\u00a0 We did it – all before most of the team awoke for the day.<\/p>\n

Andy soon had to leave to head home, so he shut down the station and I ended up going back to 20m, scratching and clawing stations off the back of their beams as they worked east coast stations.\u00a0 I got a lot of “3 A ARIZONA?? Oh WOW!\u00a0 OK.. I didn’t know the band was open there yet”.. in the replies.<\/p>\n

I grabbed another 30 – 40 QSOs but I could feel the wheels were starting to fall off the bus.\u00a0 I was getting tired.\u00a0 Dennis was now up and I could see he was tearing down his station.. which mentally didn’t help. I get it- he had been there since Wednesday- and probably wanted to head home. \u00a0 I took another break for more coffee and to stretch my legs.
\nChristi emerged from her camper and asked what band she should go to.\u00a0 I had been fighting to hold on to a frequency on 20m in the General portion of the band and was averaging about 60\/ hour.\u00a0 I tossed her a message on N3FJP.<\/p>\n

“Jump to 20m, take my frequency. 14.312”
\n“OK” she replied…
\n“You ready?\u00a0 Folks are there lined up for you”.<\/p>\n

“Yup!”\u00a0\u00a0 and off she went calling CQ.<\/p>\n

Immediately the pile up grew by several folks as my dead tired,\u00a0 bone weary,\u00a0 somewhat hoarse-gravely voice was replaced by the chipper and melodic tones of the female contester.\u00a0 Like a moth to a flame, folks started responding. One, after another, after another.\u00a0 Several calling her to work her – stating:<\/p>\n

“I have been listening for a while, not in the contest- but I wanted to say hi…”<\/p>\n

HA!\u00a0 Moths to a FLAME!! Christi!
\nI told you!! Female voice =”Secret weapon!”<\/p>\n

I sat and listened.\u00a0\u00a0 Christi was crushing it.\u00a0\u00a0 Calling CQ, pausing at the right time, adding additional info when needed, logging at the same time, mixing up her CQ calls to attract more stations.\u00a0 She was doing great.<\/p>\n

It was one of those proud moments, when you work with someone for months telling them that they can do it, showing some guidance and tips, and then let them “fly”.\u00a0 Christi was not only flying, she was soaring.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Total control without any sense of fear or hesitation on the mic.\u00a0 She ran 20m for another few hours netting over 100 QSOS before getting tired and shut down.\u00a0\u00a0 Amazing work Christi!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think we found a new station op!<\/p>\n

\"pic

Christi on the last few hours of Field Day 2017 working the pileups on 20 meters.<\/p><\/div>\n

Soon after we dropped the last wire antenna, and brought down the last beam.\u00a0\u00a0 We packed up quickly and we were gone.\u00a0 I think total time on the air was around 21 or 22 hours.\u00a0 We need to shoot for the full 24 next year, and get some band love on 15\/10m which never happened for us here in AZ unlike the East coast – but need more operators in the morning to make it happen.\u00a0 More planning and cheer leading for Field Day 2018.\u00a0 It will happen.\u00a0 We will make it better next year!<\/p>\n

All in all we ended up with just shy of 4000 points this year.\u00a0 About 800 more than last year!\u00a0 Four hundred more bonus and about 350’s more QSOs.\u00a0\u00a0 Great job everyone!\u00a0 Here is a write up in the local paper<\/a> of our event.<\/p>\n

(Full disclosure, I know Dave, Troy, Al, Joe, Janet, Dennis, Keith, Ron, Shelly, Rick and a host of others had their own stories and events during the night, I was just not privy to them.\u00a0 Thanks Joe, N2QOJ for some of the pics for the blog.\u00a0 Thank you Ron for the Pork roast and the feed – hats off to Troy for the vhf and satellite attempt.\u00a0 Rick, Shelly, and Keith for logging and support – and I know I missed some others!\u00a0 Thank you for being part of Field Day 2017 with the QCARC.<\/em>) I would love to read about them guys!\u00a0 Post them up of FB or some other location and I will link to them on this page.<\/p>\n

73 until the next one.\u00a0 DE N1RWY<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, hard to believe that another ARRL Field Day is in the books.\u00a0 After all the talking and planning, the annual event went off well on the weekend of the 24-25th of June, 2017.\u00a0 I took part in the event as a member of the Queen Creek ARC, where we operated as N7Q on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,2,5,4,108],"tags":[125,121,124,13,122,15,123,126],"class_list":["post-440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coffee","category-contesting","category-portable","category-rim","category-rv","tag-3-element","tag-arrl","tag-beam","tag-field-day","tag-field-day-2017","tag-hf","tag-n7q","tag-queen-creek-arc"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n1rwy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n1rwy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n1rwy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n1rwy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n1rwy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=440"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.n1rwy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":468,"href":"https:\/\/www.n1rwy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions\/468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n1rwy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n1rwy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n1rwy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n1rwy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}