Winter Field Day 2022

I got out very briefly this past Sunday (Jan 30th) to at least set-up for Winter Field Day. I figured I could at least learn some lessons about portable setup with the Yaesu FT-857D. 

I drove around Red Hills State Park and chose a spot near the lake not far from the old abandoned restaurant. 

In addition to the 857d, I brought the Tecsun S-2000, a weather radio, a QRP tri-bander, the Anytone 878uv HT, and a handheld scanner. I set up a long wire antenna for the Tecsun, and a GR5V-Jr for the Yaesu. 

First thing that I heard was Voice of America in Somali from England with a decent signal. Next, I decided to try some QRP CW. I had a station that heard and came back to me from Georgia, but I was lost in the QRN after that. Than I made contact with another QRP portable station located at Beaver Dam State Park - also in Illinois. 

I had to work early the next morning, so it was already time to break camp and head home to get some ZZZZzzz’s. A local ham radio and fellow former Air Force friend from Olney had stopped by to see the setup. He helped me get everything back into the car and that was that. 

Lessons learned: remember to bring whatever you need to get the antenna up high. Bring more ink pens and fewer radios. Probably one HT, one HF and the weather radio will be plenty. Get set up early on day one and camp out overnight. Get a lighter portable power setup - what I have is too heavy and requires too many pieces of equipment. 

***

Tuning through some CW using my QRP rig in the truck.

*

***

*

Getting the Tri-Bander battery charged up to try to make some 

QSO's on 40m for the first time from the truck.

***

Trucking with QRP CW

*

Last week I finally got my QRP CW rig set up from the truck while out on the road. These pics were taken in Iowa. I could hear code immediately on 40m, and I called CQ a few times later on a quiet freq, but was unheard that night. I have made a lot of QSO's with this rig from home, so I'm really looking forward to making some contacts while out gallivanting around the country.

 

***

15 Meters on a 40 Meter Dipole With a MFJ-971 Tuner

*

Today I decided to try my luck with QRP CW using the 40m simple wire dipole that I have with my MFJ-971 antenna tuner. I knew that this would hypothetically work, but I had not tried it yet because I was focusing my efforts on 40m. Why not since that's what the antenna is tuned to. I was pleasantly surprised by the results: four QSO's in as many hours at 3w PEP. The farthest one being about 1641 miles away That was impressive to me based on my prior experience on 40m. I wonder what my 3 watts could do with an antenna that was actually tuned to 15 meters!
 

Greeley, CO to Harwinton, CT - 1641 Miles!

 

***

FEB 2016 QSO's

*



Greeley, CO to Lexington, TX

 above map courtesy of "As The Crow Flies" Distance Calculator

  QSO: CW QRP / QRS

Date/Time: 19 FEB 2016 / Approx: 0358hrs UTC
Per N9SSA Distance and Miles Per Watt Calculator:

Dist: Approx 816 miles - Pwr = 3w PEP

Dist Per Watt =  204 miles per watt

Rig: KD1JV Tri-Bander

Ant. 40m Wire Dipole w/ MFJ-971 Tuner
Freq: 7.053 MHz

*


Greeley, CO to Harwinton, CT
The farthest my QRP rig has reached yet!

 above map courtesy of "As The Crow Flies" Distance Calculator

  QSO: CW QRP / QRS

Date/Time: 11 FEB 2016 / Approx: 2300hrs UTC
Per N9SSA Distance and Miles Per Watt Calculator:

Dist: Approx 1641 miles - Pwr = 3w PEP

Dist Per Watt =  547 miles per watt

Rig: KD1JV Tri-Bander

Ant. 40m Wire Dipole w/ MFJ-971 Tuner
Freq: 21.050 MHz

*



Greeley, CO to Choccolocco, AL

 above map courtesy of "As The Crow Flies" Distance Calculator

  QSO: CW QRP / QRS

Date/Time: 11 FEB 2016 / 2144hrs UTC

Dist: Approx 1146 miles - Pwr = 3w PEP

Dist Per Watt =  381 miles per watt

Rig: KD1JV Tri-Bander

Ant. 40m Wire Dipole w/ MFJ-971 Tuner
Freq: 21.050 MHz

*



Greeley, CO to Portland, OR
Made initial contact but lost to QSB

 above map courtesy of "As The Crow Flies" Distance Calculator

  QSO: CW QRP / QRS

Date/Time: 11 FEB 2016 / 2054hrs UTC

Dist: Approx 973 miles - Pwr = 3w PEP

Dist Per Watt =  324 miles per watt

Rig: KD1JV Tri-Bander

Ant. 40m Wire Dipole w/ MFJ-971 Tuner
Freq: 21.050 MHz

 *



Greeley, CO to Corpus Christi, TX
My first ever 15m QSO! Thanks Mike!

