NJ-QRP "QTTF" Event

QRP To The Field Event this Saturday!

Directions to QRP-TTF site:
Van Nest Park, West Windsor( Grovers mill), NJ

==> From NJ Turnpike
Take exit 8 (Hightstown) and follow 33 West through Hightstown and across 130. The road becomes 571 here. Directions are as below for 130.

==> From Route 130
Turn left onto Princeton-Hightstown Road - Route 571 West (toward Princeton). Follow through several traffic lights - you will pass a mobil station, gun club, and come to fields for West Windsor high school. As you come to the school, take a right at the light onto Clarksville Road continue on this road until come to a stop on Cranbury Road - should be first stop sign you come to. Turn right onto Cranbury Road - Route 615; Be careful, as this is a busy and weird intersection. The park is on the right immediately past a white house and green fire hydrant

==> From Princeton:
Take Washington Road south toward Route 1. Stay on Washington road as cross Route 1 and continue past Sarnoff entrance (on left), as you pass tennis buidling - a big red warehouse, Washington Road cuts off to the left - take that left and go over the train overpass for the Princeton Junction Train station. As you come to bottom of the overpass, take a left at the light - this is Cranbury Road - Route 615. Stay on 615 past Red barn which says Grovers Mill (it is a hardware store) follow the road around for about 1/4 of a mile. The park is on the right immediately after a white house and green fire hydrant

There are rest room facilities on site. In addition, to the 6 or so tables in the covered pavilion, there are 4 or 5 picinc tables scattered around the park that we can probably use if we want to spread out.

James (at least) will plan to arrive there by 9 or slightly before and monitor 146.52 for talk-in if needed.

TIMES:

Arrival time (for those who want to set up stations and antennas) is going to be between 9 and 10:00 Saturday morning ... this is a reasonable time to get up and travel (for those like me in a land far far away) and will give us a couple of hours to set up all the wires, tables, equipment, etc. We should then be on the air by noon and continue on until the particular owner wants to tear down his stuff. The park probably closes around dusk. I'll probably take my toys and go home starting around 5pm. That'll give 5 solid hours of operating time, minimum. Not too taxing.

WEATHER:

I understand the weather will be great: sunny and in the 60's ... bring that sunblock!

EQUIPMENT:

George is bringing:
A table, chair, umbrella, Sierra with 20m and 40m bands modules, antenna tuner with Rainbow bridge, gel cells (daughter will do without her motorized car for the day), G5RV dipole (will sit off near trees if I don't bring my PVC porta mast). Maybe also bringing my 4BTV Hustler vertical, if I can fabricate a couple of missing/broken parts. Also bringing Clark.

James will bring:
His FT 301 to give any band 160-10 SSB and CW. Will also bring the usual stock of gel cells, tuners, wire etc.

Joe is bringing:
Two NEQRP PVC masts (this time I'll bring all the hardware!), Dipoles for 40 and 20 meters, At least one EFHWA (End-Fed Half Wave Antenna) for 40 meters, At least one 20 meter half-square, Assorted other antenna paraphernlia, One Autek RF-1 (plus spare batteries), One Ten-Tec Argo 509, One NC-40A, One homebrew keyer and heavy duty Nye Viking paddles, One hand key, Lots of enthusiasm, One homebrew operating table.

Clark is bringing:
An Argo or two....rolls of wire.....food...maybe batteries

FOOD:

Joe's bringing bagels.
James is bringing charcoal grill and charcoal, ice and coolers.
George is bringing coffee (as much as I can hold/contain)

OPS, RIGS, TIMES:

Ken Newman N2CQ has been bringing this aspect to light. Refer to the chart below (with recent updates):

Chief Operator, Band(s), Mode(s)

Station #1: N2CX = 40,20,15,10 = CW
Station #2: KA5DVS/2 = All bands = :Ph/CW
Station #3: N2APB = 40,20 = CW
Station #4: WA2UNN = (Argo) = Ph
Backup #6: W2DP = (QRP+) = Ph
Backup #7: N2TNN = (QRP+) = Ph/CW

Operators:

James, KA5DVS/2
Joe, N2CX
Clark, WA2UNN
Ken, N2CQ
Bill, W2DP
Dean, N2TNN
Bob, K2UT
George, N2APB

Chief Operator (CHOP) : The guy who brings the equipment and table!

Operator (Op): Those that want to operate the CHOP's station.

MISC:

James sez:
Ok gang, the Van-Nest Park Pavilion is reserved for Saturday April 26. We are granted exclusive use of the pavilion but the park is still open to the public. We will just have to be careful not to put any antennas in anyone's way. There are several large trees so antenna supports should be no problem. We do not have exclusive use of the park. We do have exclusive use of the pavilion and immediate area. The pavilion is a covered area approximately 40 or so feet across. Has a number of picnic tables on which we can setup. Several large trees immediately adjacent to it should provide antenna supports. Therefore, we will be limited in the total number of stations we can set up. There is also a small lake and they allow non-motorized boats ... How about a QRP/Maritime mobile station?? He can bring his row boat and a hamstick.

Joe sez:
If 10 and 15 meters are not "hopping" maybe we can accommodate Clark and others by making one of the rigs operable on SSB. And even if those bands are open, maybe we could time share to give the SSB boys a chance. Lord knows I've been to enough Field Days where cw was the odd man out, so I can empathize with SSB ops at a cw bash.

Joe sez:
If there are trees near the parking lot, a sloping wire up to the trees used in conjunction with a good tuner, using the auto as a ground would be far superior to a Hamstick. Been there - done that! A plus to the automotive gambit might be that if the SSB station were far enough away, it could operate on the same band with a CW station and have minimum interference.

OFFICIAL RULES - QRP TO THE FIELD

Sponsored by NorCal
Saturday April 26, 97, 1300 utc to 0100 utc (Sunday)
Single Transmitter, declare best (8) continuous hour period for contest scoring.
Open to all Radio Amateurs, all modes, and all bands except WARC.
Once started, maintain the same power and location categories.

Exchange: Phone RS and State, Province, or Country
Digital (CW, etc.) - RST and S, P, or Country

QSO Points: 1 watt or less out - 10 points
5 watts or less out - 5 points
over 5 watts - 2 points.
Multipliers: Field location (Battery power & Temporary Antennas) 4X
Home location (Commercial power & Permanent Antennas) 2X
Home-brew Equipment = 3X;
Commercial Equipment = 2X.
Final score:
Band per Mode QSO points X the location multiplier X the equipment multiplier. Add the Band per Mode totals to figure the final score.

Awards:
Certificates to the TOP TEN scoring stations and to PARTICIPANT entries with 20 or more contacts (include a 9x12 envelope and 3 units of postage for participant certificate). Send Logs with station and location descriptions to: QRP To The Field, 6822 131 Ave SE, Bellevue, WA, 98006-4038, by May 15, 1997. Include a #10 SASE for results. All contest committee decisions are final.

Last year entrants were encouraged to operate from places of historical interest or significance (like ghost towns). This year we are encouraging entrants to set up and operate from places where "strange" things have occurred or some local legend. If you live near a Sasquatch sighting, a UFO sighting, a "secret" military installation, haunted house, etc., this is the type of place we are talking about. This is simply a guideline to spawn ideas as to where to operate from, and not a requirement to participate.