[aprssig] CQ Field Day!

[Stephen H. Smith]

Robert Bruninga wrote:
>> ... APRS can now do global CQ's. CQ FD works via
>> the centralizeed CQSRVR application written by AE5PL. 
>> http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/CQFD.html
>>     
>
> We made about 30 APRS contacts using CQSRVR.  The highest number
> of users logged on that I saw was 15 at one time..  My FD site
> was margnial, but packets started getting reliable in the
> evening and I did a lot better with my D7 APRS field Day
> station.
>
> I wonder if Pete can garner any statistics from the CQSRVR?
>
> You can see my messages logged by FINDU at:
> http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/msg.cgi?call=WB4APR-4
>
>   


You must have been able to transmit far better than you received.     I 
worked a number of stations on the first call after hearing their CQ.  
However, I had to call you repeatedly over several hours before I got 
ACKed.       [I was operating under K6AGF, the club station for the 
Tri-County ARA about 25 miles east of Los Angeles. ]   Also tried once 
under my own call of WA8LMF. 


I provided the digital modes station for K6AGF.   I just parked my Jetta 
TDI with the mobile laptop setup 

     [ pic here  http://wa8lmf.net/mobile/index.htm]

at the edge of the Field Day site, unpacked and assembled my 30-foot 
tall screw-together mast and secured it by backing my right-rear tire 
over it's base plate. The mast, which is actually a military HF whip, 
screws together from 54" sections that stow in the trunk of the car. 
When assembled, the self-supporting whip is almost a full quarter-wave 
on 40 meters when end-fed with a tuner. It's not really intended to 
support any load but I had a Diamond  770 no-ground-plane 2M/450  mobile 
whip, fed by 35 feet of white Teflon coax, clamped to the top of the 
mast.  In addition, an extremely lightweight ladder-line-fed  105-foot 
dipole (made from #22 AWG teflon-insulated wire) was hitched up about 2 
feet below the top of the mast and fed by an Icom AH4  coupler.   Less 
than 10 minutes to setup for fixed coverage for all bands on the Yaesu 
FT-100!  


     [ Field Day site pics here  http://wa8lmf.net/TCARA_FD2008  
<http://wa8lmf.net/TCARA_FD2008>  ]

I paralleled the normal isolated 50AH AGM deep-cycle 2nd battery in the 
trunk of the car, that powers my electronics, with an additional 75 AH 
of Cyclon comm-site gel-cells for the event.  I had to start the TDI's 
diesel engine and idle to recharge about 15 mins every three hours.    
The battery plant was adequate to power the Kenwood D700, the FT-100D, 
the Panasonic Toughbook CF-51 laptop, a 12VDC 12" electric fan, a 7W 12" 
fluorescent lamp and the SSTV "Mobile LiveCAM".   

Note the Reflectix radiant barrier (aluminized cellular Mylar sheet) on 
the OUTSIDE of the front and back windows of the car.   This stuff 
weighs almost nothing, rolls up into amost no space at all, and is 
fantastically effective in keeping the interior of the car cool even in 
90-degree direct sun.  It also keeps the interior dark enough for 
comfortable computer operation.





--

Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com
EchoLink Node:      14400    [Think bottom of the 2M band]
Home Page:          http://wa8lmf.com  --OR--   http://wa8lmf.net

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"APRS 101"  Explanation of APRS Path Selection & Digipeating
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