FYBO 2006 RESULTS

Here they are at long last. The results of the 2006 FYBO Winter Field Day! There were 41 entries submitted this year compared to 46 last year. This does not reflect the true number of participants. There are many more from looking at the logs, who did not send their entries. If this doesn’t get the excitement started, I don’t know what will!! There were some astonishing scores in most categories! See if you can top them this year.

Scores that are different from what you submitted were adjusted upward when I found missed multipliers or arithmetical errors while looking through the logs and your comments. Oddly enough, all the errors were made on the low side.

Check out the links where they are listed in the soapbox. There are some really well done and interesting web pages describing everyone’s activities. Some have links to others. Follow those as well and you’ll get a good picture of the fun everyone had.

If you find errors, please let me know and I will get them corrected.

Call	Group	Category	Category1	Score	Operators
KK6MC/5	NMQRP	Multi-Multi	Field	1122832	KK6MC, AA5B, NN5K, W9YA, KE5AKL, KD5SHR, AC5ZO
K8UO	Utica Shelby Emergency Communications Association (USECA)	Multi-Multi	Field	127840	N8ZA, N8ZI, W8RIT, AA8OZ, WB8E, K8RDJ, N8KC, N8VI, N8FY, N8EB
WW7LW	South Wakiakum Contest Club	Multi-Multi	Field	37864	AC7QN, KR7W, K7MO, W7AML, KD7TQX
W5MSQ	Houston QRP Club - MosQRPitos	Multi-Multi	Field	11040	W5HNS, N5EBD, W5ACM, N5EM, KD5VGE, WD5BDX, W5RH
WQ0RP	Minnesota QRP Society	Multi-Multi	Field	960	W0UFO, K0TCP, N5WVR, KA0OSC, N0OE, N0PPF
N1QS	Northern Vermont QRP Society	Multi-Single	Field	158320	AA1MY, N1BQ, KM1Z, VE2EQL, KD1R, AB1DD, VE2SZN, W1SLR, KB1FRW
WA8KNE		Multi-Single	Field	11408	WA8KNE, N6VX
KT9E	Eastside Outdoor Ham Club	Multi-Single	Field	576	WD9EYB, K9VDQ, KG9GN, WB9ZHC
W0NTA		Single	Field	301312	Dick, W0NTA
AK7Y		Single	Field	67200	AK7Y
WA8REI		Single	Field	62224	WA8REI
WD7Y		Single	Field	35296	WD7Y
W2AGN		Single	Field	28480	W2AGN
W5ESE		Single	Field	18600	W5ESE
NK0E		Single	Field	16848	NK0E
KD5MJJ		Single	Field	14736	Hank, KD5MJJ
N0FKC		Single	Field	14720	Pieter, N0FKC
W2MY		Single	Field	14692	W2MY
W9JVW		Single	Field	13800	W8JVW
K7TQ		Single	Field	13328	K7TQ
W5BI		Single	Field	5824	W5BI, Gary
K2UD		Single	Field	4320	Howard, K2UD
KI0G		Single	Field	3040	KI0G
WB4PWZ		Single	Field	2964	WB4PWZ
K9EW		Single	Field	1920	K9EW
K4BYF		Single	Field	1728	K4BYF
K4KJP		Single	Field	1568	Terry, K4KJP
KJ5CI		Single	Field	896	Bill, KJ5CI
VA3SIE		Single	Field	480	VA3SIE
KI4DGH		Single	Field	448	KI4DGH
N7CEE		Single	Field	440	N7CEE
KC7QCS		Single	Field	288	KC7QCS
VA3RKM		Single	Field	280	VA3RKM
W1PID		Single	Field	240	W1PID
KE4YQR		Single	Field	8	KE4YQR
W5KDJ		Single	Home	11050	W5KDJ
W7SW		Single	Home	1728	W7SW
KK5NA		Single	Home	144	KK5NA, Joe
W5EET		Single	Home	120	W5EET
W1OH		Single	Home	90	W1OH
JR0BAQ		Single	DX	12	JR0BAQ

SOAPBOX

W2MY

Corpus Christi, TX (North Padre Island, IOTA NA-92) Category: Single Op/field

QSO x SPC x TEMP x FIELD x ALTPWR x QRPp + NQ7RP

23 x 17 x 3 x 4 x 1 x 1 + 10,000 = 14692 points total

Comments:

