How did folks do on Field Day this year?

Any good stories?

I participated at K3TU, in class 2A (+VHF/UHF). We made 949 QSOs (509
CW, 440 'phone). Condx were good (20 meter QSOs at 2 AM!) the weather
was tolerable and no major breakdowns. Saw lots of old friends and
made some new ones.

Just 363 days to the next one!

73 de Jim, N2EY

wrote:
How did folks do on Field Day this year?

Any good stories?

I participated at K3TU, in class 2A (+VHF/UHF). We made 949 QSOs (509
CW, 440 'phone). Condx were good (20 meter QSOs at 2 AM!) the weather
was tolerable and no major breakdowns. Saw lots of old friends and
made some new ones.

I participated at WB1NHL, which is our club call, in either class 1B or
1D: we had about a fifteen minute debate about which was the right
choice. The club president said that since we were hooked up to a power
outlet at the edge of an airport parking ramp, we were class "D", and I
decided that since we weren't at home, it must be class "B".

Since the prez was flying demos for the crowd there at the airshow, I
got to run the only rig by myself - thus the "1" part - and I also got
to try and figure out the very few and extremely complicated controls of
an ICOM rig the size of a paperback book, powered by box the size of the
congressional manual of ethics, and connected to a 20 meter dipole which
I was assured was a perfect match for the rig and didn't need the tuner.

I went to look at the dipole, and quickly realized it was a new type of
NVIS radiator: Not Very Intense Skywave. It was strung between the
tongue of a trailer hitch and a tent pole, averaging about four feet off
the ground: we did, to my surprise, make some contacts on 20 meter SSB,
but I attribute that to the reflections from the various aircraft
buzzing by at 200 knots.

I gave up on finding ways to delineate the various prefixes on the dup
sheet: I started out with nothing for "W", an underline for "K", a
circle for "WA", and a box for "WB". Over the course of the two days, I
went to single and double under- and over-lines for "KA", "KB", "KD",
and "AA", with a dash on each side for "N". For 1x1 special event calls,
I just wrote the whole thing.

I would much rather have done it on a laptop, and I have a nice one, but
it wasn't there, and the one that WAS there had a display so dim that it
couldn't have put a gleam in the eye of a black cat even if the feline
was looking to get lucky at midnight in the garden of good intentions
and evil static.

There were some high points: the last time I was out on field day, I
assembled a gallery of mosquitoes who took turns mapping my face into a
perfect copy of my acne-riddled high school Junior class picture. This
time, I came prepared, with a gallon of new age sensitive guy soft skin
insect distractor, guaranteed to gently persuade carnivorous
bloodsuckers that I wasn't their type without offending their
sensibilities at the same time it acknowledged their need for
sustenance, with the result that...

Nadda. Nothing. Not a one. None to be seen, none heard, no bites. I
never even took the cap off the bottle. So, with my complexion intact
and two logsheets filled, I come to the subject of - the tent.

If I had wanted to take a steam bath, I could not have designed a more
effective or better insulated cauldron than the tent I sat in during two
days totally, completely, absolutely without so much as a zephyr,
without a single hint of an intimation that a single molecule of air
could move.

It wasn't warm. It wasn't hot. It wasn't steaming (you need water for
that). It was an inferno that would have given Dante religion. It was
akin to the surface of a minor dwarf star. I gave up on the napkins and
my handkerchief, and just alternated between shaking my febrile head and
taking short sprints out the tent flap in an effort to outrun my own
sweat. At Twelve-thirty on Sunday, I threw in a towel that was so damp
it couldn't have dried a gnat.

I'd say I had a lot of fun, but I guess it's obvious. Next year, I'll
try CW.

73,

Bill W1AC

(Remove QRM from my address for direct replies.)

Jim wrote:
How did folks do on Field Day this year?

Any good stories?


Ain't it amazing how 10 and 15 meters are "open" when people get on
the air? I was working lots of short skip (sporadic E?) on both bands.

Art, N2AH

Art Harris wrote:
Jim wrote:
How did folks do on Field Day this year?

Any good stories?

Ain't it amazing how 10 and 15 meters are "open" when people get on
the air? I was working lots of short skip (sporadic E?) on both bands.

Yes, I noticed that. Somehow I don't think it's all the RF that causes
the ionization that makes the bands open.

I missed my club's FD operation for the second year in a row because I
was deployed by the Red Cross on a disaster operation. This year I was
assigned to a communications vehicle and used FD as the opportunity to
run my personal test of its ham radio capabilities. My goal was to make
at least one contact on each HF band, and I managed to hit 10, 20, 40,
and 80 but missed 15 (and in retrospect I wish I had tried the mobile
whip on 160). I didn't have much time but enjoyed the effort.

By the way, my answer to the question of whether FD is a contest, an
emergency-preparedness training activity, or a party is "yes". It's a
unique event with all of those attributes. Each is important. The
contest aspect provides an objective evaluation of the success of the
setup that is used, and the social aspect of the event builds important
relationships and motivates people to participate. There's no reason
that FD has to be one thing; it can fulfill several objectives at the
same time.

73,
Steve KB9X

Steve Bonine wrote:


By the way, my answer to the question of whether FD is a contest, an
emergency-preparedness training activity, or a party is "yes". It's a
unique event with all of those attributes. Each is important. The
contest aspect provides an objective evaluation of the success of the
setup that is used, and the social aspect of the event builds important
relationships and motivates people to participate. There's no reason
that FD has to be one thing; it can fulfill several objectives at the
same time.

