FIELD DAY 2010 @ KA2BEO

Similar to last year's event, we decided to experiment again. The main 
difference this year was that we had up to eight people joining the 
extracurricular activities, which included the usual swimming and eating. 
Unlike last year, we were able to work some stations on the 15m band with 
only 5W on USB. With no rainstorms in the area this year, we only needed 
umbrellas to shade us from the hot sun. John, N2PHX wanted to test out his 
new Outbacker Outreach 500 vertical that was ground-mounted on an Outpost 
tripod. He used this antenna with a Yaesu FT-817 transceiver running only 
5W on SSB. I wanted to test some new QRP equipment as well. More 
specifically, I operated two new radios. I tried listening to the bands 
with a tiny Grundig G6 shortwave receiver with SSB/CW capabilities and 
terrific sensitivity. And a few weeks earlier, I built an MFJ-9320K Cub 
QRP transceiver for operating 20m CW. A day before Field Day, I finished 
adding a few modifications to the rig, such as an Embedded Research TiCK-2B 
keyer, an SWL Freq-Mite Morse code frequency annunciator, and an internal 
32-ohm speaker. Saturday, the QRP radio was connected via a tuner to a 40m 
dipole up 20ft, but on Sunday the station was more portable with a shortened 
and rotatable, home-brew 20m dipole up 20ft that was mounted on a three-
piece telescopic pool pole. The radio and antenna combination worked 
beautifully, as proven by making eight contacts in a 30-minute period of 
operating, while running just 2W out. Both days, I also had set up an Icom 
IC-706MkIIg all-band, all-mode 100W transceiver with the 20m dipole, just in 
case low-power efforts became futile. With two simultaneously-operated 
transmitters on Saturday, we experienced some true fun in the few short 
periods that we actually powered the radios. We had up to three different 
stations/tables ready to use before the 1800Z start time. Each of the three 
stations had at least one QRP transceiver and two antennas. The third 
station consisting of a NorCal 38-Special 30m CW transceiver with 5W out was 
never used, due to the Ni-Cd battery pack being fully discharged. The other 
antennas included portable whips for 20m and 30m, a 30m rotatable dipole made 
from mobile whips, and a 40m 3-turn mini-loop with a balun. Next year, I hope 
to experiment with an SWL Rock-Mite 20m CW transceiver, built into a machined 
and anodized aluminum MityBox from American Morse. Until then, 73! Rob, 
KA2BEO.