Operated 2012 Field Day with N4YDU and N4GU.\u00c2\u00a0 Seriously considered entirely ditching FD earlier in the year, but finally decided to swing back into the saddle.\u00c2\u00a0 Using the Central Carolina Contesters call K4FQU, how could I not?<\/p>\n
K4FQU<\/span><\/strong> – Class 1A, Ops: N4GU<\/span>, N4YDU<\/span> & W4KAZ<\/span>….\u00c2\u00a0 1499 QSO’s(942CW, 557SSB)<\/strong><\/p>\n N4YDU bird-dogged an excellent site by getting permission for operating on the north end of the Franklinton High school campus.\u00c2\u00a0 The school has a horseshoe shaped service road around its perimeter.\u00c2\u00a0 The north side of campus has a nice line of pine trees parallel to the service road which runs due E\/W for about 500 feet.\u00c2\u00a0 All in a mostly rural very RF quiet location.\u00c2\u00a0 A very good Field Day site, one of the better sites we have used.<\/p>\n We set up the station near a break in the tree line.\u00c2\u00a0 Operating as 1A, we put up two antennas.\u00c2\u00a0 The 80m dipole was set up as a vee, broadside to N\/S.\u00c2\u00a0 The other antenna was the four band open sleeve dipole, set up facing E\/W.\u00c2\u00a0 The apex of both antennas was up at about 70 to 80 feet.<\/p>\n The wx threatened rain on Saturday, but that never happened.\u00c2\u00a0 The cloud cover helped moderate temperatures right up until almost 1800z, so the set up was not terribly uncomfortable.\u00c2\u00a0 The humidity levels rose all through Saturday night.\u00c2\u00a0 A change in the WX about dawn Sunday, and a drier breeze picked up early Sunday morning.\u00c2\u00a0 The WX was very pleasant for the duration.\u00c2\u00a0 Probably one of the most comfortable FD weekends in a long time outside of the trips to the mountains.<\/p>\n Radio conditions did not seem all that good, but the rates were consistently good anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 At times the rates were surprisingly good.\u00c2\u00a0 N4YDU had unusually good rates in the “wee hours” on Sunday morning from 2:00am thru 6:00am(local), and turned the graveyard shift into a nice fat 350+ qso count.<\/p>\n For my own part, the best rates I saw were the first hour of my late evening shift from 11:00pm to 2:00am(local), where there was very fun rates on 80m CW as ‘fresh meat’.\u00c2\u00a0 Getting a SSB run going proved difficult, but I managed to find a decent 40m frequency close to 2:00am Sunday morning, and N4YDU hit the ground running for the graveyard leg.\u00c2\u00a0 The rates kept him awake.\u00c2\u00a0 \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n N4GU Power and Light supplied emergency power in the form of a 1000w Honda generator.\u00c2\u00a0 We located the generator on an asphalt drive about 125 feet away from the station, and could not hear the generator at all over the ambient background noise of the location(School AC units, birds tweeting, road noise, etc.)\u00c2\u00a0 N4GU also supplied shelter in the form of a couple of EZ-Up canopies.\u00c2\u00a0 My own concerns about blood-sucking insects or T-storms were not realized, so the lack of side-walls was never a problem.<\/p>\n Over all the event went off without a hitch.\u00c2\u00a0 Murphy was probably off elsewhere knocking over towers and breaking yagi’s at other more tempting FD sites.\u00c2\u00a0 All of the overnight lighting was supplied by battery operated LED lamps, over concerns we might overload the generator.\u00c2\u00a0 Generator overload was never an issue, as a Kill-a-Watt in the AC supply line showed that the power draw never got over 500w.\u00c2\u00a0 With the single run station going, the draw was around 300-350watts. \u00c2\u00a0 The generator ran for about 7 hours between fill-ups, and was very easy on the gas.\u00c2\u00a0 A sweet package.<\/p>\n Propagation seemed to favor the North-South paths for most of the times I was at the controls.\u00c2\u00a0 With the 40m-up antenna at 75 feet, it seemed to under perform my expectations on 40m and 20m.\u00c2\u00a0 That may have been just propagation, which seemed very short on 20m.\u00c2\u00a0 In the evening, it did a better job out to the west, but I found myself using the 80m dipole on the 40m band more than I expected.\u00c2\u00a0 Both antennas were fed with 450 ohm ladder line into balanced tuners, allowing them to be loaded where needed.<\/p>\n Reviewing the Reverse Beacon Network spots was interesting.<\/p>\n We wound up besting our QSO totals from 2011 by a couple of hundred Q’s.\u00c2\u00a0 10m never opened, 6m was a flop, and 15m was mediocre.