OK. So I worked FD from home as a class D station. Nothing new there. What was different is that I didn’t have a station set up at all prior to 1600z Saturday. We’ve been having a bit of work down here at the house, and as such all of my antennas were down. To add insult to injury, I didn’t have my Yaesu FT-950. (The 950 isn’t back in my hands yet)
I threw up a dipole, pulled my FT-100 out of storage and got computer control working. I had the capability to run QRP for as long as I wanted, or HP for a much shorter period of time, a battery / solar panel combination. The battery was already charged [via the solar panel]. I could have set up on my back porch and used paper logging. In my eyes, this would have been a bonafide portable operation and I could have gotten extra points per Q and been in a more favorable class, being able to work all stations. But, I wasn’t about to go through the extra hassle [and discomfort] to do this only to find out later that the ARRL didn’t agree with my “portable” operation. So I decided to go 1D instead. The upside, of course, is that I had all the creature comforts such as computer control/logging, central air, high def, etc.
I was on the air just shy of three hours total, in three sittings [twice on Saturday, once on Sunday]. I stopped at 100 Qs, well 101 Qs. Sunday is the normal family gathering day and we had some yardwork and normal summertime activities going on. On Saturday, I meant to start at 1800z but had taken a Vicodin about an hour before and [for the first time] got very sleepy. So I napped two hours before starting.
Because I hadn’t used the FT-100 in so long, it took some time to get used to the menu system again. But it worked just fine. I didn’t bother to check 10m. I may have worked a couple people on 15m, but I don’t remember. I worked 20m in the first setting. The second and third sittings I stayed on 40m. 40m was packed, all day and all night, both days. There was tons of activity.
I really hadn’t planned on working FD because I didn’t have the FT-950 and because I didn’t have any antenna up. It was at the last minute that I got motivated. Too bad. I could have easily bested any previous FD QSO tally. Despite the poor 10/15 propagation, it seemed as though there were many more stations on the air for FD this year.
I had a really enjoyable, relaxing time. No stress trying to get a particular number of QSOs. No worry about having an aching back and being nearly crippled for a day from having to sit in the chair for 18+ hours. It was a great experience this time around.
With that said, in retrospect I wish I would have put in at least 12 hours. I wish I would have played all of Saturday and into Sunday morning.
Incidentally — I think there are a number of douchebags out there falsely claiming 1E. Seriously, single op, one transmitter, from home, non-QRP, and they are going on generator power for 12-24 hours? I doubt it. The 1E class is BS because 99% of time you have to take the station at their word that they are actually using emergency power. I truly believe that most of the time they simply enter E class so they can work all stations and so they don’t have to compete against as many people. But I’m fairly certain most of em are sitting at home using AC power. Really, hams in general aren’t any more trustworthy than the average person — and the average person is rarely trustworthy these days.
If ya ask me, for home stations you shouldn’t get penalized by not being allowed to work other D stations. In my case, I set up everything at the last minute. Nothing about my setup was permanent, except that I used AC power. If i knew for sure that I could claim portable operation, I definitely would have ran QRP off the battery and logged by paper. As for setup, I did just what most do on FD (and what many don’t do on FD) — I set everything up from scratch. Also, there shouldn’t be an E class because people can’t be trusted enough to only claim it if they are using emergency power.
I’m done bitching. After all, you can’t change an unethical operator. All you can do is be legitimate yourself when you’re working a contest.
I had a fun. Hope to work some more folks next year.
I ran 1E during FD, at least I think it was legitimately 1E. Check me out and give me your opinion of whether I was one of those 1E in-name-only.
I set up two temporary vertical antennas, both PAR end fed half wave dipoles. One was on 40 and the other on 20. To support The PAR20 I taped it to a Spiderbeam telescoping pole and ran it in the air 35 feet. For the PAR40 I used a roped to drop it down from my tower. Neither of these antennas stays up permanently. I take them out on field trips to the parks or mountains.
I operated from a storage shed after moving out the lawn tractor to make room. I set up a table.
For a rig I dragged out my K3 from my regular shack and set it to 5W. I had previously calibrated the K3′s wattmeter. For power I used a 12volt marine deep cycle battery that I bought for this purpose. I happen to have an old 50watt solar cell and controller which I leave that battery on year around.
Now here’s the gray area. I read the rules carefully and to qualify for battery power it just says the transmitter and receiver have to be on battery. I figure it does not mention the computer, or the lights, or the fans so it must be ok to run them off commercial power. What do you think? I’d like to hear your thoughts.
When the temp in the shed reached 106 I took a break until dusk. I was using wet towels around my neck to help. What a heat wave we are having this year.
I had a lot of fun and I hope you did, too.
73,
Mark – W0QL
Mark
4 Jul 12 at 4:58 PM
Hi Mark,
I did indeed have fun. However, I would have had more fun if I had my FT-950 back. I had to re-learn a bit about the FT-100 in a short time because I hadn’t used it in so many years. Actually, it probably didn’t detract from the fun. I wish I would have put more time into it. After all, I ended up running 1D and enjoyed all the amenities of a home station.
I hate trying to interpret rules. Personally, I think you qualify as a 1E setup… just as I think I would have qualified as 1E had I chosen to actually operate from the battery outside. I often try to scrutinize rules too closely. If the ARRL doeesn’t approve of lights, fans and computer being run off of AC, then they need to stipulate in the rules that 100% of your local operating environment has to be on E-power. Since they don’t specify that, I don’t think they can [or would] flag you for running 1E.
After all, it’s the spirit in which you operate which counts. Sounds to me like you certainly “toughed it out”, erected the station in a temp/portable location just for the event, and ran off battery.
I’m not the contest sponsor, so what I think is really not relevant. But I think you’re clear to submit as a 1E operation. Of course, that’s easy for me to say since I handed out 1D and couldn’t possibly violate any rule.
Bottom line – in the worst case scenario, (a) you still had fun, (b) your Qs still count for others.
Mike
Mike
4 Jul 12 at 5:19 PM
Concur on the 1D nonsense, Mike. Two friends and I ran FD from my backyard with a thrown-together half size G5RV dipole at 25 feet, a Drake TR-4 transceiver and MFJ tuner.
Our setup was anything but a permanent home station, yet because we were running commercial AC at my home location, we were stuck with 1D.
In a legitimate emergency (supposedly what FD is an exercise for), many stations would be operating “Class D” and contacting other “Class D” stations, yet we can’t count contacts with Class D stations for Field Day. Bah humbug.
We made 27 “legitimate” contacts in just a few hours (the bands sucked) which is way better than we did last year running 1A battery with 5 watts.
We still had fun, though.
Tom S
22 Jul 12 at 1:04 PM
Tom,
What you describe is definitely a portable operation in my book. And, let’s face it, if there were an emergency requiring amateurs to pass traffic, are the comms going to be any less meaningful/helpul because they are operating off of utility power? Of course not.
I’m not an ARRL basher, but I have to say that this longstanding 1D limitation is just wrong. Again it boils down to whether reliable communications can be carried out. If it can between two stations during FD, then the Qs should be counted for credit regardless.
I’m sure it has something to do with encouraging people to tough it out by setting up a crude station under limiting conditions. But I think all of us who have commented have proven that you can do that and still be at home.
Too bad I seem to miss you every year on FD. I’ll have to shoot you an email next year to find out when you’re op’ing.
Mike
Mike / AA8IA
22 Jul 12 at 4:31 PM