My planning for Field Day was kind of sketchy, and not at all ambitious, so I grabbed my radio pack after lunch and arrived at Wildcat Mountain State Park a bit before 2:00, or already almost an hour into the event. It took me about 20 minutes to set up the X6100 and the 20 meter EFHW and start tuning the band. Lots of signals on the waterfall, large and small; a lot of stations with big pileups. Lots of rapid fading in and out, major QRM; a few times I would be calling a station who was CQing that would fade away to be replaced by another station, also CQing; neither of whom could hear my repeated calls.
Persistence in pileup-busting is really required in QRP operation and it won me 5 contacts … which is at least better than the 3 that I logged last year!
The beginning of a very welcome rain shower terminated operating for the day.
If it’s not raining in the morning, I might try again, in that quiet-ish time of the early Field Day morning when the band will be less busy, (the overnight operators on their 5th cup of coffee, waiting for the day shift and/or breakfast). Maybe I will try with the 20 meter Buddipole vertical for more efficiency and a better radiation pattern than today’s low sloping EFHW.
Thanks for visiting driftlessqrp.com, check back tomorrow for more Field Day!
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