Field Day 2024

TVDXA · ARRL Field Day 2024 · N4LT · Class 3A TN · Reported by Ted W4NZ

Big changes came to our annual Field Day this year. We were pleased to accept an invitation from the Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department of Collegedale to use their recently acquired property at 9535 East Brainerd Road — the future home of their Station #6. It was our first change of Field Day location since 2016, and the new site set a high bar for operating space, comfort, and convenience.

Arranging three stations to minimize inter-station interference is always a challenge. The property had many large trees, though not all ideally placed. A die-hard group of antenna specialists met on Friday to put ropes in strategic spots and pull up the antennas: a 165-foot 40M Extended Double Zepp at about 40 feet, an 80M dipole in an inverted-V up 35–40 feet at center (both ladder-line fed via matching networks for multi-band use), and an end-fed half-wave with a counterpoise sloping from a front-yard tree to the fence — which did yeoman service on FT8, all bands.

Corey W4ZHA set up his self-contained, off-grid VHF/UHF station near the house, using a portable mast with a UHF vertical and a hand-rotatable 3-element 6M beam. Peter KX4BE brought his van and satellite gear, setting up in the front yard near the highway for a clear view of the satellites.

After a stimulating breakfast at the Shallowford Cracker Barrel, everyone met for final preparations before the 2:00 PM start — including TVDXA Power & Light, a 6.5 kW gasoline generator that rode in on Billy's trailer, with cables run across the garage, down the hall, and up the stairs to each operating position. Our sign-in log showed 26 visitors during the event. As is now the norm, we used our club call sign, N4LT, in honor of Dick Wilson. We entered ARRL Class 3A.

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Stations & Antennas

Each station was computer-controlled with N1MM Logger+, networked through a local wireless router, all running on emergency power from the gasoline generator.

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Band & Mode Summary

Band	Mode	QSOs	Points
80m	CW	169	338
80m	LSB	50	50
40m	CW	236	472
40m	FT8	37	74
40m	LSB	247	247
20m	CW	303	606
20m	FT8	114	228
20m	USB	96	96
15m	CW	113	226
15m	FT8	80	160
15m	USB	21	21
10m	CW	8	16
10m	FT8	28	56
6m	FT8	33	66
6m	USB	4	4
2m	FM	4	4
Satellite	—	2	—
Totals		1,543	2,664

Again this year we made a concerted effort to maximize bonus points, with several members each taking responsibility for specific items. Thanks to the efforts of Howard, Paul, Peter, Karen, Gary, Corey, and Nancy Pagano, our accepted bonus total reached 1,470 points — up from 1,430 last year. Way to go, gang!

We worked all 50 states and 13 DXCC entities, catching 80 of the 85 possible ARRL/RAC sections (missing only Virgin Islands, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, and Northern Territories).

Photo highlights: our new Field Day site, the antenna layout, Corey making QSOs, the antenna party, Gary K4VIG, Karen KX4KM, and Peter KX4BE's satellite setup. See the full photo gallery →

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TVDXA Field Day Scores

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