FD 2004 W4EZ rambling ...

[Steve Jackson-5]

... at W4EZ, 5A battery QRP (as always) the 20 CW
station was Mark KE4ZBW's K2, since my #771 is still
getting a KPA100/K60XV make-over and I just didn't get
a chance to finish it before the event.  

I had brought my K1, but Mark arrived and saw I was
K2-less ... thanks for the loan, Mark!  Wish you could
have stayed longer.

Field Day just isn't right without the K2.  Boy, have
I been spoiled.  This is the 4th FD I used a K2 and I
can't even imagine a possible improvement - even if I
designed it myself.  While a DDS VFO might be nice ...
naaah.  

[[daydreaming ... By the time I cleaned up the
synthesizer diddle noise and boosted it for the SBL-1H
mixer I'd use, only to have to encapsulate the
resulting half-bevawatt LO a la Faraday, I'd have just
proved to myself --again-- that the existing radio
represents the better set of design options available
for the intended purpose ... it's not like I haven't
done this myself years ago, why do I keep going over
such 'redesigns' in my head, to arrive at what?  A new
conclusion?  I simply can not figure out how to make
this K2 thing better and not have it draw 3 amps, cost
4 times as much, and weigh 15 lbs. more.  Drives me
crazy.]]

The K2 memory keyer, with me pushing the button like
some maniacal sleep-deprived George Jetson, produced
105 q's in a leisurely 8.5 total operating hours.
That's good for 1050 points, probably 1/4 to 1/5th of
the club's non-bonus total score.  I used my homebrew
extended double Zepp for the 2nd year in a row;
installed as a very shallow inverted-vee with the apex
at about 45 feet, oriented north-south.  I suspend
this and a few other antennas from the local power
company's "super-height" bucket truck.  They sure are
nice guys! They come out on a weekend morning, set the
truck up, and come back and get it when we're done.
In our ARES club, Field Day is an emergency exercise,
like the SET.  I hope we never have to do something
like this for real, but we sure can do it if we have
to.

Made the necessary q's with a totally-solar-charged
gel cell, for an extra 100 points.

Had the GOTA station right next to me, literally and
band-wise too:  the youngster running the club-owned
classic Argonaut 509 put a good effort in, catching a
few SSB points but reeally tearing me up with this
antenna only 50 feet away and running S&P in the 20m
General phone band!  I didn't want to dissuade him so
I just grinned and bore it, kept the preamp off, and
if I missed part of the exchange I just waited until
the other station worked somebody else.

Mark ZBW's rig is one of the "lower gain" K2s so I had
to crank the AF gain way up compared to mine.  A breif
check of his rig showed most of the comparable loss to
be in the filters.  Better shape factor and etc. than
mine, but WAAAY more passband loss.  Since he had his
K2 built by somebody else, we'll get a hold of that
person and swap notes.

We had two County Commissioners come by.  One of them,
it turns out, was a ham in his youth!  His cohort had
to drag the guy away from the GOTA station!  The
County has been VERY supportive of our club for over
10 years and I can easily see how this will continue
with this latest visit ... these two County officials
were VERY impressed with "the kit radio that guy has,
it looks like a miniature military set" ... "sounds
very clear, I didn't know you could still buy radio
kits" and of course also "did you hear that guy
operating Morse Code, just like in the movies!"

Movies?   ;-)






       
               
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