I enjoy Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio, Field Days, QRP, satellites, and CW. I have many friends in the hobby that make it fun. I will keep you posted on what I learn about amateur radio on this blog.
Winter Field Day happened to fall on a SEARS rocket launch day at Samson, Alabama. Chris VA3ECO and I did about 2.5 hours of operating when we weren't distracted by rocket launches. The weather was about 50 degrees. With a breeze, that was enough to keep us honest. We had fourteen QSOs with a mix of CW and phone for 120 points. However, the bonuses stacked up giving us a total a total of 6120.
1,500 points for not using commercial power.
1,500 points for setting up outdoors.
1,500 points for setting up away from home.
1,500 points for satellite QSO(s).
Chris VA3ECO operating
The rig was my Icom 7100 at less than 100 watts with a 40 AH LiFePO4 battery. The antenna was the Chameleon 5 to 1 transformer and 65 feet of wive as an inverted L. This was good enough to give us a taste of the action. Below are a few rocket photos and the sound from the AO 85 satellite QSO. The satellite QSO was not until Sunday morning.
Chris' launch
Greg's launch of a three engine cluster with the Loc Viper rocket
