The picture above from the NM QRP group says it all about FYBO! Dr. Megacycle, KK6MC/5, is shown operating near Albuquerque for FYBO2006.
Here they are at long last. The results of the 2007 FYBO Winter Field Day! There were 50 entries submitted this year compared to 31 last year. This does not reflect the true number of participants. There are many more from looking at the logs, who did not send their entries. A real Who’s Who of the QRP world. If this doesn’t get the excitement started, I don’t know what will!! The scores were much closer than they were last year! See if you can top them this year. Be sure to read about the autosubmittal page for FYBO2008 in an effort to get the scores reported as they should be.
Scores that are different from what you submitted were adjusted upward when I found missed multipliers or arithmetical errors while looking through the logs and your comments. Oddly enough, almost all the errors were made on the low side. Batteries counting for alternative power was the most frequent omission.
Check out the links where they are listed in the soapbox. There are some really well done and interesting web pages describing everyone’s activities. Some have links to others. Follow those as well and you’ll get a good picture of the fun everyone had.
If you find errors, please let me know and I will get them corrected. I will be making another pass through my records to verify that I have everyone included.
SOAPBOX
This is what many of the field operations faced …
W2AGN
Temperature started at 27 degrees and never got above freezing. Would not have been too bad except for 20 mph wind with 30mph gusts from the NW. Band seemed pretty good. I just couldn't last late enough to give 40M a try. As you may note, I lasted about 1 hour, went inside to warm up, and tried again. Band was quiet, so ate lunch (hot soup) and went back for one more try.
All contacts on 20M using "Kitchensink" (ATS-3A with accessories) and EFHW for 40M (66'). See the "kitchensink" rig at
http://w2agn.net/kitchensink.html
Operator John W2AGN
W0RW
It was a bright and sunny day at North Pole, Colorado, but the temperature was 33F and winds were gusting to 40 MPH. The ground was snow covered, big drifts, ground blizzards, blowing snow and chill factor way down...Even with regular sunglasses i was getting snow blinded. Very hard to see the KX1 display even at step 6.
The conditions not as good as last year. i was on for 2.5 hours from 1630z to 1900z. i hand hold the Elecraft KX1 and use a 10 foot whip stuck in my rear pocket which runs up through a loop on my vest. i also had a 14 foot drag wire and was running 3W powered from Sony LiIon cells. On 40 Meters i use a 10 foot whip with a top hat at 7 feet and a 30 foot drag wire.
I will have special NPCO w0rw/Pedestrian Mobile QSL card available with the NPCO post mark but they won't be mailed out until May because the NPCO Post Office won't be open until then. No SASE's required. If you want a North Pole QSL send me one of yours first.
I also have a .jpg picture of me at the Pole today, send email request for picture. i had my long johns and Carl Sagan turtle neck shirt on. You can see a 360 degree summer time picture of the 'Pole' at http://www.santas-colo.com/North.html.
I hope you had a great time outside today too.
Paul
Colorado Springs, CO 80934 ___________________________
VE3QRP
VE3QRP Report FYBO 2007
Multi-single field station: 2 operators VE3JC and VE3GAM
Rig: K2 @ 5W Ant: 40M/20M fanned dipoles Location: Springbank Park, London, ON Power: Battery Temperature: 12 F
Cold out there this year, wind made it seem even colder. As the afternoon turned into evening, the temperature kept dropping. Pleasant to work NQ7RP on 15M at about 1819Z, not so pleasant when we tried to work them on 20M and they said we had already worked them. Not so guys! Not on 20M anyway. Not sure but rules seem to allow working NQ7RP on both bands, would have had another 10000 points out of that contact.
Al VE3GAM
Note: You can work NQ7RP on multiple bands for additional points. Score adjusted. k5js
K8UO
We operated from Metro Beach Park, NE of Detroit on Lake St. Clair running 5W from external batteries in 8-10 degree F temperatures with wind chills aproaching -15 F. The wind was gusting to 30+ MPH at times and kept blowing over our ground level antennas, and the dipoles were whipping around in the trees. Blowing snow was causing intermittent white out conditions and we were under a wind chill advisory from the National Weather Service. People stopped by with homemade chili, coffee, doughnuts, and we cooked hot dogs on a gas grill, for nourishment.
WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 12 PM EST SUNDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DETROIT/PONTIAC HAS ISSUED A WIND CHILL ADVISORY WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 12 PM EST SUNDAY.
WIND CHILL READINGS WILL REACH DANGEROUS LEVELS...NEAR 20 BELOW ZERO...TONIGHT AS TEMPERATURES FALL TO ZERO OR LESS AND WINDS REMAIN IN THE 15 TO 30 MPH RANGE. THESE READINGS WILL IMPROVE BY MIDDAY SUNDAY AS TEMPERATURES EDGE UP THROUGH THE SINGLE DIGITS. EVEN SO...EXPECT READINGS TO REMAIN BELOW ZERO.
A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS. THIS WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS... MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT AND GLOVES.
All in all we enjoyed ourselves and are already looking forward to the 2008 FYBO. Thanks guys for putting on such a great contest and see everyone on the bands.
73 Gud DX N8ZI Tom
K8NWD
I thought I had NQ7RP but the band changed as I was giving him my report. Bummer.
Lots of fun and I'll do it again from the warmth of my shack. Thanks for putting the
contest together. I'll be looking for you guys in the Michigan QRP Club contests.
Tim
KQ5RP The Austin QRP Club FYBO team (KQ5RP) gathered at McKinney Falls State Park, southeast of Austin, for the contest. The park opened at 8 am, so the contest had been underway a little while when we got a station going. The park has a lot of mature trees which were great for supporting wire antennas. The team included Ed Popp (K5BOT), Monty Northrup (N5ESE), and Scott McMullen (W5ESE). Rigs used included Ed's Argonaut 509, Monty's K2, and Scott's Ten-Tec TKIT 1320 and Small Wonder Labs SW+ (40m). Antennas included an 85' end fed wire, 20m doublet, and a 40m dipole. We set a couple operating positions up on picnic tables along the banks of Onion Creek. Band conditions seemed poor relative to last year, but the weather was colder, so we benefited from a higher multiplier. It was fun piddling around with a variety of rigs and antennas, and gabbing about QRP!
Thanks to the ScQRPions for sponsoring the contest; we had fun!
73
Scott
W5ESE
N8RN
OPER. TIME: < 1 HR RIG: K1 AT 5W ALT. PWR: SOLAR MODULE ON ROOF TO GEL CELL BATTERY. ANT: INV. VEE IN TREES..24 FT. AT APEX
I CONSIDERED OPERATING OFF MY PORCH TO GET THE MAX.
MULTIPLIER, BUT THE WIND CHILL WAS BELOW ZERO. I'M NOT COMPLETELY CRAZY. INSTEAD I TURNED DOWN THE THERMOSTAT AND COVERED THE HEAT VENT TO THE SHACK DOWN TO 62F. LATELY I HAVE HAD MORE THAN MY FAIR SHARE
OF FAMILY HEALTH PROBLEMS TO DEAL WITH, SO I DIDN'T HAVE MUCH SPARE TIME OR ENERGY FOR FYBO FD. BUT I WANT TO THANK THE AZ SCORPIONS FOR PUTTING ON A FUN CONTEST.
72S TO ALL...DE N8RN..ROY (OHIO).
WB3AAL
Operation in the Field north of Bethel, PA on the Appalachian Trail about 1 mile north of Rte 501.
Lowest Operating Temp was 17'F.
Rig: Elecraft K1 @ 4 watts on 40m and 2 watts on 20 & 15m Antenna: Portable Vertical for 40, 30, 20 & 15 meters.
I hiked in with Mark de NK8Q. We picked out our individual operating locations, then we made a fire between us so we had a place to warm our toes. The weather was in the teens with windy conditions. and about 6" of snow. Not bad for a Polar Bear outing. I had a blast but I wish there were more stations on 15 meters.
72 Ron de WB3AAL Polar Bear #1
VA3RKM
FT817, 5W, 25ft wire about 4 ft. off the ground. It was about 15F with a strong wind off the Ottawa River in the park, but sunny. It's hard to keep a pen writing at that temperature! A few other stations heard me, but only in part. Thanks for the fun!