Trials of cold-weather operating? Not for me, but it was still fun to get outside. It was a cool (for Padre Island) 47 degrees F here at the start of the contest in Corpus Christi, TX, which is about two-thirds of a mile from the Gulf. It did manage to get up to 75 degrees in the afternoon which was not as bad as the 93 degrees we had two days earlier. Only got 23 QSOs but that is good for me so I am happy. 15 meters opened up early but closed early also, and then 20 meters was just not the same as in the morning. I still had a lot of fun. I used my K2 and a NVIS 40 meter dipole barely visible at the top of the photo, and yes, it is very close to some hyper-saline seawater. I hope to get to a remote island next year by sea kayak when I am better prepared.

Regards,

Steve, W2MY/5

K4BYF

Lake Wailes Park, FL

63F

Not a very nice day in normally sunny Florida. We had heavy rain and thunderstorms just prior to the start of FYBO followed by scattered downpours. We had about 7 onlookers and kibbitzers from the Lakeland Amateur Radio Club and the Lake Wales Repeater Assoc. We all had great conversation and an outstanding chili lunch. Finally decided to QRT after the QRN got too much for these old eardrums and the fact that we were only hearing dupes.

Jack K4BYF

W5KDJ

Spring, TX

Fun contest, needed more ops._K2. Dipole & Yagi.

Wayne W5KDJ

W1PID

Sanbornton NH

It was a mixed-up event here because I operated from different spots including the shack. It was a nice day here and held steady at 42F. My total time wasn't very much, but I made 10 Qs and had fun. Thanks to all.

Jim W1PID

KI4DGH

Clarksville, TN

My First FYBO It started Snowing for the first time this year during the time I was in the Field. I only stayed out for 2 hours but what a great time.

72 Chuck KI4DGH

W7SW

Sun City, Arizona

Thanks for the great fun!  Just for fun I opened the window in the shack so the temperature soon matched the outside temperature of 80 F.  73 and CU agn sn! 

Scotty W7SW

JR0BAQ

I am very pleased to participate the FYBO this winter again! Hope much more stations (espesially in Japan) know about FYBO

and enjoy QRP "DX" contests. ;-)

73's Kohei Nishiyama JR0BAQ

W5ESE

Dripping Springs, TX

50F

I operated from Founders' Park in Dripping Springs, Texas, from a picnic table beneath a large oak. I operated using two bands only; 40m and 20m, using a Small Wonder Labs SW+ on 40m (~1.5W) and a Ten-Tec TKIT 1320 on 20m (3W). I used a 40 meter dipole fed with 300 ohm twinlead up about 18', and tuned with an Emtech ZM-2 antenna tuner.

Conditions seemed pretty good; I was delighted to reach New England, Washington state, and Ontario on 20m, and work the pedestrian mobile W0RW/PM on -both- 40m and 20m. I was particularly gratified Paul could hear me on 40m using his pedestrian setup while I was running about a watt and a half on the SW+. And kudos to Gene W3PM, who had a good signal from AL on 20m with 500 mW.

-Many- -Thanks- to the ScQRPions for organizing this.

73

Scott McMullen

W5ESE

W2AGN

RIGS: MFJ9020, 9015, 9040

ANT: 100' CF

Total Score: Points 18,480 + 10,000 NQ7RP bonus = 28,480

Comments: Warm weather all month. Unfortunately, today it rained. Used small plastic tarp over branch to make cover for rig (and me). Fortunately no wind so it worked OK. I quit when it got dark.

I have observed all competition rules as well as all regulations for amateur radio in my country. My report is correct and true to the best of my knowledge. I agree to be bound by the decisions of the Contest Awards Committee, unless they are really dumb.

John W2AGN

N7CEE

Roosevelt Lake, AZ

Lowest operating temperature 65F

11 contacts x 5 (spc) 4 (field) x 2 (alt power) x 1 (temp) = 440

Wow- Murphy struck with a vengence on my FYBO expedition. Carrying on the W7CDQ-N7CEE tradition of inverting the "Freeze" part of FYBO and escaping winter here in Flagstaff, I decided to operate from somewhere on Theodore Roosevelt Lake in the desert east of Phoenix.