\u00c2\u00a0 But 80m, 40m, and 20m produced enough activity that we were able to keep the logging computer busy and the operators awake.\u00c2\u00a0 Operating 1A with N4GU and N4YDU was just about perfect – both great ops and great fun.\u00c2\u00a0 Class 1A also insured we were almost always ‘fresh meat’ somewhere, which made the butt-in-chair time fun as well.<\/p>\n The only real goal I had this year was to have some fun.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Mission Accomplished.<\/p>\n After action reflections indicated if we were to revisit the location we might make a few minor tweaks to the general set-up by re-locating the antennas, but probably nothing too drastic.\u00c2\u00a0 The E\/W roadway invites flat-topping the dipoles rather than center supporting them as inv-vee’s.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 A few other minor station set-up re-arrangements.\u00c2\u00a0 None of those would be of large consequence in terms of extra effort, but might pay QSO and comfort dividends.<\/p>\n Operated 2012 Field Day with N4YDU and N4GU.\u00c2 Seriously considered entirely ditching FD earlier in the year, but finally decided to swing back into the saddle.\u00c2 Using the Central Carolina Contesters call K4FQU, how could I not?<\/p>\n K4FQU – Class 1A, Ops: N4GU, N4YDU & W4KAZ….\u00c2 1499 QSO’s(942CW, 557SSB)<\/p>\n N4YDU bird-dogged an excellent site by getting permission for operating on the north end of the Franklinton High school campus.\u00c2 The school has a horseshoe shaped service road around its perimeter.\u00c2 The north side of campus has a nice line of pine trees parallel to the service road which runs due E\/W for about 500 feet.\u00c2 All in a mostly rural very RF quiet location.\u00c2 A very good Field Day site, one of the better sites we have used.<\/p>\n We set up the station near a break in the tree line.\u00c2 Operating as 1A, we put up two antennas.\u00c2 The 80m dipole was set up as a vee, broadside to N\/S.\u00c2 The other antenna was the four band open sleeve dipole, set up facing E\/W.\u00c2 The apex of both antennas was up at about 70 to 80 feet.<\/p>\n The wx threatened rain on Saturday, but that never happened.\u00c2 The cloud cover helped moderate temperatures right up until almost 1800z, so the set up was not terribly uncomfortable.\u00c2 The humidity levels rose all through Saturday night.\u00c2 A change in the WX about dawn Sunday, and a drier breeze picked up early Sunday morning.\u00c2 The WX was very pleasant for the duration.\u00c2 Probably […]<\/p>\nK4FQU, 1A NC - Quick snapshot of score:<\/strong>\r\n\r\nband\/mode Qs \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Pts\r\n80 cw\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0222 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0444\r\n80 ph\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0181 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0181\r\n40 cw\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0440 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0880\r\n40 ph\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0164 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0164\r\n20 cw\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0231 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0462\r\n20 ph\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0141 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0141\r\n21 cw\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a045 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a090\r\n21 ph\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a063 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a063\r\n50 cw\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a04 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a08\r\n50 ph\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a08 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a08\r\n-----------------------------\r\n 1499 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a02441\r\n\r\nPwr mult 2\r\n\r\nRaw score 4882\r\n\r\nBonus pts\r\n100% Emergency power\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0100\r\nPublic Location\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0100\r\nW1AW Message\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0100\r\nOnline submisson\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a050\r\nTotal bonus pts\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0350\r\n\r\nTotal Score\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a04882 + 350 = 5232 pts\r\n\r\n*<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"