Robert MacKenzie, Ottawa, ON Canada
W0NTA
Class: Single operator
Power: 5W - Elecraft K2
Battery power only. 17AH Gel Cel
Antenna: 3 element SteppIR at 25 feet and an 80 meter off center fed dipole for 40/80 meters.
Location: Between Loveland and Estes Park, Colorado - my mountain property at 7000 feet elevation.
Weather: Clear and cold. 18F at beginning of contest and rose to around 35F in the afternoon. I operated from my shack as the wind was unbearable at times.
Bands operated: 20 and 40 meters.
Time operating: 9.5 hours.
So much for relying on NOAA for a weather forecast. According to NOAA, the low Friday night was to be -4F and the high on Saturday was to be 10F. As it turned out, the temperature at the start of the contest was a balmy 18F rising to about 35F during the day. However, they did have it right on the wind as it was very strong at times. And, erecting temporary antennas would have been difficult with the very deep snow. So, I am glad I decided to operate from inside.
Conditions were fair. I made 114 Qs in 53 SPCs which is about the same as last year. I sent the temperature as 70 degrees throughout the contest.
Thanks for a great contest.
72, Dick, WNTA
W0IS
When I saw today's forecast and realized that this was the weekend of FYBO, I decided to give it a try. Our low temperature this morning was about -13. When I got on the air at 3PM, they were saying -7 on the radio, which also agreed with our thermometer. When I came inside for the last time at about 5:00, they were saying -6 on the radio and our thermometer hadn't moved, so my report was probably pretty close.
I set up on our deck. I didn't want to spend a great deal of time putting up antennas, so I decided that 20 meters would be the best single band to use. I used disposable steel wire to make a dipole, hung the center point from the house gutters, and let the elements drape over the edges of the deck. After I got my coat on (over several other layers), I put my FT-817 around my neck, and attached my paddles to my leg with velcro. The power supply was an automotive jump-start battery. When I got situated, I draped a blanket over myself.
I managed two operating sessions of about 40 minutes each before I had to come in and warm up. I made 11 contacts on CW, and 2 contacts on SSB (both Minnesota QSO party contacts).
Nobody matched my reported temperature of -7 F. (I wasn't quite sure how to send it, but I finally went with MINUS 7 F, which I think got the idea across). One of the MN QSO party contacts reported -4, but I suspect that was his outdoor temperature, not the operator's temperature. The next lowest temperature reported was N1QS with 15 degrees. Quite a few stations in colder climates were reporting temperatures in the 70's, so I suspect many ops weren't as dumb as me to be out sitting in the cold.
My cold feet were what motivated me to QRT and take a break inside. My hands stayed surprisingly warm. To operate the key, write things down, and work the radio, I went with a pair of cotton work gloves, which I kept under the blanket whenever possible.
Working a phone QSO (the writing instrument was a pencil, which worked flawlessly at low temperatures)
My son helping out with the logging. The radio isn't really visible in the photo, since I kept it hanging around my neck, and under the blanket whenever possible. The power supply is sitting on the table, and the coax heading to my 20 meter dipole is just barely visible behind me.
73 Richard W0IS
W3OSS
First one in a long time. Western & mid-western stations were suffering from QSB. Joel KB5FCF hung in there with me until I finally got all his info (thanks, Joel). Next year I will have a supply of Immodium AD and a lot of toilet paper....but I'm gonna be out in the field!!
Armed with my trusty Elecraft KX-1, bits and pieces of a BuddiStick vertical, two SLA battery packs and a whole lot of ambition, I made plans to operate from atop Larksville/Edwardsville mountain. There is a nifty little clear space near the peak of the mountain just off the main road, where I have set up before.
Operations were truncated and I split my operating time between the KX-1 (using a 12V SLA battery pack) on the home QTH 20M EDZ dipole and the bathroom! Life is like that.
Lots of fun. Thanks to all who endured.