Murphy's first strike was when I realized that the wedding reception I'd agree to photograph was the night before FYBO. I left the house at 0500 local with a plan to paddle to a good operating and camp site on the far side of the lake, as far from the surrounding high ridges as possible.

The boat ramp turned out to be on the opposite side of a pennisula from where I needed to go. The campsite on an island I'd picked out from the topo map turned out to be non-existent. Campsites in general were hard to find, but finally, at 1200 I landed on a usable spot.

Then the K2 wouldn't tune. It received OK but popped and reset when I tried to run the ATU. Same symptoms on a dummy load. I actually opened the rig and reseated the ATU connections, then tried it again. This time I got a low voltage warning in receive. I'd charged and checked the SLA battery at home, so maybe it's the solar charge controller? Inside the controller I found a broken wire on the pass transistor. No way to fix that so I cut the phono plug off the K2 power cable and connected directly to the battery. Bingo! Go voltage and the K2 tuned the antenna (a 40 m vertical on a DK9SQ mast stuck up through a mesquite tree) on all bands.

I ended up with 11 QSO's on 20 and 40 with a minimum temp of 64F. Not a big result but I was happy to make ANY contacts. And my scruffy campsite in the mesquite turned out to be beautiful when the sun set, the last of the power boats were gone, and the ducks and the lapping waves made the only sounds.

On Sunday I took the long way back to the boat ramp and had a nice ten mile paddle on a glass calm lake with very few boaters even for the off season. Where were they? Oh yeah, it's the Superbowl...

Thanks, John and the gang, for another great FYBO opportunity.

Next time I'll try to remember that "Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance"!

72, Bruce N7CEE

AZ ScQRPions

K9EW

Westmont, IL

Lowest Temp = 28F

Summary: 12 QSO's x 8 SPC's x 5 (temp) x 4 (field op) = 1920 points

Cold and snowy here in northern Illinois. Ran 2w with a DSW II-20 into a twinlead inverted vee. The snow got my logsheet wet, and it was hard to record QSO's. Eventually my paddle fingers got cold, and called it quits, but still had fun. Next time I may try putting everything in an insulated box to keep my fingers warm. Hey, maybe I'll get in there too! Tnx to all for a great FYBO 2006.

72/73 - ed, k9ew

VA3SIE.

Britannia Park, Ottawa, ON.

lowest operating temp: 38F

Full details here:

http://www.sunim.plus.com/contests/fybo2006/

Myself and VE3WMB Michael set up in Britannia Park in Ottawa. Michael was running a vertical and I was running a dipole. We entered seperately as two single operator stations.

It was a nice day, temps very warm for the time of year we even got some snatches of diffuse sunlight but when the sun went away it got a bit chilly.

We both had great fun operating casually for 3 hours of the contest.

Band conditions were great, many stations heard on 20m but 40m had a lot of RTTY QRM.

W1OH

Centerville, MA (Cape Cod)

I didn't have a chance to get outdoors for this one but did manage to sit down at home station rig (FT 897 @ 5W to a 40M doublet in the attic of the condo) periodically during the afternoon and hand out a few contacts. Sure would like to get out to a field location for this one - maybe next year. Fun to get on in any case. Thanks for sponsoring this event! And thanks to all those ops who Froze their B's Off!

73,

geoff - W1OH

W0NTA

Greeley, CO

Elecraft K2

Battery power only. 17AH and 7AH Gel Cels

Antenna: Force 12 Sigma-40XK mounted on a portable base on 20 meters and an 88 foot doublet up about 20 feet for use on all three bands.

Location: Between Loveland and Estes Park, Colorado - my mountain property at 7000 feet elevation.

Weather: Clear and cold. 18F at beginning of contest and rose to 38F in the afternoon.

It was very windy on Friday with prediction of snow. Fortunately, it was calm, clear and sunny for Saturday, a beautiful day. First

temperature given was 19 degrees, but thermometer hadn't settled down. Went down to 18 degrees and settled out there. I operated for about 9.5 hours and was chilled clear through at the end when RTTY took over 40 meters. A hot shower and a big bowl of homemade chili helped warm the body once again.

Conditions seemed pretty good with 15 meters producing a dozen contacts and 11 additional multipliers. 20 meters once again was the big producer. The early start should give some lower temperatures all around, but the weather has been unseasonably warm in Colorado.

