Winter Field Day 2017

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