Field Day 2015 - QRP with the Yaesu FT-817 in the Pouring Rain 

Hi Tracy! I stumbled on this video in my RU-vid queue this morning and really enjoyed it. I used my 817ND in the RAC Winter Contest last weekend, having reminded myself of some tips in your “Optimizing the 817ND for Contesting” video. I used my day hiking gear - my internal Windcamp battery, a 40-10m inverted vee, and a 6m mast. In about two hours I made 16 contacts from the banks of the Fraser River here in Langley. They stretched from Thunder Bay, ON, to Fairbanks, Alaska and then south to Los Angeles. When I hit the gray line I was thrilled to come ever-so-close to an Argentinian contact - he couldn’t;t get the last letter of my call sign. For 5W of power I got a month’s worth of happiness!! 73, VA7SGY

This is by far my favorite radio. I also have the 857D. I get more satisfying feeling for so,e reason making contacts with 5 or less watts. I always always always give QRP traffic priority

QRP is such an amazing endeavor. I absolutely love how you unite the outdoors with amateur radio. Great video. Great content. Subscribed.

Enjoyed the video. Just ordered my first ham radio, Yaesu FT-817ND, today. Ordered all three FCC license books as well as CW training materials last week and hope to be on the air with my first license in the next month. Origianlly started getting into ham some 16 years ago and was prepping for CW and tech when life threw me a curve ball. It's been a long time coming but am excited and was overjoyed to find your video's and working the contacts. Thank You Sir, and keep up the good work. 73

Well done video Tracy. There’s no doubt the weather and less than stellar band conditions added to the challenges for many stations during FD, especially for QRP and you made the best of it and hung in there. I worked as AG6AU-7A-SV on 10 meters low power and pretty much everyone was down in the noise but I managed to log 43. I had a great time practicing my weak signal skills (RX and TX). Dave K6KNS

I have been a qrper since 1976 still having fun with it. I wish more people would get on the qrp frequencies.

Nice video Tracy. I've worked 29 of the past 30 FD's. I missed one year when my Son graduated from U.S. Army Boot Camp. I've worked a few QRP Battery/Solar Panel CW FD's in the past with my Heathkit HW-9. The majority of the FD's I've worked with my local club running 40 watts from a Elecraft K2 pushing 50 watts through a G5RV dipole. 2016 I plan to work QRP with another club, Northeast Ohio QRP Club. Glad you had a good experience with QRP on Field Day. I worked 3 - four hour shifts, mostly on 40 meters and a few contacts on 20 meters. The other bands were dead every time I checked. My CW had almost 2 hours to erect the antenna and then solid rain from just before start time on Saturday through half an hour after end time on Sunday. Glad I brought long pants to wear for the night shift as the temperature dipped down quite a bit Saturday night. Your videos are enjoyable. 72, Terry, KB8AMZ

Fantastic videos. Just bought FT-817ND, ordered end fed antenna. Your videos an encouragement.

Bravo! A valiant effort sir! I did not venture outside in that driving rain.

Well done Tracy. QRP has opened up a whole new world to you. I would suggest you invest in a headset w/mic. That will eliminate the background issues. Remember the one I used at Field Day? The Heil Pro5. 73, Paul, VE3EBY.

Great video.I also worked Qrp cw during 2015 FD.I only worked 3 or four hours and made 90 contacts.Also worked mostly 40 meters.Also worked east to west coast.Was using a Icom IC703 at 5 watts and butternut vertical.I see you worked our call W3LIF. It is fun doing it the hard way.Keep up the good work. Ron KA3WEL

Great video, Tracy-a work of Art! You captured the true spirit of field day, persevering through the loud rain noise with the 817 and QRP. I really like my 817 and find it to be a real workhorse. Thanks for sharing. That antenna MUST be special. 73 de Rick, WB3BIQ.

I love this. Rain, radio and coffee. What could be better?

Great video! You overcame the obstacles which were noise from the rain, low power and poor band conditions. Congratulations, you did great! Thanks for sharing. 73 from VE3QJ

Really enjoyed this video, camping ⛺️ and QRP...love it👍🏻

I'm new sub on your channel. I'm getting a ft817 like your next week. I'm happy to have found your channel. I plan to learn a lot from you. Hope you will do a long video for 2016 field day. Thanks ,Fred.

You did very. The propagation conditions were pretty poor this year. You made your QSOs via SSB so that was another obstacle to overcome with 5 watts and poor prop. Let us know how your batteries held up.

Good stuff. I had a ft-847 and ft-817 at our field day and has a blast testing different antennas and setups. QRP is so much fun. It's great to get the contact with all these pilups and how busy the bands are on field day. The conditions were poor too with the solar activity. All that rain was a nightmare!! Good video, good luck, hope to talk someday on the air. VA7GTE

Haha! No one could get your callsign right! Great video.

