ARRL Field Day - 2023
Call: AA6FD
Operator(s): AG4ZP N1VF NF1R K2TJ
Station: AA6FD
Class: 1A LP
QTH: CO
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160:
80: 84 0 26
40: 385 0 29
20: 456 109 10
15: 191 36 6
10: 2 0 0
6: 0 0 73
2: 0 0 1
222:
432:
903:
1.2:
2.3:
3.4:
5.7:
10G:
24G:
----------------------------
Total: 1118 145 145 Total Score = 5,792
Club:
Comments:
Score includes bonus points for W1AW message, natural power QSOs, emergency
power, social media, and web submission.
This marks the second Colorado Field Day for the AA6FD group. The four of us
started doing Field Days together with the Harvard/MIT group on the Boston
Harbor Islands in 2007. We reconnected in the Bay Area in 2016 and got a
vanity callsign (AA6FD) and sought out remote camping locations with good
terrain for serious Field Day entries. Over the late 2010s, we operated from
SCV (at Henry Coe SP) and SV (Brushy Mountain in Mendocino National Forest).
Our operating QTH this year was a glamping yurt at 10,600 feet, looking out over
Leadville, CO. We had ample space and trees for our wire antennas.
Every year, we try a new antenna project. At our first Field Day at Henry Coe
in 2016, we set up a Hexbeam and a 40-meter fixed wire Moxon. At Brushy
Mountain we used a 20-meter G4ZU "Jungle Job" (2-element Spiderbeam)
and a 168-ft 40 meter extended double zepp.
This year, I joked that we should hang a bidirectional VOA-style dipole curtain
for 10-20 meters. Ben, N1VF, went down the rabbit hole doing research on
curtain arrays and correctly decided that if we were going to build one, we
should maximize performance on a single band. Ben and Ryan, AG4ZP, settled on a
3-dipole, 20-meter collinear array fed with switchable delay lines to slew the
signal in desired directions. In the weeks before FD, they built a customized
"HF Switching Bawx" to control the phasing lines. The relay box was
programmed to operate from a web browser. According to EZNEC and research, this
antenna could be expected to deliver 6dB gain over a single dipole at the same
height. We aimed the antenna at 90/270 azimuth, and the delay lines allowed us
to slew the signal to direct the main lobes to 70/250 (SoCal and New England) or
110/290 (Pac NW and Florida/TX) azimuths.
Andy, K2TJ, flew in from Rochester, NY with 2 500-foot Beverages, which he
strung down and along the mountain. These helped greatly with the weekend's
thunderstorm noise and might have helped with some noise generated by
high-tension lines about a mile from our site. Andy is also our best CW
operator and was able to squeeze lots of QSOs out of 40 and 20 meters.
We were able to hold a run frequency for much of the weekend, turning in great
numbers on 20 meters. With a Hexbeam perched at 20 feet over great terrain to
the East, we were able to set fire on 15 meters during the Sunday morning
opening.
We had a nice opening on 6m FT8 on Sunday morning. We heard a few weak signals
on 10 meters but it was mostly a bust. We set up antennas for 6m, 2m, 70cm, and
23cm, but above 6m only made a single QSO on 2 meters. For next year, we plan
to find a QTH somewhere along the Front Range to better on VHF.
Thanks to everyone for the QSOs.
Rigs:
-2xK3 on HF and 6m (FT8)
-IC-9700 on higher VHF bands.
Antennas:
80: Dipole
40: Inverted vee
20: Hexbeam or three-dipole slewable collinear array
15: Hexbeam or 40M inverted vee
10: Hexbeam
6: 5-element Yagi
2: 9-element Yagi
440: 13-element Yagi
1296: Long-Ranger TV Dish
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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