I can only shake my head in awe of Howie's 8-transmitter FD, as well as
other double-digit multi-transmitter operations . My hat's off to that
kind of effort, believe me.
We used to do that, too.
But several years ago the Mid-MO Amateur Radio Club (NØSS) of Jefferson
City, Missouri, decided on wire-only Field Days. We did so for several
reasons . . . (1) those doing the work are aging; (2) those doing the
work have no business being in the sun very long; (3) those doing the
work are usually those doing the operating; (4) Missouri weather always
throws 90-degrees and 100% humidity at us; and (5) none of us enjoy the
labor of putting metal things together only to take them apart again.
Aside from Qs and scores, the goal for me (at 71) is getting the darn
things up as fast as possible on Friday evening, seeing them stay up for
the duration, and getting the heck out of there when it's over. To that
end, erection of three OCF dipoles on 30-foot masts aligned end-to-end
with 50-feet of separation took 45 minutes. Tear-down and site clean-up
took exactly 33-minutes.
/THOSE/ are the reasons our 25-man crew happily stays at 2A!
Equipment-wise, we use nothing but K3s (one each for CW, SSB, GOTA,
VHF). The CW and SSB rigs were often on the same bands at the same time
with no interference, no phase noise, and no activation of
carrier-operated relays. Both HF stations stayed busy all weekend.
Again, my salute to the big clubs, the big antenna farms, and the big
scores.
But I suspect our level of fun was the same, with a whale of a lot
/less/ effort.
73,
Kent Trimble, K9ZTV
Jefferson City, Missouri
On 6/27/2016 1:35 PM, Howard Hoyt wrote:
This Field Day I operated once again with W4EZ the Orange County Radio
Amateurs in Hillsborough, NC in an 8A effort. It was a lot of work
setting up 6 towers and many wire antennas in mid-90° heat and high
humidity but the end result was a lot of fun and Qs.
Despite our best efforts at eliminating cross-interference between
stations beforehand by antenna placement, we suffered quite a bit of
in-band phase noise interference. All three CW stations and one SSB
station were using K3s, and no K3 station ever interfered with anyone
else or with each other. Much credit is due to Elecraft for the
transmit purity and receive performance of this superb rig. However,
we experienced some pretty severe in-band phase noise interference
ranging from S3-4 on 40 and 20M from various YaeComWood rigs, to an
ear-shattering received S8-9 from a TS-570 running SSB on 15M when the
noise floor was S0. Granted, with relatively close antenna spacing
Field Day is a torture test for transmit purity, but sometimes it was
difficult to tolerate...or operate.
Many of us now agree we would optimally be an all K3 Field Day next
year but that is most likely out of the question. I am a big fan of
the KX3, although for Field Day purposes it would be great if its
phase noise was 10-20 dB less; more in line with that of the K3. That
being said, a KX3 running digi caused less interference than just
about all the non-Elecraft rigs.
One problem solving this scenario is the political issue of trying to
tell someone they cannot bring their rig to the party. We did
discuss holding a testing session next year to evaluate phase noise
beforehand and accept or deny use of the rig based on performance, and
maybe this will be viewed as being more impartial. After witnessing
the problem first-hand, at least one op said he was intending to get
an Elecraft rig. Elecraft owners are in the minority overall, so
instead of Field Day being an inclusive club event, telling people it
will be K3 only would achieve the opposite.
Other than the phase noise issue, FD was once again a lot of fun and
camaraderie!
Cheers & 73,
Howie - WA4PSC
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