2018 ARRL Field Day

A Ham Radio contester I'm not.  Now another ARRL FD has passed and I was only able to participate as a 1D ME with my BITX40 with a HB 40 meter dipole antenna.  Only five contacts in two half hour segments on Sunday. Even with the favorable 40M band conditions.

I usually tune to a strong CQ. I let someone else answer first so I can get the callsign, class and section of the CQ station entered into the log. When I finally answer the CQ all I have to do is press a button to log UTC and verbally respond with my callsign, class and section. repeat their info, confirm my info, give thanks and wish them good luck.  This laissez-faire method of operation requires a lot of set-up time so even with the brief 30 second FD contacts I use about 5-7 minutes to get ready for the next QSO. Not a winning contest strategy for sure.

Thanks for your FD QSO's! I did log your callsigns in my QRZ logbook.

As seen by the log, all my contacts were to the SW at 200-400 miles of my QTH in Maine. I assume single hop daytime propagation. While I heard NH, VT, CT, RI, PA and MI  I just could not make myself heard.  Well maybe next field day I'll be able to put in some real time and effort.  My tentative plans include a HB 40M loop, 45-50W Linear Amp, Rasp-Pi3 running xlog and an Emergency Power Generator. Maybe actually getting the Coleman tent up in the back yard!
We'll see if my ambition, patience and allowance will stretch that far.

PS: Shout out to Bill Meara & Pete Juliano for their mention of me on "Soldersmoke Podcast" #205 posted Saturday.  Both pleased and embarrassed!  I have to renew my efforts to get some productive bench time and actually finish a couple of projects I've started.