WB6ZQZ Field Day Station

• ProIII again, maybe the FT897 as backup and VHF/UHF
• New Better RF pushbutton box for ProIII
• New DC power strip from dcpwr.com OP-06
• New Piston Valve Launcher, 1.25 valve in 1.5 tee
• CSV17HP Launcher (backup)
• Scorpion Antenna System for experimenting (skipped due to space)
• Elk beam for 2/440, military alum poles, guys, guy tensioners
• Perhaps build a ground system for Scorpion (16 x 31 foot radials)
• Perhaps a new headset for the K3 (Yamaha CM500)
• AH4 Tuner and balun for 80/40 100 foot window twinlead fed flat-top (used Frank's 40m EDZ)
• Possibly a headphone splitter with individual gain controls (took old unit, didn't use)
• Two 49AH AGM batteries, skip the older bigger AGMs as they are dying
• 60A RV Converter with #6 SB50 cabling, and dual SB50's on batteries (nice!)
• Maybe bring the Navigator digital interface (low priority)(not)
• As in 2010 for the rest

• Planning to bring K3 this year so I won't disassemble the home station ProIII
• New prototype Antenna Launcher with 1" piston valve in 1.25 tee
• Might bring the Scorpion portable antenna system
• etc as in 2009

• Bringing Less, not disassembling home shack
• No Hercules Amp, No LP-100 wattmeter, leaving Digital Mode interfaces home
• No ProIII (bring a backup rig from the shack), no AH4 Tuner
• Fewer Batteries - perhaps 2x 49AH plus one 110AH AGM plus 30AH LiFePO4
• Skip the solar panels
• 45A RV Converter instead of 60A
• Spiderbeam, not bringing Buddipole or Force antennas
• AC cord to Honda EU3000is at trailer to get part time AC power

• Icom 756 ProIII (it is a bit of trouble taking the home station apart, but having a good radio on FD is nice)
• For compact operations the Icom IC7000 is excellent
• microHAM microKEYER radio/computer interface (possibly the best radio-computer interface available, very clean cabling, USB virtual serial ports for all digital functions, works with all software) The microHAM is really nice, but there are a lot of cables and a lot of choices to make in configuring. This is great for the home station but for Field Day the Navigator is a lot simpler and has fewer cables to work with.
• Navigator Rig Interface, as above plus built in soundcard
• TenTec Hercules II 500 watt amplifier (I have reservations about running power on FD, but I have to say that K3MC's Hercules worked very nicely on a battery and did get some respect on the band).
• Note - Considering Tokyo High Power HL450B for the amp role - more portable, 400W level, more compact
• Antenna Tuner (Usually I use an Icom AH4 out away from the rig and near where the ladder line hits the ground, but at the higher power level something else is required)(If not running power the AH4 is excellent)
  • Palstar AT1KM Tuner (excellent two-adjustment KW manual tuner)
  • Icom AH-4 Tuner (best remote autotuner)
  • LDG Z-11 Pro Tuner (best 100 watt autotuner)
• LP-100 Power Meter
• Begali Traveler Paddles
• DM780 MultiPSK digital mode software for RTTY, PSK31, CW, etc
• HRD (Ham Radio Direct) for Rig Control and Digital Modes
• Heil Proset IC headset
• Finger Ring PTT
• Headset splitter for 2 headphones, homebrew

• My favorite simple antenna is a 100 foot dipole fed with 100 feet of windowed ladderline to a DX Engineering 1:1 special antenna tuner balun to a 6' RG213 coax to one of the above tuners. Elevate this antenna 100 feet with a Pneumatic Antenna Launcher∞.
• The Buddipole is very compact and well made. It is good for situations where the tree supports are not available, or the time available to operate is short. It is not so good for band-hopping, but better if you are going to stay on a band for awhile.
• Force12 Sigma 5 - 20 through 10 meters, instant bandswitching, 9 feet tall, high efficiency vertical
• Spiderbeam - used in 2008, see below
• New Beam Line Set with Fiddle type Marine Pulley gives 3:1 lifting advantage

• Purchased for 2008 FD
• Bought the 5 band version but built the 20/17/15 configuration as it has fewer wires to assemble and prefer 17 for non FD uses. 10M hs not been a big FD band for us
• It is a lot of work to build this antenna the first time, did much of this at home ahead of time
• Built up a new rope set with new pulleys including a fiddle type 3:1 advantage pulley
• Put a pulley and endless loop below the Spiderbeam to hoist up 80/40 antenna
• The Spiderbeam worked well in 2008 on 20m. Higher bands SWR was off, need to revisit the measurements
• Would be good to make a better center pole setup for the Spiderbeam

• AGM Batteries (Absorbed Glass Mat Lead-Acid are about the best Lead-Acid batteries available for this use.)
• One set for the radio, a pair of 100AH 12V in parallel (or use these on the amp and a pair of 75's on the rig),
• One set for the computer, a pair of 75AH in parallel, and
• A third set for the linear (1-4 batteries). We used a single 100AH RV Marine type battery in 2006 but I would go to AGMs for the amp as well.
• Note in 2008 may downsize the battery array a bit, this is a lot to carry.. Considering just the 100AH pair in parallel with the 60A RV Converter from the EU2000i generator..
• Solar panels to replace some of the energy (I have several Siemens 75W panels) (may skip panels due to space)
• Backup charger (Progressive Dynamics 9200 60A RV converter∞) and Honda EU2000i generator with Fuel Feed system from a gas can
• The AGM batteries are available at low cost as UPS pullouts, about 5 years old and still in good shape. I have tested them on a West Mountain Radio Computer Battery Tester and they are 90%+ of original specs.
• AC Power Strip
• DC Power Distribution based on Anderson PowerPoles
• DC Voltage Booster

• Compaq Laptop, 400 mhz, w Orinoco Gold 802.11b card and 12vDC adapter, running my own software FDLog (I might need more CPU power in a second laptop for digital modes with newer software..)

• 802.11B Wireless Network (we have several Access Points for reliability, though they are used one at a time. Mine is a LinkSys model WRT54GS that runs directly on 12 volts dc, so it is easy to power with a sealed 12V battery.

• SUV Tent (The SUV tent is about 9x9 feet on the ground, and about 7' high so you can actually stand up inside. It has an attachment system to connect to the back of an SUV, Minivan or Truck. I connect it to the back of my SUV and the radio gear etc are transferred from the SUV to the operating table, and back after we're done. The battery bank sits in the back corner of the SUV and never moves - we just cable from the operating table to the batteries a distance of about four feet with heavy cable. So no lifting of batteries, etc except at home. I use a plastic picnic table 6 feet long to hold the radios. The floor is partly covered inside with a couple of carpet scraps. I use a blue tarp under the tent. The feedlines come in alongside the truckbed and under the connector to the truck. This is the best tent I have used for Field Day.)

• Battery powered LED light
• Spiral notebook scratchpaper, pen
• Headphone splitter
• Headphones
• High Voltage bug swatter (Harbor Freight)
• Two decent chairs