The Tennessee Valley DX Association conducted its annual ARRL Field Day operation again this year at the Highway 58 Volunteer Fire Department's Training Facility on Snow Hill Road at Mahan Gap, near Ooltewah.
A group of stalwart individuals turned out for an antenna-raising party on the Friday evening before Field Day — rules allow setup starting at 0000Z Friday provided total cumulative setup time stays under 24 hours. In the relatively cool weather we added ropes to trees and pulled up two antennas that evening, raising the third on Saturday morning.
We participated in ARRL Class 3A — a maximum of three transmitters on the air at once, all on emergency power. We had 16 people visit our site during the operation, including operators, participants, and visitors — strangely, the same number as last year.
In celebration of TVDXA's 31 years, we unveiled the new club call sign, KM4EA. Thanks are in order for the efforts of several members led by Bill W4XK and Billy KE4CMA in obtaining it; Billy Stott is the trustee of the call.
Stations & Antennas
| Station | Provided By | Transceiver | Antenna |
|---|---|---|---|
| Station 1 | K3JWI | Elecraft K3S | 40m Extended Double Zepp w/ ladder line & Johnson Matchbox |
| Station 2 | W4NZ | Elecraft K3 | 40m Extended Double Zepp w/ ladder line & Johnson Matchbox |
| Station 3 | W4XK | Icom IC-7300 | 80m dipole w/ ladder line & tuners |
The antennas were suspended from ropes over and through the large trees along the property boundaries, generally 40 to 60 feet in the air.
Each station was computer-controlled with N1MM Logger+, all networked so every QSO appeared on each computer and the team could avoid two stations landing on the same band and mode. All radios and computers ran on emergency power from a 6,500-watt gasoline generator provided by Ken K3JWI.
Band & Mode Summary
| Band | Mode | QSOs | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80m | CW | 114 | 228 |
| 80m | FT4/8 | 81 | 162 |
| 40m | CW | 396 | 792 |
| 40m | LSB | 34 | 34 |
| 20m | CW | 351 | 702 |
| 20m | FT8 | 3 | 6 |
| 20m | USB | 260 | 260 |
| 15m | CW | 235 | 470 |
| 15m | FT8 | 104 | 208 |
| 10m | CW | 47 | 94 |
| 10m | FT8 | 1 | 2 |
| 10m | USB | 2 | 2 |
| Satellite | — | 2 | — |
| Totals | 1,630 | 2,960 |
1,630 QSOs · Class 3A · 2,960 QSO points (×2 power) + ~570 bonus
We worked 47 states (missing only Alaska, Nevada, and Wyoming), 5 Canadian provinces, and 4 DXCC countries, catching 74 of the 83 ARRL sections.
Peter KX4BE made two satellite QSOs — one with a VE3 in Ontario and one with a WA5 in Louisiana — running just 5 watts.
Even with QSO numbers slightly down from last year, our QSO points were only 20 fewer, thanks to a different mix of CW and SSB. Bonus points (570) were up over last year's 550, and we finished just 18 points short of matching last year's score — not bad with 162 fewer QSOs.
| U.S. states | 47 — missed AK, NV, WY |
| Canada & DX | 5 Canadian provinces, 4 DXCC countries |
| ARRL sections | 74 of 83 |
| Satellite | 2 QSOs (Peter KX4BE, 5 W) |
Photo highlights: Savannah Stout logging FT8; Bill W4XK, Billy KE4CMA and Howard WB4ZBI working the pileups; and one of the 40m Extended Double Zepps. See the full photo gallery →
TVDXA Field Day Scores
- 2020KM4EA · 6,494 pts · Class 3A · 1,630 QSOs
- 2019N4T · 6,512 pts · Class 3A · 1,792 QSOs
- 2018W4PL · 6,642 pts · Class 3A · 1,718 QSOs
- 2017W4PL · 5,890 pts · Class 2A · 1,671 QSOs
- 2016W4PL · 4,852 pts · Class 2A · 1,085 QSOs
- 2015W4PL · 5,326 pts · Class 2A · 1,457 QSOs
- 2014W4PL · 4,456 pts · Class 2A · 1,100 QSOs
All scores include bonus points.
About ARRL Field Day
Field Day is held the 4th full weekend of June each year. For rules, exchange, and scoring details, see the ARRL Field Day event page or visit arrl.org/field-day.