Thanks for a great contest.

72, Dick, W0NTA

VA3RKM

Please find below my log for the FYBO 2006, if it is of any use to you for stats, etc. Thanks for the fun contest!

    My score is 20 QSOs  X  14 mults  =  280 pts. (no other multipliers).

    Category: SO AB QRP

FT817, 5W, vertical and dipoles. My first FYBO. I was impressed with the number and quality of ops. Forty was tough with the RTTY QRM and 15m not at its best. Glad to give out contacts to all you ops in the field.

Robert MacKenzie, VA3RKM

WB4PWZ

48F

Downingtown PA

Had a lot of fun! Wish it would have been a bit colder though...needed the multiplier (and bragging rights too).

73, Bob WB4PWZ

WA8REI

Freeland MI

Temperature: 30 to 33F

Rig: Yaesu FT-817

Pwr Out: 5 watts

Ants: 20 & 40: Hustler 4BTV Vertical

80: sloper dipole

Operated from front porch. Temp held at 33 F most of the day. Steady rain, very windy. Used a tarp effectively to keep wind and rain off the operating table. I was outdoors a total of over 8 hours. Paper logged using a #2 pencil and Microsoft EXCEL generated log sheet. Lots of fun. Good to have great participation. 40 was the pits due to RTTY contest. Why weren't there more people on 80 m??? Great to work many with whom I've had eyeballs at FDIM/Dayton or worked in other contests. CU agn next year, I hope, after reattaching my BUTT, BUNS, BOOTIE, BISCUITS, whatever ya call 'em. They indeed DID freeze off!!

73 Ken

KT9E

Collett Park in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Here are links to pictures from our operation. http://lightning.qrp.com/~wd9eyb/eastside/fybo2006/

http://edspc.net/ginger/fybo2006.htm

We had one transmitter on the air, a Kenwood TS-440S turned down to 5 Watts. The antenna was a quarter wave vertical on 20 meters mounted in a Christmas tree stand. Our power source was the AC outlet in

the shelter.

We are entering in the multi operator - single transmitter field category. All QSO's were made by Ginger, WB9ZHC, but assisting was Jim, WD9EYB, Jim, K9VDQ, and Roy, KG9GN.

The air temperature was 31F but the wind chill was 22F. We operated from 1800 UTC to 2100 UTC. Ginger was willing to operate longer but others, me in particular, were starting to freeze up.

WW7LW

The first Saturday of Feb is the AzQRPions QRP Club's FYBO Winter Field Day contest.

FYBO is considered a huge event in the amateur radio QRP community.  2006 is the third year in a row that radio club members have taken to the field to participate.  Operating as WW7LW in 2005,  from Owen's Beach in Pt Defiance Park,  the WW7LW group won second place in the nation. 

Bad news in 2006.  High winds pummeled the area and the 5 Mile Drive (the route to Owen's Beach) was closed off.  This years location was a compromise location which consisted of two picnic shelters just north of the aquarium.  We were hoping to be near salt water again for the best propagation possible using 5 watts.

Chuck AC7QN and Rich KR7W set up their stations in the rain around 8:30 AM.  High winds made getting the antennas up difficult.  Once the stations were set up, the wet operators dealt with being wet and then cold.

A stroke of luck:  One shelter had AC power and it was still ON.  Rich brought his coffee pot and supplies and were able to drink down some warmth. 

Chuck and Rich operated until 3:15 PM.  The contest lasted until 4:00 PM. 

Chuck AC7QN

W5MSQ

Houston MosQRPitos

Houston, TX

51F

Final Score = 46 QSO Pts X 30 SPC = 1380 X 2 (Temp for 51F lowest temp)

= 2760 X 4 (Field Ops) = 11,040 Total Points

18AVS 20m Vertical

40m – 20m – 15m Stations

Ken N5EBD

Ed N5EM and Craig WD5BDX

Andy’s (W5ACM) 20m station

Henry W5HNS playing the K2

We had 3 stations, but only ran 2 at a time. Rigs included a Yaesu FT-817, Elecraft K2 and an Elecraft K1. We had dipoles for 40M and 20M, but also set up two 20M verticals for experiments during the event. The temperature at our lakefront operating position got up to 65F, but the wind was very brisk and it seemed much cooler. Otherwise, conditions were beautiful. We had lots of coffee, donuts and snacks. Andy W5ACM even brought along his recently refurbished Korean-War-vintage PRC-6 for some 6M entertainment.

