This was the first Field
Day for our QRP group. We set up operation at Twin Bridges state park near
Wyandotte, Oklahoma. The park is located at the confluence of the Spring and
Neosho rivers where they form Grand Lake in the northeastern corner of the
state. Our camp site was high on a bluff next to the Spring River.
We operated QRP in class
4A with battery power using callsign WØCH. The weather was hot and
humid, with daytime temperature about 90 degrees. The night was not a whole
lot cooler!
We had a casual and fun
field day, with time out for rig modifications, visiting and stargazing. There
was even time to construct and test a Emtech ZM-2 antenna tuner right there
in the park!
Walter and Joy Dufrain,
AG5P & NQ5R, came down from Wright City, Missouri for field day with a
brand new Patcomm PC-500 transceiver. Walter and Joy put the new rig through
it's paces on 20 and 40 meters using a horizontal loop antenna. Both the new
rig and the loop worked great!
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Joy, NQ5R on 20
meters phone.
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Walter, AG5P gives
the PC-500 a workout.
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Tom Sevart, N2UHC, set up a 2 meter transceiver
and a homebrew vertical J-Pole antenna which was used for several local contacts
on 146.52 FM. Tom also operated quite a bit on 20 meters CW.
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Tom, N2UHC digging
for a weak one on 20 CW with the Elecraft K2.
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Joe WØMQY, Walter AG5P
and Gene KCØIKY having fun in the 90 degree heat.
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Gene Sailsbury, KCØIKY operated
his FT-817 on 20 and 40 meters SSB using either a long wire or a vertical antenna.
Joe Porter, WØMQY operated 40 CW
using Gene's Sierra and a dipole. Boy, that Sierra sure is a nice little radio.
We could work anything we could hear with that setup!
An Elecraft K2, along with a 20 meter EDZ
antenna, was used on all CW bands from 80 to 10 meters. The most productive
bands were 20 and 40 meters CW with approximately 150 QSO's there.
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Dave Bixler, WØCH takes
a turn working the K2.
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Jay Rupar, KØETC and
Joe WØMQY testing the Patcomm transceiver.
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Saturday night, Joe Porter set up his big
14 inch reflector telescope and gave everybody an excellent introduction to
astronomy. Despite a hazy sky, everyone had a chance to see a close-up view
of the moon and Venus. Thanks Joe, that was interesting!
Of course, you can't have Field Day without
a cookout. This year, we had two! For Saturday night supper, the menu was charbroiled
hamburgers and baked beans. Sunday morning was an outstanding breakfast of scrambled
eggs, bacon and biscuits, all prepared on site by Joy, NQ5R.
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Joy handling the
grill while Tom, Gene and Foy Cochran get their charbroiled burgers.
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Sunday morning
breakfast was worth getting up for! Those eggs and bacon really hit the
spot.
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While we definitely did not win
any prizes for the most contacts, we should easily win the award for having
the most fun of all the QRP clubs!
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Four State
QRP Group: No Rules, No Agenda - Just Fun!
