SOO... this year is YEAR 2 for the NoVaQRP Field Day. The site, again arranged by Jeff KR4YS, was superb. It was located at Lake Fairfax Park near Reston, Virginia in Fairfax County. Our spot in the field was high, windswept, sunny (with a few sprinkles, with easy parking, picnic tables (also arranged for by Jeff) and all the other amenities. Again, we had a blast and made some good contacts. Rigs included this year were an Emtech NW-20, several K1s, a DSW-40, two FT-817s, a GM-10 and a GM-20. Antennas included an NJQRP Gusher 20 meter dipole on an NJQRP portable mast, a paint pole mast (23') carrying an open wire fed 40-10 meter dipole, a Waters and Stanton whip on a German fiberglass collapsible mast and a balanced line off-center-fed (OCF) inverted vee dipole.
This year we worked the usual QRP frequencies
PLUS PSK31 on 20 meters and a bit of contacting on 6 meters. Turn
out was great. Weather threatened to give us fits but turned out
to be BEAUTIFUL. Not too hot (like last year) and not too cool either.
Below you'll find pictures of
our activities with a link for more pictures.
Two canopies and a tree: On the left is Bill K4AHK, trying to get some contacts. In the middle canopy, Vic KG4HTT is working with Dave K9DSD trying for 40 meters and barely visible is Randy N4TVC working PSK31 on 20 meters. In the background (just to the right of the right mast, back by the fence you'll see a sheet of paper being held up. That's Jake N4UY's Log being held up so you can see him. Jake likes to really "rough" it by working his station under the trees rather than under a canopy.
Top picture - Bill K4AHK.
Bottom picture - Randy N4TVC. Who's going to win? Bill is working
20 meters CW. Randy is working 20 meters PSK31. What a battle
for points! Every so often you'd hear one or the other shout "I got
one" or "Wow, that guys coming in from...." People in the camping
park (behind Randy) probably thought we were a bunch of loonies.
(We are but we don't tell them why!) But we had a great time.
Bill is running an EMTECH rig. Randy is with his FT-817.
Ah, the good life! Here Jake
N4UY is trying to score a few points with his Elecraft K1 on 15 meters.
Above Jake (in the trees) are Jake's antennas. He has strung both
a 10 M Delta loop and a 15 M vertical dipole. Jake worked both 15
meters and 10 meters.
Al WB4JJJ (left) thinks he's going to get off easy this year. Just sit around and wait for the QSOs to come to him. Actually Al is waiting his turn to use one of the antenna positions. As you can see, NoVaQRP was running a "3A" Field Day setup from Virginia (VA).
Our club call is WA4MM.
For more pictures of NoVaQRPs field day go to http://www.00ff00e.com/morephotos/field_day_2001/. This pictures provided by Stephan Greene KA1LM.