Great video and shows what can be achieved. I have just taken delivery of my 817ND and although not deployed it in anger yet, I take great hope from your video that I will be having lots of fun with it. Many Thanks de M6KVK

An excellent video. One thing I do find is that /P with a FT817ND is a lot like jumping into fly fishing when one doesn't have prior experience of it, especially if you're a UK foundation licence or intermediate licence holder. When the bands are good and with the correct antenna (preferably without an ATU), you will do well. 40m worked all corners of the UK from Lands End to John-O'groats and deep into Europe, while 20m I've worked Asiatic Russia, Svalbard, and New York using a simple linked dipole and fibreglass collapsible mast that's about 25ft in an inverted vee configuration on my local hill. Sometimes you're not believed with your signal reports either with such low power. Great fun. Keep on QRP'ing! 73 de M6GOF

Awesome video showing QRP operation there Tracy. You did a find review on the capability of the FT-817. It's a great little radio. 73's from N1TZU...Bob.

Well done - I wish more stations working pileups would take a moment to call for QRP/mobile stations only - That's how I got Japan and Sweden on 5w SSB out of California - So many 1000 watt plus operators blowing out the bands... But I still love QRP and it's all I do now. 72 my friend! de AB6YA

Very good job Tracy! Good operating skills as well as a good demo of what QRP can do! Low power phone is definitely not easy so well done! 73, K3DY

Love videos like this! Keep up the great work. I think we worked the same W3AO station as that voice sounded familiar on 20m.

I tested my 450D for power draw and I calculated that I'd need to haul 20 kg of batteries to get decent run time even at low tx power. That's why I'm getting rid of that radio and a new 817 is coming in the mail :) I don't care about audio quality, noise cancellation and fancy filters, all I want is to go trekking with my radio and making contacts up in the mountains! :)

Informative video with excellent material from Field Day 2015.

Way to go Tracy! Congratulations on what looked like a fun Field Day. Now that is Amateur Radio! I use LifePO4 batteries; smaller than the SLA and something I would recommend should you do your backpacking. I've always enjoyed watching your videos. You're a real amateur radio operator in the truest sense of the word. All you need now is operation on the best mode........CW.... of course! hihi I look forward to your next video Tracy, 72/73 de VA3YG Brent

Thank you for this video. This has definitely sparked my interest in QRP

Thank you for the best field day video I've ever seen! This was a REAL field day effort. Why? No trailered in crank up towers. No generators. No class 50A category. Add in the rain- and it makes it even that much more real. Congrats Tracy! One question: was that a ThinkPad doing your logging? What logger do you use? My ThinkPad runs Mint Linux, and I use CQRlog. Keep up the fun! We all loved it :)

One common criticism of the 817/818 relates to the audio quality of the supplied MH31 microphone, and a good mic is pretty important for QRP operation. There are various mods on the web suggested for the MH31.

Good video and field day op! I am part of W9LDX club station, thx for scrolling the callsigns and thx for the QSOs.

Tracy, like so many others have said, good job under less than ideal condx. That must have been tough in the rain. Couple of recommendations: head phones will cut out a lot of the rain noise and, try running a non-resonant dipole fed with 300 ohm or 450 ohm ladder line. It's really low loss and if you can shoot a couple of ropes into the trees and get the antenna up about 50-80 feet, you'll work all over. But a great start! 72 de K6WHP

I have watched this video a number of times. With field day around the corner I am watching again. Trying to decide if I want to operate QRP.

Great video Tracy! I was truly impressed by the FT-817's performance! I plan on having one hooked up with solar panels to charge a large battery for next year's Field Day. Speaking of FD, I used this year's event to upgrade to General Class! Immediately after passing the exam I went out to the field next door and used the GOTA set up (on 15 meters, no less!) to make some contacts via the local ARC station (3A WWA). I had never done FD before and am excited to try it with QRP next year! Thanks for the video showing us that it CAN be done QRP! de N7SMT

Wow! As a fairly new subscriber, I decided to look at some of your earlier videos. I came across this one. You certainly had challenges, QRP with a steady, noisy rain. I think you did very well! Did you put the tent up before the rain? Did you take it down in the rain? In my book, anyone who promotes portable (outdoors) radio is OK in my book! 👍👍👍

Thank you for sharing! I'd love a report on how your batteries performed and how long you could operate on done if your smaller batteries...I'd also love to see your antenna that you were using but not able to show us due to the weather. Great video! Thanks so much for putting that together. I really appreciate the effort.

Nice job Tracy. Thanks for sharing this great video. Looks like a lot of fun and very challenging. W2MSA

Excellent Video and coverage of the experience. Top Job G1JXI

I'm surprised you didn't bring a big duvet with you to put over you to muffle the ambient noise. Stay warm, comfortable and kill the noise, 3 birds 1 stone :)

It's a wonder that ur tent didn't float away, great effort. M6wid 73

Thanks for sharing. Great job and lots of patience!!

Fantastic! Nice work!

You have more patience than I do!

Very awesome video and great job.

