2016 Field Day Comments

The Panama City ARC operated 2F at the Bay County EOC using callsign W4B. We have been doing Field Day there for a number of years. I setup an outside station. The other station was in an air conditioned classroom. I always operate battery even though it does not help under the F category. So here are some comments on this year.

The outdoor station

1. There was no rain or threat of rain. I thought it always rains on Field Day! Of course it was hot. It did not bother me much except for setup and teardown. I was glad to have Phil and Steve helping me with the gear.

The 130 foot doublet

2. The 40 amp hour LiFePO4 battery charged with a 100 watt solar panel did a great job. There was plenty of sunshine. I ran up to 100 watts with no problem.

3. The 130 foot doublet antenna performed well. I started with the SGC 237 tuner. It seemed to work at first, but later it would not finish tuning. So I am unsure of what is up there. I changed the Icom AH-4 tuner and it worked perfectly.

4. The Icom 7100 was doing great. However, the power dropped to a few watts. The base part happened to be in the direct sun. I hope it returns to normal. I switched to The Icom 7300. It worked awesome. I enjoyed the spectrum display even on the crowded bands.

5. I helped get two granddaughters of Don KK4DWC get on the air, That was a joy!

6. Doug Helms KM4TOF is a new ham and he got his first QSOs on our Field Day station. He was doing a good job and said operating was addictive.

7.  The 500 foot Skyloop was setup in the front parking lot and required 150 foot of coax. However it was "SuperFlex" a very low loss type that Phil N4STC provided. The loop did well on 40 meters. 80 meters only had a few stations and I heard nil on 160 meters.

The alternative energy setup with solar panels, supercapacitor and the KX3.

8. I did an educational activity on the supercapacitor bank. I also used the supercapacitor for the alternative energy bonus. I got five contacts with the KX3 for the bonus. The supercapacitor was being charged by solar panels. There has been lots of interest in the solar/supercapacitor setup.

9. The inside folks had fun too. Bob Leasko WB8PAF operated at least 23 of 24 hours steady on CW. That will help our score.

10. OK time to start planing for next year! There will be more about the Panama City ARC Field day on the w4ryz.org site after the logs are reviewed and the pictures are gathered.