WQ6X Floats a 3rd Field Day (FD) from Aeolian Yacht Harbor

Just prior to this Blog being written up, I received the sad news that the XYL of our club member (and former president) Bruce Gillis passed away after a protracted illness.  We will miss her spirit. 
A condolence board was created.  [CLICK HERE] to read that.

Radio Amateur's Field Day is a strange thing - it seems to be nearly a year off and then alluva
sudden it's June 1st and FD is only a handful of weeks away.  This year was no exception.  While
I miss doing Field Day from Mt. Abel, my 2nd favorite location is on WB6RUC's 42' sailboat that he docks in Alameda's Aeolian Yacht Harbor, JUST for the FD event itself.

Last year, I ran FD all alone from the yacht harbor, while other Amateur Radio Club of Alameda (ARCA) members made QSOs from their home QTH.  This year, another ARCA club member (KC2YOT** Roger) also moored his boat at the yacht harbor, so I didn't feel so quite alone. 
In the evening, with the radios turned down, the only sound to break the stillness of lapping
waves is the occasional vehicle driving across the bridge to/from Bay Farm Island.

As the Solar Flux begins its first of dozens of Up-Peak, each peak is often inevitably accompanied by a seemingly "sudden" downturn, repeating itself approximately 24 days later.  It is not unusual to be in the middle of a wide-open band, only to have "the bottom fall out"; actually, it's the TOP - solar BELCHes can transform a signal-reflecting ionosphere into a signal sucking sponge in a matter
of minutes.

Tuesday evening we were enjoying some AWEsome propagation worldwide on 20 (and even) 40 meters.  By noon on Wednesday, the SFI was back to where it had recently been - Ho Hum. 
By the time Field Day weekend happened, the only real GooD thing we could say is how quiet the geomagnetosphere was.  Unfortunately, what noise we were spared was compounded by the the electrical junk-noise from the corral of boats surround ours, even tho we were docked at the end of the pier - device RFI travels amazingly far.

Operator-wise, we were considerably short-handed this year (altho several club members visited the Aeolian wharf).  Roger (KC2YOT**) was our CW-only operator this year, making QSOs (as I recall) on 40, 20 & 15 meters in the daytime and 40-meters in the evening.  Zachary (W6AKE)  accounted for our VHF presence.  He e-mailed be a .JPG of his hand-logged logsheet.  After FD was over, I created a special N1MM environment and hand-typed the QSOs in, allowing us to include a Cabrillo file for those QSOs as part of the log submission.

During Field Day I LOVE operating as many bands and modes as I can.  This year certainly gave me the opportunity.  I ran the ICOM 7000 through a classic DENTRON JR. Monitor to the Butternut HF-2V vertical, which was tunable all the way down to 160 and up to 15 meters.  Onboard there is already a Sloper antenna from atop the mast down to a rear-boat insulated coax block.  Down below this wire connects to an SC auto tuner.  A manual coax switch allowed for instantaneous selection of the best antenna for EACH Qso.

The 337 QSOs doesn't include the dozen+ callers who kept repeat calling on each band.  If they had read the rules (the whut?) they would know they could work me only once per band-mode.  Because most repeat-callers were on SSB, I told them to look for me on CW on the half-hour.  You mean that Morse code thing?  Isn't that obsolete?  FD Cw QSOs are worth 2 Points while Ssb QSOs are worth only 1 point - you tell me.  

Now, my detractors will probably want to say I cheated; I looked it up in the FD rules - there is NO Rule declaring that EASY Buttons are disallowed in ANY ARRL radiosport contest.  

You've heard me say "When in Doubt CHEAT! (but within the rules)".  EASY Buttons are certainly within the rules, and even the Spirit of the rules.

The problem with REAL EASY Buttons is that they can either break, or the batteries can run down.  I solved this dilemma by developing a WINDOZE APP giving me all
the power and advantages of the desk-side button.

Last I checked, the essence of Field Day is to try out NEW Equipment, NEW Configurations, DIFFERENT operating locations & MORE Operating Modes.  "New" equipment often means old add-on equipment which still has use under emergency conditions; which is what Field Day is attempting to simulate.  Being radio-ready aboard a sailboat has all kinds of not so obvious advantages. 
Sounds like I should write a BLOG on JUST that topic - Stay Tuned Folks....

Meanwhile back on the boat...   my plan of operation was largely dictated by tracking the Solar-WX (as you saw above) in conjunction with massive amounts of calling CQ multiple-times per hour, noting the RBN Spots.  We brought a Internet HoT-Spot onboard the boat giving me access to all kinds of information, from which to boil it all down in a statistical-pot, creating magical powers enabling me
to know which band and mode I should be using at any moment in time - N  O  T.

In that I have a number of radio projects in various stages of needing to be completed, I've been delaying my BLOG-writing responsibility, leaving me with less to say about this year's event, compared to [2020] and [2019].  What that REALLY says is that for 2021, I've taken all that I have learned from the 2 previous FD operations at the Aeolian Yacht Harbor, enabling a near-flawless K6QLF operation, without loss of life/limb, radio/tuner, masts/antennas, sailboats or batteries.

Next year may well bring another nautical surprise.  Thoughts are already formulating in that direction.  DiD YOU participate in the 2021 Radio Amateur's Field Day? 
Is K6QLF in YOUR LoG?

** P.S. I JUST got word that Roger KC2YOT has been transformed in the K6QLF tradition
           into W6QLF - may his Left Foot survive the transition.