Brilliant sir great work

Thanks Tracy for the enthusiasm and inspiration! I'm waiting for an eBay Ft-817 purchase to arrive in the mail. I'm hoping to operate from my sailboat this summer on the coast on the CT/RI border. I have a 35' mast I can haul an antenna up... do you recommend a HyEndFed as the best solution for general HF operating with the FT-817?

If you're using the standard MH31 mike with your 817, it doesn't drive these radios very well - sounds muddy and generally is a very low grade item - try the Yaesu MH59 keypad mike, as well as having far far better audio it reproduces many of the rig functions on its keypad. when your TX power is way low like on the 817 you need every added point possible - and the best thing to do with that original mike is stick it in the reserve drawer. Mine came with my 857d and gave disappointing results straight away. Can underscore your antenna choice, for portable ops I have the 4 band lightweight longwire from Ron at Hyendfed in Amsterdam - no tuner needed for 40/20/10 - (15m is a bit too high for no tuner) It's extremely effective once you get it elevated as high as possible - mine goes up 40ft at the far end and 17ft at the coax junction.

pissing down there mate, and i thought Scotland was wet ! lol

Hello ! I'm a newb ! Got my Technicians and General license at the same time and few months back. I had to take the challenge and started with QRP. I got the 817 too. I contacted Hyend, waiting to hear back. You have inspired me to get at it. I am worried about blowing my finals ! I read that operation with low batteries could do it. I also read that a spike or non resonant antenna could do it ? A clap of thunder or lightning as well as other ways it can happen ? Love the tent setup ! I have a 12 man three room. Be awesome for this ! How are you charging your batteries ? I've heard that you had to baby NIHM ? I'm looking for solar charging options. Thanks for the kick in the butt, Curtis in Kentucky ! SEMPER FI

Yeah, been watching your videos ! Good stuff ! I found a guy on eBay 3D printing a DC plug restraint ! LMK if you want more info, thanks, Curtis P.S. Did you ever try an auto tuner in taking consideration of the finals ?

Very good doing FD in a heavy down pour.You also seem to have a nice tent,good size,/ Can you give some information on the tent? If it holds up under that heavy rain it must be good. Nice cozy setup :-) BOB AF2Q

Tracy I thoroughly enjoyed your video. Some helpful tips my friend.. Set the SSB Mic gain to 70, my 817 audio is clean upto 70 when tested on a scope and it gives more punch to the audio. Timing is everything with QRP so in a pile up call QRP before your call and after too sometimes, this doubles the chance of the other station picking out "QRP!". Big stations will pull you out if they hear QRP!!. Check some of my video's and you will see. Keep up the great video's.. 73's .. Mark .. 2e0vov

Great video. I would have been exhausted. 73 kc8jtg.

Seems like a lot of fun Thanks for sharing

As weird as it sounds I've always wanted to do a field day just like you did. 73 George KA2QYA

Tracy - really enjoy your videos - I'm an avid QRPer too - several rigs now and over the years. Question - what do you use to record your RU-vid viseo and audio? 72 Dan VA3MA

Was trying to count the states in your credits, 24 or 25 something like that? Not bad half the states working qrp

W6YX was Stanford University Amateur Radio Club. Very much impressed, I'm going to buy a FT817ND and make an attempt with an Elmer at a QRP... What did you use for cable and for your antenna on Field Day?

When you are operating QRP, it is not in good form to add /QRP to the end of the call. If signals are weak, lots of time all they get is the /QRP and miss the rest of the call. When they ask for the call, adding the /QRP just adds to the confusion.

I find that sometimes saying Mexico instead of Mike can help when the other end cannot copy.

does using the select knob on the 817 not put an undue strain the radio?

Great video. Love this experiment. Can you list links to the batteries and antenna that you used?

cw will get further with less power, also headphones/ buds save power by not having to power the speaker. I do qrp on field day ssb and cw...nice video de ne4am

I like it....whoo hoo!

new subscriber !!! great fun in qrp contacts. congratulations. I wonder what are that code you use (1bgta) ??? we're did you got it? 73 pu2fuz

Great video! What antenna and tuner are you using?

I liked it, very lightly and it works nicely in your QRP station. de 4L5P Amiran from Georgia, bes 73 Bye.

Inspiring.

thank you. hot damn enjoyable! ;)

Awesome video !! 73s K4TEP

I have no idea what this is all about? sounds like a Nam movie soundtrack, lol. Much diff from Mili Comms in the British Army. Good fun though. ATB Moose Down Under.

Hi,just great watchen the video you are areal amateur,i also have a yaesu ft 817,the amateur radio family,73s from,N.Ireland

Why do people say 'QRP at the end of their call???? Just makes for more confusion. Leave the QRP off.

good video. RAIN ... to bad

who is on your Right?

Stop saying QRP. It confuses the DX.

Typical Field Day weather then!

Heres what it looked like in the W8MRM 40 meter tent. The same pouring rain, with wind gusts up to 40 MPH; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jUQUzUZGkQA.html

Try the vk3 ye mic mod kg6mn

It was difficult to discern your call sign. Too much phonetic’s. Stick to call sign with NATO