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.
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Wednesday, August 28, 2019
2019 W/VE Islands QSO Party from Santa Rosa Island Florida
I had a great time operating the W/VE Islands QSO Party from Santa Rosa Island AKA Okaloosa Island near Destin Florida on Saturday, August 24th. I used the callsign N4I. Myself, N4KGL was the only operator. The island is USI FL003S for the Island QSO Party and K-0661 for Parks On The Air. The site is the Okaloosa Island Day Use Area which is part of the Gulf Island National Seashore. I like the site because it has a saltwater shore on the bay facing the rest of the country. I used an N6BT Bravo 7K vertical to take advantage of the "saltwater effect". The rig was the Icom 7100 running 100 watts.
N6BT Bravo &K vertical at the saltwater shore
Suzy was my partner for the day. Since no dogs are allowed on the beach, I set up in the picnic area and ran a coax over the sand dune to the vertical at the water's edge. My operating time was just over four hours with a break for lunch.
The bands were in good shape. I had pile-ups going on both 40 and 20-meter phone. My stats were
Total Contacts 124
40m CW 6, 40m PH 38
20m CW 4, 20m PH 76
4 Islands
4 Parks On The Air
1 Beach On The Air
We had many good signal reports and we were getting well into Canada. In fact, I worked my friend Chris VA3ECO by chance. He lives on his own island ON304. Note, he comes down to Panama City for the Winter months.
The control head for the Icom 7100
The rest of the Icom 7100 and a Bioenno battery in a box.
