Field Day 2015

Band   Mode  QSOs     Pts

     7  CW      145    290

    14  CW     110.    220

    14 RTTY     1      2

    21  CW.     13     26

    28  CW      1     2

Total  Both   270   540

Score: 1080

To me Field Day is about setting up a radio infrastructure where there is none.  Our Field Day setup is at a beach house on Holden Beach NC.

We had three antennas - a portable hex beam mounted to the hitch of my truck, an end fed random wire, and a CrankIR.  Our call was K4J.  We worked 4 SC station, N4AW, W4IT, N4EE, and K4NAB.  We worked Mexico, Croatia and PR.  One lesson learned was on the proximity of the antennas to each other because of the small lot causing RFI.  The only way out of our dilemma was to either work S&P or work multi single.  We did both.  We will likely need isolation filters for next time or take shifts.

We had very strong winds sometimes gusting to 40 to 50 mph.  The guys on the CrankIR took a beating and we had to monitor the tension.  The EFHW was on top of a shortened Spiderbeam pole at 30 feet on one end and at the 3rd story deck on the other.  The hexbeam survived the wind but only because the mast was lowered.  The ops were NY4G and WM4AA.

We had fun as always and had a good nights sleep despite despite a broken AC.

WM4AA (Matt Collier) station

NY4G station

Overlooking the InterCoastal.  The CrankIR had 3 guys and performed well hearing west coast stations.

The ocean is 500 feet away in the foreground

Spiderbeam pole - unguyed but clamped to the ground with bungees

The Quest for #275

There is nothing magical about #275.  But you do get another sticker from the ARRL at this milestone.  After 275 it is a long slog.  The ARRL recognizes this and issues stickers after 300 every 5 DXCC entities.  Even 5 DXCC can take years to get at this stage.I consider myself fortunate to having line of sight to 275 after 5 years of DX Chasing

#266 XW1IC Laos confirmed in LOTW
#267 YB4IR/9 Indonesia 30m Confirmed in LOTW
#268 TI9/3Z9DX Cococ Island  QSL card received
#269 ST2NH Sudan QSL Sent
#270 E6ZS Niue Card Received
#271 JG8NQJ/JD1 Minami Torishima QSL Card Received


The only other new ones will come from

T31LP Central Kiribati June 2015 (offshore no good for DXCC)
JA0JHQ/VK9C Cocos Keeling September 19-25, 2015
RI1FJ Franz Josef Land - more details soon
TX3X Chesterfield Islands in  October 2015
3W3MD Vietnam October 2015
VK9WA Willis Island November 2015
T2GC Tuvalu September 2015
Z21MG Zimbabwe September 2015
3C7GIA Equatorial Guinea October 2015
3Y0F Bouvet Island December 2015

2016 Brings a whole bunch to the fore

KH5/p Palmyra Islands in January 2016
VP8SGI South Georgia Islands also in January
P5 North Korea (a long shot for me as this is a single person SSB only)
VP8STI South Sandwich
FT/j Juan de Nova in March 2016
VK0EK Heard Island in March of 2016
VK9C Cocos Keeling in March 2016
CY9 Saint Paul Island July 2016

Discounting P5, I can be at 284 by spring 2016.  Hopefully I can get lucky with Mount Athos and Nepal  along the way

FP/NY4G QSL Card Design

DXCC Status As Of 6/10/2015

DXCC Award	New LoTW QSLs	LoTW QSLs in Process	DXCC Credits Awarded	Total (All)	Total (Current)
Mixed *	0	0	265	265	265
CW *	0	0	254	254	254
Phone *	0	0	121	121	121
Digital	0	0	54	54	54
160M	0	0	33	33	33
80M *	0	0	111	111	111
40M *	0	0	150	150	150
30M *	0	0	115	115	115
20M *	0	0	187	187	187
17M *	0	0	120	120	120
15M *	0	0	136	136	136
12M *	0	0	104	104	104
10M *	0	0	129	129	129
2M	0	0	1	1	1
Challenge *	0	0	1085	---	1085
5-Band *	---	---	---	---	---
5-Band 17M *	---	---	---	---	---
5-Band 30M *	---	---	---	---	---
5-Band 12M *	---	---	---	---	---

* = Award has been issued

ATNO #271 Minami Torishima

Take, a Japanese ham operating under JG8NQJ/JD1 was QRV while away from his meteorological duties on Marcus Island.  He was spotted and I could hear him faintly at my SC station.  He was being worked by station after station.  I booted up my remote station in San Joaquin, CA and there he was loud perhaps S7 on the SteppIR Tribander.  I worked him at 100 watts.

Last Card for WAZ

Nice Surprise from the ARRL

E-mail from K9OT

• Message 
• 
  
• Gm Ariel, good luck with the trip to FP. You will find that it is a very unique place. Take time to look around the island, and visit some of the shops. It looks like you are going to stay in St.Pierre. We have always gone to Miquelon and stayed at the motel, but I think that it is closed right now for renovation. There is a very good hardware store in St. Pierre if you need anything that you did not anticipate. I will try to make a QSO with you while you are there. 73 Paul K9OT FP/K9OT

FP DXpedition Update - Planned Operating Frequencies

Operations will be SPLIT at all times.  Listen for where I am listening or any directions I will provide.  My planned operating frequencies are the following +/- QRM : 

BAND	CW	SSB	RTTY
40 m	7'016 kHz	7'146 kHz	7'046 kHz
30 m	10'126 kHz	- - -	10'142 kHz
20 m	14'026 kHz	14'276 kHz	14'082 kHz
17 m	18'086 kHz	18'146 kHz	18'106 kHz
15 m	21'026 kHz	21'276 kHz	21'082 kHz
12 m	24'906 kHz	24'946 kHz	24'926 kHz
10 m	28'026 kHz	28'546 kHz	28'086 kHz

This has also been posted in the FP/NY4G website at the following link

www.fp-ny4g2015.com

This blog will be a mirror site to the website above.  It will be likely that updates appear here before they appear on the website.

I have secured a Microsoft Surface as the main DXpedition computer.  I have configured it to run N1MM and have tested its operation during the CQ WW WPX Contest during which it ran 7 hours straight on the internal batteries.

The WPX was also good practice.