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(Continued from page 2)
ity antenna array is critical to our success.
3. Antennas, antennas, antennas.
I don't think I took QRP seriously as a contest before 1997. I Still remember calling WA7NE before the '97 FD and hanging up the telephone while thinking,
'he's got to be kidding - FD on 5 watts? It can't be done." I soon discovered that it can be done and one of the reasons it can be done is the W7LT antenna array. Probably 90% if the pre-FD activity is antenna related. We endeavor each year to make our array more efficient and better adapted to our operating style, our site, our budget, and the rules. The array currently consists of:
* 40 meter loop , which is used on both 40 and 15 meters. It's a half-wave loop installed at about 85 feet;
* ZL Special, tuned for 20 meters And installed at 90 feet;
* Bobtail Curtain, which is 3 phased Verticals on 40 meters;
* Multi-element yagis on 10 15 20 And UHF/VHF (both multi-band and monoband);
* Double extended Zepp at 125 feet for 75 meters,
* Bobtail Curtain for 80 Meters.
Field Day antenna selection is balancing act. Since there are only 24 hours available to install the array, and these 24 hours immediately preceded the "test," plans to install complex antennas ill-suited to the site are bound to
be frustrated. So what do our antennas have in common? They are inexpensive, easy to install,
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and offer some measure gain over a standard dipole. We use
ladder line where-ever possible to minimize line loss. Field Day is preceded by multiple site visits, when we "eyeball" the installation both of old and new antennas to make sure that they are suited to the site and that we'll have the manpower to install them within the timeframe allowed. We could certainly put up more complex arrays, but what's the point if it either depletes the club budget or can't be installed by the time they're needed?
The antennas are brought out of mothballs each May in order to avoid 11th hour disasters. The complex wire antennas are installed on Friday and the towers
and Yagi's assembled laid out for installation Saturday morning, when our man power is at a maximum. We have a team of archers on the site both days, and
the wire antennas are lofted by recurve and compound bows, depending on the target altitude. We uses dozens of rolls of seine line, generally cleaning out the supply at local hardware stores to hold the antennas up for the 36 hour period they are in the air and try whenever possible to feed the antenna with ladder line to minimize losses.
4. Score every bonus.
The FD rules provide bonus points to contestants who achieve certain objectives. These vary from sending a message to the section manager via NTS to hosting an elected official at our site. W7LT's FD operation can qualify for 1600 points, which can be as much as 20% of our score or
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about 4 hours of CW QSO's. This
means that the worse station performance is, the more important the bonus becomes.
We have recently hit every bonus by making them more than an afterthought. We arrange beforehand the people or stations who are going to score the bonus know what to do and when to do it.
5. Add the freebies.
Our entry class - 4A - denotes the fact that we operate 4 stations. Right? Wrong.
Actually we operate 6 stations, perhaps more. The other two are "free" - we get to count their QSOs toward our total score, but they do not bump us up into a higher class. In effect, we compete with other operations running 4 stations, even though we have six. The two freebies are the Novice/Tech station and the
UHF/VHF station. Both add a significant number of points to our score, particularly during cycle peaks when the 10M band is open and active. The UHF/VHF station, among other things, also contributed the satellite QSO bonus to our score. Both stations are very important to our operation.
In summary, PARC's Field Day success is really no mystery at all. It's the result of carefull strategic planning and plain old hard work and commitment by club
members. I think it stands for the proposition that its not just the contest clubs that succeed and have fun on Field Day.
Neal Sacon N7RX
President of PARC
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