The Loudoun Amateur Radio Group Of Northern Virginia & Its Radio Station K4LRG

Norm Styer - AI2C   -   Captain, Station #1

     We had some super operators handling the station. You know it's always a little hard to find good CW operators.This year, we missed Jim Banks - WØMAZ and Mark Johnson - W3ZI. Hopefully, we'll bring a few more on board this coming year. Anyway, some of us stayed on a little longer - like "Stay In The Chair." Jeff Crawford - KØZR of Leesburg, Tom Garasic - NA4MA of Haymarket, and Paul Dluehosh - N4PD of Leesburg did a super job. John Unger - W4AU with his rocket launcher helped put the 80-Meter dipole up fifty-feet on Saturday morning.

     Work to assemble the station began on Canby Road in early June as the six deep-cycle batteries were brought up to full charge. Then on the Wednesday before Field Day, the tower ladder and antennas were inspected and loaded for deployment. This year a 300-watt dc-to-ac voltage converter was added to power the small antenna rotor for the 15-Meter 3-element yagi antenna. The LARG's Kenwood TS-440 HF Transceiver was fired up and repacked. Finally, TR Logging computer program was inspected on two laptop computers. Other support stuff was loaded on Thursday night. We were ready to roll.

     I thank everyone who helped on Friday night and throughout the operation. Best Regards, Norm Styer - AI2C.

     Our efforts on Station #1 started right after the April LARG Field Day Committee organization meeting. It's hard not to think about what new stuff and tricks you will try on Field Day. We missed being able to use Mark Johnson - W3ZI's Kenwood TS-850 Transceiver. It does hear better than the LARG's Kenwood TS-440 Transceiver. After seeing how well the Elecraft K3 performed on 75 and 40 Meter Fone, maybe we should look for one for next year. Anyway, we planned for 80-Meters to be the main band but would also try 15-Meters on Saturday afternoon and late on Sunday morning. As you'll see below, 15-Meters was a nice surprise. And, we would also check 10-Meters for CW and Fone openings since no other station was assigned to 10-Meters. This proved to be somewhat successful. Maybe next year, we'll stack the 3-element 10-Meter yagi above the 15-Meter yagi.

     During the week before field day, we assembled the TS-440 and all the stuff to put it up on CW and Fone with laptop computer control through TR Log. Just in case, we would bring along the small 300-watt Johnson Matchbox for the dipole antenna. Again, this year we assembled two 6-volt Farmall Tractor batteries in series to directly power the IBM Think Pad. It really doesn't like voltages below about 11.75 volts. But I ended up using a travel power adaptor for computer off these batteries. I also powered the 300-watt dc-to-ac voltage converter from these batteries I needed ac voltage for the antenna rotor that I use on the yagi. Four deep-cycle batteries were brought up to full charge over the weeks before Field Day and would more than power the HF transceiver throughout field day.

       We rolled off Canby around 2:30 PM on Friday. We were loaded for bear. At Banshee Reeks we were met by a caretaker who informed us that we were not allowed into the upper barn and shed area though they had originally agreed to this including providing security lock combinations in May. Well, members of the local Virginia Defense Force unit had been asked to help with a display tent and this plan was expanded to house four HF and the VHF-UHF stations. Our bacon was saved. The new site was north on the mansion in a newly mowed parking area and was about an acre in area. We quickly reworked the antenna layout and everyone went to work. At the peak of set up there was upwards of 35 folks all very busy assisting, learning, and taking lots of pictures. Don't miss the picture show on the Friday Night Set Up page. Station #1's antennas went together very nicely.

     We were on site by 10 AM on Saturday morning and by noon everything was assembled and operational. There was no inter-station interference and the weather look great. We opened on 15-Meters CW and after that slowed, we moved to 80-Meters CW. The latter was a chore for the rest of the day. Where had everyone gone? Maybe, it was the storms that popped up over the Mid-Atlantic states before sundown. We too closed for about an hour as it sure looked like it would drift down on us from the north. By dust we were back at it.

     On Sunday afternoon, we worked stations right up to 2 PM as both 10 and 15 Meters were wide open. Close-Station - March-Order went well and I thank those who helped. By 3:45 PM we were reloaded, tied down and ready to roll. Now, we think about how we did and what's best for next year. In the meantime, we'll charge the batteries and repackage and reposition the gear in case we really have to roll.

Jeff Crawford - KØZR
On 15-Meters Saturday Afternoon

Paul Dluehosh - N4PD
On 80-Meters CW Saturday Night

Tom Garasic - NA4MA
Holding The Night Shift on 80-Meters CW

Jeff Crawford - KØZR
Enjoying 15-Meters CW on Saturday

The Rates At Station #1     We opened on 15-Meters CW hoping to put a few in the log before settling down on 80-Meters for the night. Well, we were pleasantly surprised. There were many nice signals on 15-Meters. By 6 PM we had 134 in the log. Signals dried up and we went to 80-Meters. Then around 8 PM the threat of a storm forced us to shutdown for about an hour. Returning, the band was steady with about 40 an hour till past mid-night. Overnight was wasn't as much success. By sunrise we had 500 in the log - just a little short of the numbers last year. 80-Meters didn't improve much and by 9 AM we were on 15-Meters. Conditions here were much better than Saturday and we add another 202 QSOs on 15-Meters. After 11 AM we checked 10-Meters for kicks and worked 20 on CW and another 7 on SSB. We could have used a yagi on 10-Meters for we stood in line several times. Overall, before dupe checking, the log showed 770 QSOs - 406 0n 80-CW, 337 on 15-CW, 20 on 10-CW and 7 on 10-Fone. These numbers shrunk to 396, 319, 19 and 7 after dupes were removed. The best hour on 80-CW was 50 at mid-night and on 15-CW it was 61 at 11 AM on Sunday. This was overall better than last year when we had 596 good QSOs. Thanks for all the help and good operating.

The Antennas Station #1 operated with two antennas as we did the last few years. The 80-Meter CW used a full-size dipole up about 50-feet thanks to John Unger - W4AU's rocket launcher. For the third year we had the auto trailer mounted 28-foot ladder tower with the 3-element Hy-Gain 15-Meter yagi antenna. The dipole loaded OK on 10-Meters through a Johnson Match Box but propagation was more north-south so we had to work hard for some of the mid-west contacts. After three calls, we would move on. A yagi on 10-Meters would have made things much easier - maybe next year. I used an old Alliance antenna rotor on the 15-Meter yagi.

The Antennas for Station #1
The 15-Meter Hy-Gain BA-153 Yagi plus 80-Meter Dipole in background

Folks were quite interested in this invention

They helped a lot and took a lot of pictures


It's designed to go up with one hand in your pocket
but I really appreciate all the help.

The 80-Meter Dipole was also used on 10-Meters
We managed 26 good QSOs on 10-Meters when we visited for about 40 minutes on Sunday

Isn't That A Nice Take-Off View To The West ?
That's All Down Hill !!!