Field Day 2026
ARRL Field Day 2026 has come and gone, and I had a lot of fun. I did learn a thing or two as always, and unfortunately one of those take aways was an all too real slap in the face about the performance of my new-to-me Icom IC-703. You'll find a brief mention of this radio in my previous posting where I mention some of the rig's virtues. Today I'll highlighht a few of its shortcomings in the context of field day and contesting.
All in all, it was a very lovely weekend. I got some nasty dental work done on Friday, but Saturday was a pleasant drive through the land I used to (and perhaps internally still do) call home - up into southern Wisconsin. ARRL field day starts at 1800 UTC, so 1 PM central time. I began to scan 20 meters, since that was the only band my mobile antenna was capable of tuning, and found that on SSB I could not find a single frequency where I could only hear one station. Ah yes... I had forgotten that the IC-703 has an SSB bandwidth of something outragiously wide like 5 or 6 kHz. The radio only has the option for a single optional filter, and I have the 250 Hz CW filter installed. With that then in mind, I set my sights on making some CW contacts, and sure enough this proved much easier. Without any first-IF roofing filters or IF DSP functionality - the IC-703 still suffers from strong neighboring signals even with the narrow filter engaged, however I found this much easier to deal with than bilateral splatter from amplified SSB stations on a contest day.
Eventually, my ears for CW began to struggle, and I decided to call it a day. By this point I had reached my destination, and it was time to put on my summer camp hat. Sunday, I had a little time to get back on the air and this time I strung an end-fed random wire in a tree and played a little on 30 and 17 meters. The WARC bands being field-day free allowed me to use the EFRW antenna without the need to fudge my station class in the field day end of things, since I had been operating mobile before.
Now it's off to be a camp nurse for a week, so no more radio for me until next weekend. Lesson learned, the IC-703 is a fantastic QRP portable radio but an absolutely dreadful contesting radio. This of course, is practically printed on the brochure, but if I'm good at one thing it's selecting the wrong tool for a job. Oh well!
2026-06-28