1. Does anyone have ground rod we can pound into the dirt and the appropriate type wire? Can someone be responsible for grounding the equipment at our FD site?

1) The equipment at the field day site in the work shed will all be grounded to central point.  An underground metal water pipe.  At least that is what we have done in the past...

2. Need a battery/power supply for my new IC-7300--unless the group considers it okay to use my Powerwerx power supply that will require commercial power. Who has a battery to lend to the FD effort? It needs DC 13.8V/25A (Capacity at least 21 amps).  I am just trying to set up this rig on my shack desk and figure out how to run it. I have not had time to order a field battery. My 2 Bioennos were acquired for my 15 watt rig and are insufficient for the 7300.

2) I built a Buck Step Up Converter that takes 12 volts DC from my battery and increases it to the 19 volts DC that my laptop requires.  I would stay away from inverters they are very RF noisy.

3. Who can bring up a laptop with N1MM software installed for logging at the IC-7300 GOTA station?

I will also be needing commercial power for my laptop for the KX3. Its internal battery does not work, even with a brand new one. So, I think our category is firmly A-Commercial. We were A-Commercial last year, I believe. It has all my logging and FT-8 software installed, so a swap is definitely not feasible.

To reiterate, I plan for the IC-7300 to be a SSB station running up to 100 watts for our GOTA station, unless someone wants to supply an amplifier to bump us up to the max allowed 150 watts AND configure the rig with it.

3) The plan was for the club to run all barefoot.  No Amplifiers.  That way we are less likely to interfere with the other stations (including mine) at the site.

I am happy with Dan's offer of an antenna. I welcome others, as well. 

(Yesterday at Beaver Lake Park, my KX3 using 10 watts on my 20-meter vertical elevated to a height of 34 feet at top heard THE WORLD in FT-8 sub-mode. Bringing my laptop using commercial power I believe I can run FT-8 using the same setup for all to enjoy. I will be logging that station directly into N1MM.)

3. For anyone wanting to run CW, you can use my KX3 in CW mode. It has a built-in keyer. Or bring your own paddle. ( I have a solar battery to run the KX3 plus a spare for night-time).

(IC-7300 owners: I am confused by the key jack in the back of the rig. It is so BIG, too big for the connection from my paddle. Can you please give me some advice?)

3) Traditionally all keys used the 1/4" phone jack.  Just like all stereo's headphones. Hence the jack on the 7300.  Nowadays, it's more common to use a 2.5mm jack.  But tradition is a hard thing to break...  You can use a 1/4" to 2.5mm reducer on the 7300 to bring it up to a more modern configuration.

4. I need to know who is spending the night and interested in keeping the radios running?

7300 owners and other experienced licensed ops general and extras: please be prepared to be station control for the GOTA station. 

Tnx and 73,

Robin, WA7CPA