73 Rich Arland W3OSS
K7TQ
Operated from back yard for 3 hours, then headed indoors to finish off. Details on this year's event plus all the ones I've done since 1997 at http://mysite.verizon.net/rbfoltz/fybos.htm
73 Randy K7TQ
Moscow, ID
RU9QRP/3
The Russian Bears
QTH: garden place, Zvyozdny Gorodok, nr Moscow, WW KO95AV TRCVR: FT-817ND, 5 watts output Power: 12 V 7 A/h battery Antennas: ATAS-25, Inverted Vee 40 & 80 m, Dipole 20 m. Lowest temperature: 16F (-9C)
For the first time in a World history, RU-QRP Club Team "Russian Bears" took part in FYBO-2007. Callsign - RU9QRP/3, QTH: Zvezdny Gorodok, near Moscow (WW - KO95AV) at RV3DSA's garden place. Team: RV3GM, RW3XS, UA3LMR/3 and RV3DSA. Our friends RX3ALL with RN3ANT has visited us. Temp was 16F and we are all "frozen our b... off"!!! :^)
Only 3 clamed QSO with another RU-QRP participants we made. Since I saw at some years results, there are nothing any European QRPers in FYBO yet before. We are first!
We have a great fun to operate in extreme condition. Hope, a more European QRPers will take a part in FYBO next year.
72 from Chief of "Russian Bears" Team
Oleg RV3GM
Russia. Febr. 5, 2007
K4JSI
Location: Maryland Rig: Ten Tec Argo 556 Antenna: WA3WSJ VBWFPA Vertical
This was my first time in FYBO and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Highlights included working VE3WMB Pedestrian Mobile and K7TQ. It was pretty cold for the suburbs of Washington, DC. My wife was concerned when I came in the house at about 1730 that I might be experiencing the onset of hypothermia. A bowl of her homemade soup soon set me right!
73 Cal K4JSI
WA5BDU
See my photos at http://pages.suddenlink.net/wa5bdu/FYBO_07.htm
FYBO is one of my very favorites. It had been truly cold here in Arkansas for the past several days leading up to FYBO, in keeping with the theme.
My rig was the ATS-3 and an end-fed half wave antenna, 66 feet long, used on both 40 and 20. I used both a conventional EFHW tuner and a simple "no tune" ferrite transformer version.
My initial location was on Petit Jean Mountain, about 30 miles from home. I set up near the bluff of the mountain, which overlooks the Arkansas River down below. Very nice and peaceful spot. Around noon my wife called me via her cell phone and needed me at home. I was able later on to set up again on a patio table in my back yard and add to my QSO total.
Enjoyed working everyone; see you next year.
Nick, WA5BDU
NF8M
Thanks for sponsoring a fun event! I had hoped to make a few more qsos, but was limited in time in the morning -- had other family obligations until later, then the temperature dropped and the wind picked up (wind chill was 20 below) so it was unbearable to be outside! (Leave it to Arizonians to send us Northerners out into the cold!!) Maybe some year soon the FYBO will coincide with our Boy Scout troop's monthly campout and I can get the boys involved and show what they can do with 5 watts.
73
Frank NF8M
WA8REI
QTH: FREELAND MICHIGAN RIG: FT-817 TO 40 METER DIPOLE WX: brutal! 0-9 F, snowing and extremely windy. Wind chill well below zero F.
73, 72,
Ken, WA8REI
JR0BAQ
: Amazing! QRP is alive! FB QRP DX.
FEB.03 2218 N1QS 439/JA/KOHEI/5W/45F 439/VT/SPENTS/5W/15F VT FEB.03 2238 K7TQ 439/JA/KOHEI/5W/45F 439/ID/RANDY/5W/60F ID --- END OF LOG SHEET(14MHz)
72.
Kohei JR0BAQ
N0EVH/PM (Pedestrian Mobile)
In keeping with the spirit of FYBO I headed for the outdoors deciding that /PM would be better than sitting out in the cold. The warmest temperature would be about 1 PM so I planned to hike a sheltered trail at the local county park and stay out of the wind. With KX1 running 4 watts to Hustler mounted whip on my pack frame I hit the trail. Bands mixed so stayed on 20 meters hoping for some action and maybe a new state. Warmest temperature on the hike was 18F which I happily reported. Only problem was the low hanging limbs! Note to self, look for a sheltered trail with more antenna clearance! Hope everyone had a great time.
