Reno QRP Group's 2009 Field Day was held at Marvin Picollo School in Reno. Washoe County School District allowed us use of the grounds for the weekend and we are very appreciative to them. This is the second year we have had the privledge to use this facility. All members are very appreciative to the District and Principal Matthew Burak for this. RV parking was on the paved areas near the parking lot while the "antenna farm" was located on a playfield the size of a baseball field.
Our Group was the only organized Field Day entrant in the Reno/Sparks area. We added a third station this year putting us in the 3A class. The third station operated SSB which is no small task running QRP. The CW stations exceeded last year's QSO count by 15%. The local NBC affiliate, KRNV aired a short segment about our activies on the Saturday evening news. Haley Brower made 7 contacts
and we all expect her to be a licensed full-fledged participant next year.
Weather was warm with highs in the mid 90's and lows near 55. Between the climate conditions and the site layout this was a near perfect operating location.
Equipment rundown is as follows:
Elecraft K2, Icom IC703, TenTec Argonaut 516
Inverted "L" longwire, Mosley triband beam, H/B multiband inverted Vee, H/B 4-band vertical, H/B multiband end fed Zepp
This year's participants were:
Ed- WD7Y, Swede- K7UAL, Steve- NU7T, Dave- KF7BNO, Ralph- W7SK, Joe- W7DIK, Steve- N7LLD,
ARRL published 2009 Field Day results. Reno QRP Group demostrated excellent performance once again.
Standings are as follows:
#1 ALL entrants in Nevada (QRP, LP, HP)
#2 Catagory 3AB in North America
#4 ALL QRP Catagories in Pacific Division
#23 ALL QRP Catagories in North America
All FD participants can be proud of our performance.
That being said, planning and preparation for 2010 FD starts now.........
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| Tuner at base of Inverted "L" antenna |
Haley Brower ready to operate |
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| Operating RV with longwire and multi band vertical |
Van and Tim operating into the evening |
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| Tri-band Yagi with Inverted Vee behind |
Gary and Dave operating SSB into the night |
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| Ed operating at night | Dave at his "patio" QTH |