above map courtesy of "As The Crow Flies" Distance Calculator

  QSO: CW QRP / QRS

Date/Time: 11 FEB 2016 / 1747hrs UTC

Dist: Approx 967 miles - Pwr < 4w PEP

Dist Per Watt > 239 miles per watt

Rig: KD1JV Tri-Bander

Ant. 40m Wire Dipole w/ MFJ-971 Tuner
Freq: 21.048 MHz

 *

Greeley, CO to Cincinnati, OH

above map courtesy of "As The Crow Flies" Distance Calculator

  QSO: CW QRP / QRS

Date/Time: 10 FEB 2016 / 0539hrs UTC

Dist: Approx 1066 miles - Pwr < 5w

Dist Per Watt > 213 miles per watt

Rig: KD1JV Tri-Bander

Ant. 40m Wire Dipole
Freq: 7.053 MHz

*

Greeley, CO to  Kent, WA

above map courtesy of "As The Crow Flies" Distance Calculator

  QSO: CW QRP / QRS

Date/Time: 10 FEB 2016 / 0129hrs UTC

Dist: Approx 994 miles - Pwr < 5w

Dist Per Watt > 199 miles per watt

Rig: KD1JV Tri-Bander

Ant. 40m Wire Dipole
Freq: 7.116 MHz

*

Greeley, CO to Houston, TX

above map courtesy of "As The Crow Flies" Distance Calculator

  QSO: CW QRP / QRS

Date/Time: 09 FEB 2016 / 0021hrs UTC

Dist: Approx 906 miles - Pwr < 5w

Dist Per Watt > 185 miles per watt

Rig: KD1JV Tri-Bander

Ant. 40m Wire Dipole
Freq: 7.114 MHz

***

QSO's Feb. 6th, 2016

*

Greeley, CO to Farmersville, TX

Another good CW QSO tonight. I've been lucky with my QRP rig the last few days. 

Hope this keeps up! Thanks Jon.

above map courtesy of "As The Crow Flies" Distance Calculator

  QSO: CW QRP / QRS

Date/Time: 06 FEB 2016 / 0225hrs UTC

Dist: Approx 682 miles - Pwr < 5w

Dist Per Watt > 137 miles per watt

Rig: KD1JV Tri-Bander

Ant. 40m Wire Dipole
Freq: 7.1083 MHz


*


Greeley, CO to Seguin, TX

Tonight was apparently destined to be a Texas night. This QSO was great for a few minutes before the QRN took over on my end unfortunately. Hopefully the airwaves will be more cooperative on the next go round. Thanks Art!

 above map courtesy of "As The Crow Flies" Distance Calculator

  QSO: CW QRP / QRS

Date/Time: 06 FEB 2016 / 0529hrs UTC

Dist: Approx 842 miles - Pwr < 5w

Dist Per Watt > 168 miles per watt

Rig: KD1JV Tri-Bander

Ant. 40m Wire Dipole
Freq: 7.053 MHz


***

 

CQ CQ WFD DE...

*

Tonight I ran into a station calling CQ WFD, which it turns out is a call for the Winter Field Day. I tried to respond, but the calling station couldn't hear me. I also answered a CQ call from the ongoing K3Y event, and although he could hear that I was responding, he couldn't make out my code through the static. As much as I enjoy the challenge of QRP comms, I will be happy to eventually have a rig with more power when I need it.

***

3rd CW Contact

*

3d QSO tonight. CW - 4W - 738 Miles. Great Fun!

Greeley, CO to Marcell, MN

 above map courtesy of "As The Crow Flies" Distance Calculator

***

First Ever CW QSO!

*

I just made my first ever CW QSO: approximately 647 mile contact (Greeley, CO to Fayetteville, AR) using a KD1JV Tri-Bander and a straight key, transmitting less than 5w through a 40m dipole spanning the back yard. Ready now for Straight Key Night.

Greeley, CO to Fayetteville, AR

Map created using: http://tjpeiffer.com/crowflies.html

 ***

US Portable Super Rechargeable 6800mAh 12v DC Li-ion Battery Pack

*

When I bought my used YouKits HB-1B, the internal battery was not recharging properly. I had read that using an internal battery could be harmful to the circuit board of the HB-1B over time, so I decided to try a different external battery rather than try to figure out what was going on with the original.