73 John N0EVH
VE3QDR
I awoke at 0700 on Saturday morning to a brisk 10 degrees F, scarfed down a good breakfast and pick up VE3REP at 0900. We traveled up to Heber Downs Conservation area, east of Toronto where we met up with VE3GND and the 3 of us hiked for about a half hour into the park dragging all the equipment that we were going to need for our "Winter FD" station on a toboggan. When we got to the camping area we placed a tarp along one edge of the picnic shelter as a wind break, put up a 120 foot dipole with 300 ohm ladder line into the trees. Next we got the station put together, the solar panel in place to augment the "cold beating" the gel cell was going to take and a fire lit so we could retire to it when we got cold. We were using a sierra at 4 to 5 watts output, a z11 tuner and the dipole. Our first contact came at 1535z (1035 L) into Florida with N4BP. While REP and GND made a few more contacts I put together my 3 foot diameter Mag Loop as I wanted to compare it to the dipole. We managed to work about 3 1/2 hours before we pulled the plug and headed home. During the time we were there we managed 17 contacts into
- FL CO on 20m
- AR IL MD ME MO MI MA NH NJ ON OH WV on 40.
Our temperature range was between 23F and 25F. We didn't knock them dead but we did have a great time. We also had many visitors to the site who were quite interested in Amateur Radio so hopefully we did our part as "Ambassadors" to the hobby.
The mag loop performed quite well as it always does and when it was compared to the dipole, in some circumstances, it had the better signal. When the dipole sounded better it was just noticably detectable so I was pleased.
I have attached a few photos of our site for you to have a look at.
As a footnote to this outing, I'm the youngest of our Gladiators at 57. See ya down the log.
Jim - VE3KQN.
KK6MC/5
More pix from the NM QRP Group
Mike KD5SHR
Bob W9YA
Guest OP AC0W
Nowhere near last year's effort, but conditions were down a bit, and we had a smaller crew on hand. Still a good contest and worked all over the country on 40M. Only 4 contacts on 15M as opposed to 37 last year. Lots of activity and that is good. I hope you continue this contest up. You have Bruce's nice photo on the web page. It is very nice and really captures the spirit of FYBO. -
Duffey
N1QS
Well the Northern Vermont QRP Society website is up and running at http://www.wulfden.org/NVQS/activities.shtml go to FYBO and click on the '2007' link.
We had 77 QSOs with 46 SPC's. Running Multi op - Single transmitter
---------------------------------------- 80m 6 QSOs with 6 SPCs 40m 18 QSOs with 10 SPCs 20m 50 QSOs with 26 SPCs 15m 3 QSOs with 3 SPCs ----------------------------------------
We worked NQ7RP on 15m and 20m for 20K bonus points we had field, and alternative power 4x / 2x the morning started out at 11F (6x) it rose to 18F and dropped back down to 15F and all the way almost to 0F by late evening.
Our tentative score is a little over 190,000 points
Many people commented on our "booming signal' ... that was thanks to Seab (AA1MY) and his slingshot. We put up two 176 foot doublets, up 40-50 feet, and ladderline fed. The ends of each were a foot apart at their south ends. One went N-S the other NE-SW. Each had a separate tuner to a coax switch to slect which. they were incredibly sharp on 20 and 15. Often full scale signals on one antenna could not be heard on the other. Transceiver was an IC-703+ with the 250 Hz Icom filter. Powered by a solar charged 75AH gelcel (hardly even dented its charge!)
We worked a JR0 (and he was QRP and running FYBO also!), AL7FS, a lot of CAs and WAs. We caught NQ7RP on two bands, N8H on two bands. It seemed like we had a private pipeline to NM, we heard KK6MC banging in here on 15m at the top of almost every hour. Seab (AA1MY), John (VE2EQL) and Brian (N1BQ) operated. While we didn't have a real lot of Q's, our score reflected a lot of geography. It seemed like every other QSO yielded a new SPC. the 46 SPCs represented 34 states, two provinces, ad one DXCC country (Japan).
We started off cold at 11F went up to 18F and back down to 6F. It was a fairly nice day otherwise. It snowed lightly most of the afternoon and the wind in the forecast never really materialized. Seab (AA1MY) and switched on and off at the key and John (VE2EQL) backed us up and a second set of ears. We ran my IC70-3 with a 250 Hz filter. We set up two 176 foot doublets about 40-50 feet above ground with a good take off angle from a good down slope to the West. They were ladder line fed to a pair of ZM-2 based tuners. They were N-S and NE-SW. On 20 meters they had such sharp lobes that many stations heard on one simply weren't there on the other. We did some great DX; we worked JR0BAQ in Niigata, Japan also running QRP, Jim Larsen AL7FS in AK and a lot of CA and WA. We also worked NM and AZ. We had 77 QSO's with 46 SPCs representing 34 states, 2 provinces and one DX country. We had about a half dozen busted contacts where they faded to nothing halfway through.