Since winters are never THAT bad in South Texas (south side of Houston), this event is always fun and frostbite is not a problem! We had a small solar panel on the Yaesu station, but not on the other rigs, so no solar multiplier was taken.

Thanks for a GREAT QRP activity!!

72 de Andy MacAllister W5ACM

K7TQ

Island in Snake River, WA

Final Score = 26 QSO Pts x 16 SPC = 416 x 2 (Temp multi for 53F lowest

temp) = 832 x 4 (Field Ops) = 3,328 Total Points

Geoff, KC7QCS, and I operated from an island in the Snake River, WA downstream from Clarkston, WA. Our story is at http://mysite.verizon.net/rbfoltz/06fybo.htm and the other nine years of FYBO are at http://mysite.verizon.net/rbfoltz/fybos.htm

Randy K7TQ

W5BI

Ponderosa, NM

35F

SCORE: 14 x 13 x 4 x 2 x 4 = 5824

Operated at WA5WHNs ranch in Ponderosa, NM. Spent Friday night on-site, whence the temp dropped to +17F. However, the green chili stew Judy (WB5LYJ) provided kept us quite warm all night. Tough life sitting in my camper with windows open while Jay squatted on an old trash can behind his Chevy Peekup 50 yards away! Judy was content to whack weeds around the acreage all day, leaving Jay & me to concentrate on chasing fleas (flea-powered stations, that is). Temp was a heartwarming 35F at start of event. Couldn't resist playing tag-team with Jay. We worked the same station seconds apart several times. Was interesting getting different sig reports from 2 stations operating same power from same location. Jay was using his Buddy Pole clamped to the truck bed rail, and I had the short outbacker mounted on top of my camper. It loaded, but certainly didn't radiate much into the ether. Love the event, if only to have an excuse to get out of Dodge (ABQ?) for a day.

72+

Gary/W5BI

KC7QCS

Island in Snake River, WA

Worked with Randy, K7TQ, a hard act to follow! See Randy's story

at http://mysite.verizon.net/rbfoltz/06fybo.htm

Geoff KC7QCS

W5EET

FINAL SCORE 12 QSO points X 10 SPC = 120 X 1 (temp for 71 lowest)

= 120 x 1 = 120 total points.

I look forward each year to this event and normally operate in the field with the Houston QRP group, however this year I was recovering from surgery and was home bound. I ran 5 watts to a dipole antenna and it just wasn’t the same as operating in the field with the group. I am already planning for next year.

Thanks for a great event.

72 de

Mack W5EET

WD7Y

My 9th year for the FYBO, and as always had a wonderful time, working some old farmiliar calls. As in the previous years I was counting on adding more contacts in the final hour on 40M.

But that wasn't the case this year as 40M was filled wall to wall with RTTY. I did use a 85 ft. Random Wire this year, instead of the old Vertical.

Ed/WD7Y

AK7Y

Alpine, AZ

Hardly any snow this year making it easy to reach my favorite operating location above Hulsey lake just off the Forest Service road 56 on the way to Escudilla Mountain. Thanks for sponsoring another super-fun QRP test.

Greg, AK7Y

W8RIT

Michigan

We all had a lot of fun operating outdoors for a relief of cabin fever. The weather was overcast and rainy, but the temperature was just above the freezing point. Snow would have been preferred, but you take what you get in Michigan...if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes, it'll change.

73 W8RIT

Dave Edenfield

KK5NA
Arlington, TX

Worked FYBO during the meeting of the NORTEX QRP Club at my house. Dave NE5DL worked 8 contacts using my K2 into a dipole then later after the meeting I had a chance to get on while checking an antenna I was working on...I heard Dave< who was then working at his house and I worked him to add to the total.

Great Event!

72 Joe KK5NA

KK6MC/5

Gallisteo Dam Picnic Area, NM

16F!

The KK6MC final score for 2006 FYBO was 1,122,632. This is a new

record. The previous best was about 500k.

