Everyone,
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It would be great if we could operate 3A or even higher but we just don't have the operators to warrant it. We've also had issues with interfering on the bands on other radios that will need better station-to-station coordination and filtering that we've lacked in previous FDs.?
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Mickey
On 03/20/2024 2:21 PM EDT Peter Sichel K1AV <psichel@...> wrote:
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Hi all,
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I want to solicit more thoughts on the question of operating 2A vs 3A during summer Field Day this June.
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This past Saturday we had our first committee meeting for the upcoming June 22nd-23rd Field Day.? Some of the more important things discussed:
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- We will be operating 2A RI using W1DDD.? Discussed possibly going 3A depending on participation.? WE NEED OPERATORS!
- We will be having a sign-up sheet for operating times.? If you want premium operating time you will have to help out in some way or another with set-up on Friday afternoon/Saturday morning or take-down on Sunday afternoon.? There will be a sign-up sheet for this as well.
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At the first planning meeting Randy K5ZD suggested we operate 3A so I¡¯m interested to hear more about what people are thinking both from a contesting and club activity perspective.
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Having operated Field Day from Aruba last year, I¡¯m looking forward to participating with BVARC this year and think we might have more active operators available.? Personally I would rather have radios be idle some of the time than not enough opportunities for everyone who wants to operate.? I¡¯m aware there¡¯s a challenge of keeping the radios from interfering with each other and believe part of the issue is the IC-7300 requiring an external bandpass filter (Mark KW1X has a set of these).? I assume we¡¯ll only operate one station per band (phone or CW) at a time.? I¡¯m willing to bring and setup my FTdx10 which has a stronger front end if desired.?
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In my current understanding we have:
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- Station 1: club IC-7300 with a 20-15-10m tribander on a 30¡¯ tower.
- Station 2: club IC-7300 with an 80-10m capable doublet.
- GOTA station using the QSO-A-Go-Go trailer (Mickey¡¯s IC-7300) and call sign NA1Q with free standing antenna [I forget the model].
- A 6 meter ¡°free¡± station for all 3 modes (CW, SSB, Digital). ?6 meters could be open during the day or not.
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- Possible station for satellite contact?
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Additional antennas:
- Fan dipole.
- EFHW (40-10).
- Wolf River Coils style 1/4 wave vertical (20-15-10).
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Day time: 40m, 20m, 15m, or 10m.? The GOTA station could use any band which is not otherwise active.
Late shift: 80m, 40m, 20m. ?15m could be active late into the evening.
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To make our decision easier I think it would help to understand how many people want to operate for an hour or two, versus volunteering to operate for 4 hours or more including late evening or early morning.
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I can volunteer for 4 hours or more.
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73 and Enjoy!
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