Today I'm trying out a new rechargeable li-ion 6800mAh 12v DC battery pack. So far it works great. It doesn't cause the type of notable interference that plugging the transceiver into the wall outlet does.

At 6:35am I started out with 11.1v power input, after a full night of charging. At 7:35am I'm getting 11.0v. My plan today is see how long it takes for the battery to run down to 9v (while listening only), which is the low end of the suggested input power range for this transceiver.

I've been listening to a constant stream of Morse signals on various frequencies. Reception on the HB-1B is great, mostly because of the filter. One of the really great things about this little QRP rig is that in addition to the CW that it transmits and receives, it can also receive USB/LSB voice.

We'll see how long this battery lasts. I'll update the hourly voltage readings below. Today I'm just listening, as I don't yet have my dipole set up at the new QTH. I'm looking forward to getting that set up and to transmitting soon.

Voltage Readings - Listening Only:

6:35am - 11.1v

7:35am - 11.0v

8:35am - 11.0v

8:47am - 10.9v / 11.0v

9:35am - 10.9v / 11.0v

9:41am 10.9v

10:35am 10.9v

3:35pm 10.8v

7:35pm 10.5v

9:35pm 10.4v

10:35pm 10.4v

11:00pm 10.3v

Needless to say... I don't think I'll ever be in a situation where I'll ever want to simply listen for more than 16 hours at one sitting. So, the next test will be to try some transmitting and see how well the battery does. I'm very happy with this setup. I might have to buy a second of these batteries for back-up on extended hiking trips in the mountains.

*

UPDATE: 30 Nov, 2015

I had thought that the battery was fully charged when I received it in the mail, but I was wrong. Something that you might not expect with this battery is that you turn it on when you're charging it. If it is not fully charged, the indicator on the plug will turn red. When the battery is fully charged, the indicator light will turn green. The light on the battery remains blue at all times. With a (now) fully charged battery, the transceiver now shows an input power of 12.9v. Plenty of long-lasting power for future radio outings.

*

Specs for this battery - as seen on eBay:

US Portable Super Rechargeable Li-ion Battery Pack DC 12V 6800mAh

Specifications:
Input: 12.6V DC
Output: 12.6-10.8V DC, 6800mAh
Dimensions: (W)5.95 x (H)2.37 x (L)10.14cm
Power cable cord: 60cm,5.5x2.1mm

Product Discription:
This super capacity battery preforms little resistance,large capacity,multi-recycable times and non-memory
Internal circuit for multiple protection design,can prevent the box from over-recharging or over-discharging,Production process uses computer ckeck the quality of the batteries,ensure the batteries performance.

How to charge:
1. Switch on the adaptor and the red light would be on
2. Press the switch of the battery to "ON" and the indicator would be on
3. Connect the point of the adaptor to "DC In/Out" of the battery and the green light would be on,
which indicates it starts to charge. The box does not finish charging until the green light is off.
(The charging times lasts at least 8 hours)

How to supply:
1. Connect one point of the power wire to "DC In/Out" of the battery
2. Press the switch to "ON",and the other point of the power wire to any kinds of household appliances.
(With the special technology, the inner circuit cut off automatically in case of uncorrectly use, resulting in no output. but, you can renew its output so long as to recharge battery)

Package:
1X DC 12V 6800mAh Rechargeable Li-ion Battery
1X Power adapter with US plug
1X Power cable

 

***

20150809 Sunday 1930hrs UTC

Today I read on a Facebook QRP page that the NJQRP 4th Annual "Skeeter Hunt" was happening and so decided to try out my KD1JV with my old, rusting MFJ Deluxe Versa Tuner II and a 100ft longwire antenna.

I'm planning to trim this wire down to either 86ft or 56ft - based on some articles that I've seen on successful QRP antennas, but for now, I just wanted to give the radio a whirl with a random-length bit of wire to see how that worked out.

Using this long-wire, (#22) simply laid out on the grass in the front yard, I was able to hear CW better than I've been able to in the past with other antennas I've had plugged into the same rig in the past.

At the moment I only have a paddle for CW, and I have not practiced with it at all, so I'm not transmitting today, but it is good to know that the long wire works for listening at least, even when it's just lying down on the ground.

Today I only heard Morse on 20 meters, although I tried listening on 40m and 15m as well. No joy there, but I'll look forward to trying out the Tri-Bander when I'm able to hike up to a higher elevation and actually transmit.

While listening around 14.060 I heard the call "CQ WES" (which I had never noticed before) and, upon looking it up, discovered the SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, which I was also new to me. So now I am aware of another venue to start using CW as soon as I get my straight key up and running.