73 Brian N1BQ
WD7Y
Reno, NV Rig: K2 Antenna: 85’ Random wire Lowest temp: 25
FYBO 2007 was a flop for me. After working the contest for five hours with only 15 contacts to show for it, I called it quits. Thinking that there were very few stations out there working the contest, I bunched up the equipment and took down the antenna. Getting home I turned on the rig and heard a lot of activity. I was in shock. The only explanation I could think of was that there was a noise source blocking received signals, or I had a bad connection somewhere in my antenna system. To say the least I was disappointed, in not working some old friendly calls. But you can be sure I will try again next year.
Ed/WD7Y
VE3WMB/PM
Spent about 2 hours out in 10F, windy conditions (abt -4F windchill) operating pedestrian mobile with my KX1 and a 14ft linear loaded wire suspended from a 13 foot fishing pole. I used a 29 foot trailing counterpoise wire. Much to my surprise I managed to bag NQ7RP on 20m for 10k bonus points!
It was also great to work two of my good Polar-Bear friends, Martin VA3SIE who was also operating pedestrian mobile with his KX1 on the other side of Ottawa, and Polar-Bear-Ken WA8REI who was freezing his butt off on his front porch in MI. Till next time ...
73 Michael
NQ7RP / K7DD
Hey Gang,
Stuck it out almost till the very end but tore down a bit early because my help was going home and my choices were do it with help in say 10 minutes or by myself and take 45 minutes. So, off the air about 2300Z and all loaded up by 2315 and headed home after a very nice day of radio and friends in the park.
John and I got to the park just as it opened about 1420 GMT and with a bit of help I had 20 meters on the air by 1505 GMT. I would call band conditions mixed. No band noise to speak of anywhere but signals were not all that loud and somewhat far and few between.
John got his new half square for 40 put together and working and now sooner did we get busy making a few contacts we had company from the Glendale Police Department. They were making their routine rounds of the city parks and stopped buy to say high and make sure we were not "Al-Qaeda or otherwise being a problem. That visit lasted about 15 minutes and them back to the air. We had visitors off an on from the public just asking the usual questions of who we were and what we were doing. The little kids were cute because they were curious but there was nothing for them to do so they went off hiking with their folks.
John's friend from work and fellow ham Israel PY2CI from Brazil joined us for moral support and hung in there till the end.
The "usual suspects" Mikey W9UQB and Floyd NQ7X showed up fairly early and hung in there till the end as well and a whole raft of folks I knew by sight but didn't remember their names or calls came and went thru out the day along with several folks who were "lurkers" to the reflector or who had heard about us via other ham friends or just happened to be in the park for a stroll.
Back to the bands. Hot and cold conditions but when they were hot it would only last for a short run of 3 or 4 stations and then silence again.
15 meters was open most of the day but there were only a few souls who stuck out the silence in-between contacts to work the other few and far between of us just going there for a few unanswered calls.
10 Meters got checked about once an hour for a few CQ's but it was DEAD, DOA.
Checked 80 meters off and on and made a few calls but also NADA.
I owe an apology to VE3QRP (I think) who attempted to work me on 20 meters and I didn't realize I was on 20 meters and had worked them B4 but ON 15 meters so I screwed Up and I apologize for my logging error. You were quite loud with some QSB when you called and I would have given you a fair 569QSB report. OOPS.
I never did hear the group from New Mexico but I did work the VT bunch twice, John and I both worked the Hell Michigan group on 40 and 20 meters. One station in Alaska made it through the pile as well as 4 or 5 stations from Canada.
The coldest report I recall was from Minnesota of MINUS 7 F!! In fact the stations I worked from MN were colder than anyone else including the AK station who was reporting 20F!! Interesting!!