This breaks down by band and mode:

Band/Mode QSOs SPCs

80 CW 1 1

40 CW 57 17

20 CW 123 37

15 CW 33 20

40 SSB 3 2

20 SSB 31 11

15 SSB 4 4

Total 252 92

This is a lot of QRP contacts in one day. 20 M CW is the workhorse on FYBO, as it is with most QRP contests. We had a nice setup with Dave's camper, complete with solar power. But we had a fair number of 40 M contacts, which is one of the advantages of a multi-multi operation. The station is on all the time. With single ops, one often goes down to 40, doesn't hear much activity and goes back up to 20 M. With a station on all the time, you work him and hang around, calling CQ and seeing what shows up. The 80 M contact was with John K7UP, who worked us on 40 M and moved us down to 80 M. That worked well, so we should try it again this year with close in stations. Fifteen CW was a pleasant surprise with strong signals to the east coast. Mike and Mike did yeoman service on SSB QRP. There wasn't much SSB activity in FYBO, so they worked other contests. SSB QRP is always hard.

Twenty meters included some DX to Europe.

We worked NQ7RP for 10,000 bonus points

Score = ((252*92)*6*2*4) +10,000 = 1,122,832

Operators

KK6MC, AA5B, NN5K, W9YA, KE5AKL, KD5SHR

AC5ZO helped erect antennas, but did not operate

If you want to take part this year, let me know. Conditions will probably be similar to last year. This is a good way to get your feet wet in contesting, or to see how to set up a simple QRP portable station, complete with solar power, operate a few different rigs, and be at the sending end of a "big signal" in a QRP contest.

Photos from the operation are courtesy of KD5SHR.

Thanks for sponsoring the contest, we had a blast. - Duffey KK6MC/5

FYBO Sunrise in NM

Santa Claus (Duffey, KK6MC/5) in the center.

K2UD

Hunter’s Creek Park – Wales Center, NY

2w 25 Deg F

I ran my Norcal 40A, 2w, into a Gusher II dipole up 33’ (DK9SQ). Powered by a Suncharger USC-8 panel/regulator and camcorder battery. Only found Q’s on 40m. 20m was dead here. Beautiful park for hiking, snowshoeing, geocaching, and QRPing! CU next year!

Howard K2UD

K4KJP

Ft. Walton Beach, FL

54 Deg F

My very modest entry in FYBO from N.W. FL QTH. Had a great time in contest. Looked for new stations on 20m most of the time. Rig was a Sierra on 20m and a K2 on 15m. No 40m QSOs – stayed on 20m mostly.

73 Terry K4KJP

KD5MJJ

Lake Conroe, TX

58 Deg F

FT-817ND, internal AAs, 65’ CF Zepp, Ladder Line @ 20’ with wonder poles on shore of Lake Conroe, TX. Nice mild 58-70 Deg F day by the lake.

73 Hank KD5MJJ

N1QS

Northern Vermont QRP Society

31F

I finally finished going over the log and it looks like NVQS/ N1QS ran up a score in Multi-Single of 158,000+ points. This represents, 103 QSOs and 45 SPCs (we worked 31 states and provinces but the count by band is 45) plus the 10K bonus from NQ7RP. This is our best showing ever ... AND ... I am not the least bit ashamed of having recruited a ringer when I talked Seab, AA1MY, and his lovely wife Sharon into coming over for a visit on FYBO weekend! It was in the end still very much a team effort and we all worked , spotting, logging, holding the tent up in the wind storm, etc. Our own regular 'top fist' Fran, KM1Z, was inspired to new heights working with Seab, and I must say that logging for Seab my own copying speed got some great experience ... oohhh-rah!

The website has been updated with more narrative summary and some additional pix, plus the complete breakdown and complete log sheet.

<http://www.wulfden.org/NVQS/FYBO2006/>

 Thanks to John Stevens and his guys for this great opportunity ...
cheers ... 73 de brian riley, n1bq , underhill center, vermont

KJ5CI

Tahlequah OK

Here is my check log for FYBO2006. I was only able to operate for a small part of the contest. My rig was a K-1 with NeNeKe paddle to a Vern Wright MP-1 antenna on very dry hard ground. I used a 6AH gel cell and set up in my backyard. Had a lot of fun!!

Bill KJ5CI