I guess I'll disagree, mildly, because I'm concerned that some readers
might take the inference that the contest aspect of field day is an
_objective_ evaluation of emergency-preparedness. To be sure, it's an
evaluation of the hardware and antennas and operator skill, but being
prepared to contribute in a disaster takes more than having a radio and
antenna.

Field day is, and should be, a reminder that hams who are preparing to
help in disasters must plan every detail _before_ they need to be
effective, and must put that planning into practice several times
_before_ it's needed. It's important to be a competent operator, but I
don't feel that contest scores, per se, show who'll be the most
organized beforehand, or who will be best-able to multi-task, tolerate a
lot of ambiguity, juggle priorities, and suffer abuse from public
officials and the served agencies, without losing their cool or making
too many mistakes.

Contesting is about scoring. Disaster preparedness is about putting your
ego on a shelf and being willing to deal with boredom, long waits, and
assignments that are far from the TV cameras, very far from the flush
toilets, and nowhere even close to the hot food or the TV lights or the
glory.

73,

W1AC

--
Bill Horne

(Remove QRM from my address for direct replies.)

Bill Horne wrote:
Steve Bonine wrote:

By the way, my answer to the question of whether FD is a contest, an
emergency-preparedness training activity, or a party is "yes". It's a
unique event with all of those attributes. Each is important. The
contest aspect provides an objective evaluation of the success of the
setup that is used, and the social aspect of the event builds
important relationships and motivates people to participate. There's
no reason that FD has to be one thing; it can fulfill several
objectives at the same time.

I guess I'll disagree, mildly, because I'm concerned that some readers
might take the inference that the contest aspect of field day is an
_objective_ evaluation of emergency-preparedness. To be sure, it's an
evaluation of the hardware and antennas and operator skill, but being
prepared to contribute in a disaster takes more than having a radio and
antenna.

When I chose the word "objective", I realized it was a stretch. I was
trying to say that the contest aspect helps to evaluate success in how
well the radios and antennas work. It's "objective" only in the sense
of being slightly better than "seems like things worked better this year
than last year." And it's just an indication of how well the hardware
works, not of the overall effectiveness of the group that's running it.

Field day is, and should be, a reminder that hams who are preparing to
help in disasters must plan every detail _before_ they need to be
effective, and must put that planning into practice several times
_before_ it's needed. It's important to be a competent operator, but I
don't feel that contest scores, per se, show who'll be the most
organized beforehand, or who will be best-able to multi-task, tolerate a
lot of ambiguity, juggle priorities, and suffer abuse from public
officials and the served agencies, without losing their cool or making
too many mistakes.

I agree that FD scores don't correlate with success in an actual
disaster. In fact, setting up an HF station and operating it using
emergency power is unlikely to be an actual part of disaster operations
these days. On the other hand, Field Day does provide training in
multitasking, ambiguity, priorities, dealing with media, and general
problem solving. Many skills that are useful in an actual disaster are
exercised in a FD operation; the most important being the ability of the
local group to work together to get things done.

Field Day, by itself, won't prepare a group for disasters. But a group
that is doing things right -- ongoing training, drills, and planning --
will benefit by participating in the FD operation.

Contesting is about scoring. Disaster preparedness is about putting your
ego on a shelf and being willing to deal with boredom, long waits, and
assignments that are far from the TV cameras, very far from the flush
toilets, and nowhere even close to the hot food or the TV lights or the
glory.

The point I was trying to make is that Field Day is more than a contest.
There is a contest aspect, and it draws people who are avid contesters
and treat it as nothing more than a contest; you can work FD from home
in exactly the same way that you work SS or any other contest. It's
also a training event, and draws people who are interested in emergency
preparedness. And it's a social event and draws people who want to sit
and chat with their buddies, but have no interest in getting on the air.

Field Day provides an opportunity for the insular groups to mix. The CW
bigot might pick up a microphone. The VHF-only ham gets exposed to HF.
The new ham who has never been in a contest learns how to operate one.
The guy who only came to gab with his friends and hasn't been on the
air for years gets on the air. The friend/relative who is visiting is
exposed to ham radio. And everyone has a good time.

Emergency preparedness has many aspects. Building the general expertise
and camaraderie of the local ham radio group makes it more effective if
it's ever called upon in a real disaster situation.

73, Steve KB9X

N2EY wrote:
How did folks do on Field Day this year?

Any good stories?

I participated at K3TU, in class 2A (+VHF/UHF). We made 949 QSOs (509
CW, 440 'phone). Condx were good (20 meter QSOs at 2 AM!) the weather
was tolerable and no major breakdowns. Saw lots of old friends and
made some new ones.

Just 363 days to the next one!

73 de Jim, N2EY

... Class: 2E
... Ops: N7MCG (Phone), WA7PRC (CW)
... Phone QSOs: 137
... CW QSOs: 315
... 100% Emergency Power + Message to Section Manager bonuses
... Rigs: TS120S (CW) and TS130S (Phone)
... Antennas: 80m cage inverted vee, 40/15m dipole, halfwave 20m vertical,
Cushcraft A3S yagi
... Power Source: 4 x Group27 wet cells in parallel (320Ah)

Not the best effort (total points: 1734) but I had fun operating at home for
a change, with my longtime friend Evan N7MCG. We used my 'little' FD
battery pack to run the rigs -- adequate power was NOT an issue. 40m was by
far the payoff band for CW; 20m produced the most Qs on phone. 15m produced
only a few Qs. 10m was d-e-a-d when I checked periodically. I finally got
the Rigblaster Pro to work w/o RFI (Evan was happy to not have a hoarse
voice afterward).

vy 73 es gud dx,
Bryan WA7PRC