Murphy came to visit early in the setup as my 34 AHR gell cell was DEAD even though the charger light indicated a charged battery when I removed it and put it in the truck. Would not even power up the rig. DEAD. Gotta check out that charger as I suspect a problem as it was the maintenance charger I used with my 75 AHR Gell Cell which was DEAD on Field Day! I think I may have a problem! Duuhhh!
All in all I made about 40 QSOs total on 20 and 15 meters and I will find out from John how many he had on 40 but it was the best time overall I have had at FYBO in about 5 years despite the low QSO count. Like most things we do, they are more fun with friends both on and off the air.
For now, I'll say good night to all and I am looking forward to seeing your comments on the reflector and in the Soap Box comments sent in with the logs. I am ready to crash and 4:30 AM gets here early enough as Sunday is my start of the work week.
IF you took pictures, get them ready to send in as well as I think John is working on a way to get them posted with your log submissions.
I can't wait until the next Radio in the Field event.
Best 72' 73' to all
Michael Baker K7DD
20 Meter Op for NQ7RP
The Arizona ScQRPions
VE3SIE/PM
See http://web.ncf.ca/fj620/contests/fybo2007/
I mounted a 300 ohm twinlead DCTL loop for 40m and a 16ft quarter-wave teflon coated wire for 20m on a pair of fishing poles which I attached to a PVC pipe frame and zipped into my backpack. I dragged 14.5ft of RG-174 for a 20m counterpoise.
I used a KX1 powered by 8 lithium batteries which I held kept inside my fleece to extend their life. The KX1 was attached to a clip board with rubber bands. I put the clipboard in a shopping bag and just rested it on the snow if I had to extend or retract the 20m antenna due to low tree branches.
I walked 6.78 miles in a couple of downtown parks in Ottawa, from 1400Z until 1730Z and again from 1900Z until 2300Z. It was a nice and sunny day (before dusk) but with a brutal wind chill, and the parks were by the river, so I was giving out minus temps a few times that I was not sheltered from the wind.
I think the highlight of the contest for me was working VE3WMB/PM who was also in Ottawa about 10km distance from me. It's my first /PM to /PM contact!
All in all, a really fun event!
73 Martin
NK8Q
I hiked in with Ron, WB3AAL. We picked out our individual operating locations, then we made a fire between us so we had a place to warm our toes. The weather was in the teens with windy conditions. and about 6" of snow. Not bad for a Polar Bear outing. It was the first time out with my new KX1 and had a great time! I was dressed plenty warm for the conditions.
72 Mark de NK8Q Polar Bear #4
NH8H
Murphy struck early - one antenna halyard was tangled in a tree, which caused the 40 meter antenna height to be <30 feet instead of 50 feet. Then the rig wouldn't put power to the tuner, and after some sleuthing a broken coax was found and fixed. Also, alternate power from a generator wouldn't start at such a cold temperature, so we gave up and plugged into the AC mains. At least they have 110VAC in Hell!
We tried Feld Hell on 40 metres at 1900Z and 2100Z with no takers. (we thought the mode would be appropriate for the venue!) We knew the rig was working because we were making quite a few CW contacts, even with a low antenna. We didn't try 20 meters Feld Hell because of technical difficulties with one rig.
It was 2?F when we arrived in Hell, and never got above 13?F during the operation. You might say it was a cold day in Hell:)
The weather was getting blustery and snowy around 2100Z, so we decided to close up at 2200Z while it was still light.
Thanks to the Arizona ScQRPions for running a nice contest. There will be a longer writeup on the AzScQRPions web site. We hope to CU during FYBO 2008. Unless things change drastically, we'll be in Hell again, and will have a much better idea of what is needed for such an operation.
72 from Ed, AB8DF, Cortland, KA5S, and Hank, N8XX
KF4UCC
Im not a contester but I like to participate with mt ten tec 1320 qrp kit and help the contesters.
I WAS USING TEN TEC QRP KIT TO A SHORTY FORTY DIPOLE IN MY WARM HOUSE (JUST GOT OVER OPEN HEART SURGERY} MY TEMP WAS 79F IN THE SHACK. HOPE THIS HELPS THE CONTESTERS AND THESE CONTESTS ARE A GOOD WAY FOR ME TO WORK ON MY QRP WAS - THANK TILL NEXT TIME
GEORGE/KF4UCC
W1OH
Too busy Saturday to get outdoors but did manage to sit down at home station rig (FT 897 @ 5W to a 40M doublet in the attic of the condo) for an hour in the late afternoon here on Cape Cod and hand out a few contacts. Thanks for sponsoring this event! And thanks to all those ops who Froze their B's Off!
