FIELD DAY 2005 @ KA2BEO

Our twelfth consecutive Field Day since 1994 was another successful one. New 
for this year, I set up a 'live' video feed of the 24-hour event for friends 
and family to watch us via a Linksys WVC54G wireless webcam. However, the 
audio was disabled for legal reasons. The Internet link was e-mailed out to 
a dozen or more addresses, but I'm not certain how many people actually 
monitored our operation. I also surprised a few attendees when I showed off 
my new 'Ham' radio, our mascot for this Field Day. The FM broadcast band 
radio is actually a pink plastic pig, called Porker (Wild FM WFRP15/3990). 
With a telescopic whip antenna for a tail, his eyes provide frequency control 
(reset and scan), and his nose controls power and volume. This year was our 
fourth time operating in the Club category, Class A. Jeff, KC2IHZ attempted 
to receive some slow-scan television (SSTV) images for a non-traditional mode 
demonstration using his Icom PCR-1000 receiver and the W95SSTV program. 
However, no SSTV transmissions were ever heard. John, N2PHX and I set up his 
Van Gorden G5RV antenna using his new 45-foot fiberglass pole kit. We tried 
to install the antenna pointing West, in an inverted vee configuration. The 
center of the antenna was 30 feet high, with each wire end at an average 
height of 13 feet. Although the wire antenna functions as a horizontal dipole 
at 40 meters and below, at 20 meters and above, the G5RV essentially operates 
as a balanced vertical with extremely large capacitance hats for increased 
bandwidth. Therefore, the highest RF currents were near the top of the balun, 
which was cable-tied to a grounded mounting post. In other words, a 
significant portion of our radiating power may have been transmitting directly 
into the earth. Such potentially wasted power might account for the poor 
distances that were achieved on the 20-meter band. As usual, we used a Kenwood 
TS-120s transceiver for all HF contacts. Once again, we didn't bother with 
satellite, VHF, UHF, packet, or PSK31. However, we made the minimum contacts 
required for natural-power bonus points using QRP on the 20-meter band. 
Running 5 watts at the beginning of the event, I was able to work five CW 
stations using power from John's 12-volt exercise bike generator that we used 
for four previous years since 1998. The furthest QRP contacts were two in 
South Texas. Again, we had no shortage of laptop computers, and used the 
latest version of N3FJP's Field Day 2.7 program for logging. This was our 
fourth consecutive year using the Windows based logging software, which fits 
our needs and includes some cool bells and whistles too. In fact, the program 
is mysteriously similar to my original DOS-based FD logger that we used from 
1995 to 2001. Based on prior experience, I copied a QRM free ARRL message for 
100 bonus points, by recording it on Friday night instead, not during the 
event, when the bands are too crowded for clear reception. With lots of 
batteries on hand, emergency power for the radio was no problem either. As I 
worked CW, John, Jeff, Arthur, and Natalie took turns logging the contacts. 
As always, John and Jeff made lots of voice contacts to rack up points too. 
Natalie made her first voice contact ever, and continued with several other 
sideband contacts as well. She worked stations ranging to Tennessee, and 
really helped to boost our score. Ellen also made her first phone contact 
followed by additional stations. Even in the tougher solar conditions, we 
managed to make a few more contacts than last year. We missed our annual 
breakfast out, and ended up doing lunch instead. Again, the pool helped to 
relieve us from the heat, and added to the fun as well. Thanks to everyone 
involved! 73 de Rob, KA2BEO.