Marine Deep Cycle Battery charged up fine to about 13.32VDC. Not quite the 13.8VDC the TS-520 manual specifies, but I figure it will work. The radio has been tried with the battery on both receive and transmit and there is some degradation in voltage after a period of time, even while on the charger, but I do believe it will be adequate. The CW sidetone sounds warbly, but CW stations I've contacted seem to think it's got a good tone, so I'm ready!

Found a Marine Deep Cycle Battery in the ham shack. It was bone dry of water (this IS Tucson, after all!). I filled it up with water and hope that it will hold a charge, but I'm not going to count on it. It is in testing as I write. My backup will be the car battery.

After attending the June CRC meeting, I am revising my plans based on the following. It was stated at the meeting that FD starts at 11am MST, and runs 24 hrs. While it is actually a 27 hr contest, only those that don't start setting up until Sat 11am MST Field Day Start will get to operate the full 27 hrs (minus the time it takes to set up). I think that many other ops will set up Friday, and of course everyone will want to start ASAP at 11am MST Saturday! So, I reason, there probably won't be a lot of activity after 11am Sunday. I am revising my plans to help set up FD in the field, but I will not be joining the clubs on Sat because I will start operating at 11am like everyone else.

I am pursuing the "Worked All States " (WAS) Award, and I see Field Day as a ripe opportunity to contact a lot of states that I need. In my wildest dreams, I could even work all states during the FD operation itself! So ... I will be operating from home this year, the first year I have operated FD from this home.

KE7DX tentative plans:

Prior to Friday, 6/27, set up emergency power at home:

• Cabling from 2005 Scion xB (outside) battery to Kenwood TS-520 in the ham shack not needed. The deep cycle marine battery that I found in the ham shack charged up fine and will be utilized.
  
• Ensure car battery charger is available, if necessary.
  
• (Optional) Test length of time that car battery can be used for ham activities and still start. Not needed. The deep cycle marine battery that I found in the ham shack charged up fine and will be utilized.