72,
geoff - W1OH
K8KFJ
Very limited operating time but wanted to possibly give a few outdoor ops a new SPC for scoring purposes.
** Many thanks for the sponsorship **
Don't know what type of antenna N1QS was using on 80m but he had a very nice signal here in WV (far above the other stations).
72, K8KFJ
West Virginia
AF9J
Here's my log for yesterday's FYBO. Unless sombody turns in a log from farther north than me, or MN, ND, MT, ec., I was most frozen out operator. I went to Kulwicki park (which is 1/2 mile south of my apartment), strung a 24 foot wire to a tree from my car, and threw a counterpoise out the car, and loaded it with the ZM-2 tuner I built years ago. To meet the temp. requirements, I kept the windows open 3 inches, and used no heat. The Temp was 4F, with wind chills down around -20F. So, I sat in the driver's seat, and used the car as a windbreak. I could only take about 1 1/2 hours of this. My hands got cold (which I can take up to a point). When my feet got cold (which always makes me feel miserable) in spite of wearing winter boots, and I had to take an urgent bathroom break, I finally called it quits. I logged on paper (I forgot to put the RST down, I received for the other station, so I had to guess at it). I couldn't find any pencils, so I had to use a pen. To keep the ink from freezing up, I had to put the pen in my glove between contacts. All QSOs were on 20m CW (I briefly heard what might have been a 20m SSB FYBO station, but didn't work them). I wanted to try 40m, but there was some idiot RTTY station that fired up on 7040, and wiped out everything, and 7030 (the freq. we're SUPPOSED to start using for QRP) had something else going on, on it. In spite of Q5 copy, a few of my QSOs seemed to have a hard time believing that I was operating in 4 degree temps, and as a result asked for numerous repeats on my temp. I noticed when I left Kulwicki park, that the temp was 1 degree.
Gear used:
Yaesu FT-897D w/internal battery pack, at 4.7W output power
ZM-2 antenna tuner and 24 foot long endfed w/ counterpoise
73 & stay warm (it's 6 Below at the present time [noon Feb. 4]),
Ellen Rugowski - AF9J
K9EW
I'd been planning for FYBO 2007 since last year's event. But when the temp dropped to 4 degrees with sub-zero windchill, I went to PLAN B which was to make a few QSO's from the shack instead of the forest preserve. It was fun to meet some old sprint friends, and now I'm looking forward to FYBO 2008 - I'm packed and ready to go.
72/73, ed - k9ew.
W8IDM
With temperatures in the Cleveland OH area in the single digits, I wasn't about to operate an outdoor station.
So I went to the basement and fired up my old modified TS-930S ( the finals went out several years ago and the drivers are now the final stage) and decided to give out some QSOs to the braver operators. I quit around 4 PM EST when the RTTY Contest signals on 40 meters covered up the QRP stations. It's my first year in the contest and I really enjoyed it.
73, Don W8IDM
W0ANM
It was -4F during the contest with wind chill of -20F. I couldn't do it for long, but made six contacts using the Norcal 2030. Funny things happen at that temp.... Pens stop working, radio knobs become seized, wires are very stiff, fingers become numb, and it's hard to send CW with gloves on :) Only play for a couple of hours... but still had fun!
73 Chris
W4NJK
Looked forward to this and hope I could QSO some brave outdoors stations but did not hear much. Fun while the condx lasted.
72,
Charlie
W4NJK
W5MSQ
We had a number of rigs with us this year, but did most operating with a Yaesu FT-817 and an Elecraft K2. When not operating, we experimented with the vertical antennas. The local temperature was nearly 10 degrees cooler this year compared to last, so we opted for a location that was out of the wind and in the sun to help warm things up. Hot drinks and the breakfast cake provided by W5HNS also helped. This has become one of our favorite events.
72 de
Andy MacAllister W5ACM
for The Houston MosQRPitos - W5MSQ