Our WFD site was the Eastbank COE Campground in Southwest Georgia. Chris VA3ECO who is on a winter visit to Panama City, FL, joined me. We were a 2-transmitter outdoor Georgia (2O GA) entry. The camp site was adjacent to some green space that had room for both the Buddihex hex beam 20 - 6 meters and the MyAntennas.com 80-10-meter end-fed. A new wrinkle was using a Low Band Systems QuadPlexer to let both our transceivers use the same antenna at the same time, but different bands. We used a Quickset Clam Venture screen shelter for the operating hut. We closed it in with panels to keep warm. Chris spent Friday and Saturday in the shelter. Linda and I were in our trailer.
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| A drone view of the campsite. |
We were ready by show time at 2 pm EST on Saturday. There was a CAS-4b satellite pass just after 2 pm. We had an Icom 9700 ready with Chris' Arrow antenna. We used a CSN Sat box to track the pass and adjust the rig for doppler. Chris snagged W4R also in Georgia on the sat pass. That was a great start to Winter Field Day and qualifies for a bonus.
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| The Buddipole Buddihex hex beam at sunset |
Chris focused on PSK-31, and I focused on CW. We both did some phone. I had an unexpected run of 150 contacts on 20 meters SSB. 10 and 15 meters were open during the day. The Buddihex was outstanding. We used the end-fed for 80 and 40 meters. Eventually we got all band and mode combinations for 80 through 10. Then Chris tuned he end-fed on 160 and got a digital contact for a total multiplier of 16. Altogether we had just over 500 contacts.
Chris' Yaesu 857
It was not all operating, we ate at the Mexican Restaurant on Friday night, Chris cooked eggs each morning and Margot sent us some chili for supper on Saturday night. It was nice to hang out with Chris. He was a big help with the setup and operating. Pretty much this was a plan that came together and made for a great Winter Field Day experience. I hope to return to the same campsite for ARRL Field Day in June and have some more fun.
VA3ECO and N4KGL
