Field Day 2026

For Field Day 2026, W4BXC operated for the first time with two transmitters (2A SC): the TS-480SAT, and an Elecraft K2.

A 66 foot long end fed half wave QRP antenna was assembled for the K2 and set up in an inverted V configuration with the center supported by a 8-ish foot long 2×4 zip-tied to a fence post putting the top of the antenna about 12 feet in the air.

The K2 was operated by Jason as the CW station while I was on the TS-480 doing SSB, both operating off battery power. The K2 ran the whole day pretty easily on 2 7Ah former UPS batteries, and the TS-480 was on a new deep cycle marine 109 Ah battery (the three batteries that were used for previous Field Days died sometime over the past winter).

The Morgan Systems 20m and 40m band pass filters purchased from KF7P did an excellent job keeping the two radios from interfering with each other.

This year we finished Field Day with a total of 162 QSOs, 80 on CW and 82 SSB contacts. Not as many phone contacts as last year but thanks to Jason operating CW, 39 more total contacts than the previous year. Bonus points were claimed for being on emergency power (200 points), me acting as safety officer (100 points), and online submission (50 points). By my count, W4BXC’s total score should be ((80*2) + 82)*2 + 200 + 100 + 50 = 834 points.

Band (MHz)	CW	Phone
7	28	52
14	28	30
21	22
28	2
Total	80	82