1. This year’s Field Day was very interesting on several levels:
A. Having a theme was a great idea and generated a lot of interest and excitement and injected additional fun into our Field Day event. (Thanks Tom!)
B. Emphasizing the Hawaiian theme was fun and productive. All of our visitors, hams and non-hams alike, got into the spirit of a Hawaiian Field Day when they visited. We received lots of compliments on the idea of a theme as well as compliments on our set-up and organization (We also received quite a few compliments on the signals from our powerful 100 watt transmitters). I have to admit we have a great concept and plan for Field Day.
C. But as good as our plan is, it takes people to implement it and make the concept a reality. We were blessed and augmented by many volunteers who helped during the set-up phase, the operating phase and the take-down phase and we extend our gratitude to all of them. With their help, it took us about 5-6 hours to set up our Field Day site over a two day period and just under 2 hours to have everything except the porta-potty packed away and on the road by 4:30pm on Sunday.
D. We made a record high 703 contacts during the 24-hour event:
• 540 contacts by Phone
• 182 contacts by CW
• 008 contacts by Digital (PSK31)
E. Nearly half of our 730 contacts (316 or 45%) were made by visitors.
F. About 93% of our 730 contacts (681) were east of a line that runs north-south along the western borders of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana. This about normal.
2. Phone Summary:
A. The 540 phone contacts were distributed among the four phone stations (3xHF and 1xVHF) as follows:
• 160m – 3 (Less than 1% of the total phone contacts)
• 80m – 142 (26% of the total phone contacts)
• 40m – 206 (38% of the total phone contacts)
• 20m – 170 (31% of the total phone contacts)
• 15m – 84 (16% of the total phone contacts)
• 10m – 32 (6% of the total phone contacts)
• 6m – 93 (17% of the total phone contacts)
• Station 1 (Primary 40m) – 166 contacts (31% of the total phone contacts)
• Station 3 (Primary 20m) – 97 contacts (18% of the total phone contacts)
• Station 4 (Primary 80m/15m/10m) – 162 contacts (30% of the total phone contacts)
• Station 5 (Primary 6m) – 115 contacts (21% of the total phone contacts)
B. Our visitors made 299 or 55% of our 540 phone contacts!
Note: On Sunday morning until 1800Z, we could have easily operated three stations (two additional stations) to cover 80m, 15m and 10m due to the high level of phone activity on those bands. As it was, we had one station to cover all three simultaneously.
3. CW Summary:
A. We made 182 CW contacts that were distributed as follows:
• 80m – 18 (10% of the total CW contacts)
• 40m – 43 (24% of the total phone contacts)
• 20m – 62 (34% of the total phone contacts)
• 15m – 47 (26% of the total phone contacts)
• 10m – 12 (6% of the total phone contacts)
Note: There was sufficient CW activity to support three CW stations (1 x 40m, 1 x 20m and
1 x 80m/15m/10m).
4. Digital Summary:
This was our first foray into digital communications during Field Day and we made only 8 contacts. Station 5 was tasked with 6m, 160m and 20m PSK. Since 6m was pretty active, PSK didn’t get the attention it deserved. With a dedicated station and experienced PSK operators, we could have been much more productive using this mode of communications.
5. Odds and Ends:
Our plan to hang a half-wave 160 dipole across the “valley” behind the tree line in back of our shelters didn’t pan out as well as we had hoped. Instead, we had an ugly looking inverted-V that curved outward from the apex inward to the end of the legs. Not pretty but we made three contacts with it.
6. Station Summaries:
Each station endured some loss of operating time. The losses are based on a period of inactivity noted in the log that lasts for a minimum of 45 minutes or more. The losses occurred for several reasons to include:
• Greeting and escorting visitors
• Meal breaks
• Naps/Sleep breaks
• Helping other operators/non-hams
• A typhoon (aka Thunderstorm)
• A short 20m Band closure
• Car burning/exploding at 2:30am
• Gab sessions with visitors
Station 1 (Phone) – Made 166 contacts during 17 hours of operation
Station 2 (CW) – Made 182 contacts during 13 hours of operation.
Station 3 (Phone) – Made 97 contacts during 16 hours of operation
Station 4 (Phone) – Made 162 contacts during 15 hours of operation
Station 5 (Phone/Digital) – Made 123 contacts during 11 hours of operation
Next year we'll do better!
