Category: field operation

From my perspective as the captain of the 80/20/10 cw station, field day was a success. We had fun, made contacts, and nothing really went wrong. There’s always room for improvement, though, so looking forward to next year’s event, here are some thoughts…

What worked:

1. We had a very useful meeting a couple weeks ahead of FD to talk about antennas. We took the general plan laid out by the scouting committee and added some details and enhancements, trying to lock down where all of the supplies would come from, and how we’d go about setting up the station. Most of the people who came to that meeting participated in the setup and operation of the station. A short pre-FD team meeting is something I’d repeat.
2. We didn’t use inline bandpass filters, but I didn’t hear any complaints about interference, and we barely had any interference, even when we were working 20m at the same time as the SSB station.
3. Having a mast to support antennas near the station worked out well. The only lesson for next time is to balance the load in all directions so it doesn’t bend like a wet noodle.
4. Shade. It was a hot day, and being in the shadow of a big tree helped.
5. Lines in trees. Having the antenna plan in hand, we are able to shoot lines into appropriate trees even before we had all the equipment on hand and enough people to raise the mast.
6. The headphone breakout box was very helpful. We had at least two sets of headphones plugged in, plus the external speaker so onlookers could see what was going on.
7. We made use of all keying modes — via computer, paddles, and straight key. All should be enabled in future operations.
8. We went across the road with antennas. This worked out okay, with the actual crossing accomplished quickly, someone in the road to direct traffic, and someone to climb the tree on the far side to tie the antenna up out of the reach of park users. We managed the tree climbing part, but next year a ladder would be a good idea.
9. LAN. We were at the very limit of the available CAT5 cable. We had no problems at all with the LAN.
10. Logistics: We had no problems with parking, toilets, etc. Food was phenomenal.

What didn’t work:

1. The B2000 is not a great radio for S&P. It lacks a nice big knob. Next time, I’d use the Ten Tec Omni VII as the main station and leave the reserve radio in the car.
2. Folding chairs. The folding chairs were good, but a bit low relative to the table. I’m not sure what the solution is — lower tables, higher chairs? Also, next time: some lawn chairs so we can stretch out.
3. Sleeping arrangements. Next time, I’ll bring a separate tent for overnight camping, plus an extra sleeping bag and perhaps an air mattress.
4. Spotting radio. We had two radios set up, but consistent with operating as a 4A, we used on only for listening. We had hoped to use the receive-only radio for marking the band map to make S&P more effective, but found that by the time we switched bands, many of the stations had disappeared (either QSYd or were lost due to changing propagation conditions).
5. Beetles. Not sure what to do about them — we may have to live with them.

Lessons learned:

1. Even when everything is working right, the generator pauses every now and then, for instance, when it refuels. Not a problem for the laptops, but it caught me mid-QSO a couple times. Byron wasn’t affected. Why? Because he had a powergate on his radio, with a back-up battery. Even a small 12V battery can provide enough power to finish the QSO. The other advantage of the powergate is that the battery is charging when it isn’t in use.
2. A thermos of hot coffee would be a welcome addition.
3. N1MM: At one point, N1MM refused to key the rig because it saw that another station on the network was calling CQ. This was because the log was set up for “single station”, and was quickly corrected.
4. The 40/15 cw station was operated primarily by seasoned operators, which is entirely appropriate since it is the workhorse band for cw. Many of the operators of our station operated at lower speed or were not as familiar with contesting. Both in terms of fun and preparation for future contests, this was very worth doing. In strategic terms, though, thought could be given to running a fifth station for those times when another higher speed operator is available. This would be particularly useful during the next few years with higher solar flux, when 10m might be open. For most of the contest, we could have worked both 10m and 20m. The fifth station could also serve as “swing” considering that our antennas also would have worked 40 or 15m. The main constraint would be the number of cw operators.
5. Bring lots of rope early in the day. A couple long ones, e.g., 300+ feet, a bunch of 200 foot, and the rest can be 100 feet. At a minimum, the tower itself requires four guy ropes, plus additional ropes to haul up each antenna.
6. Next year, we should put signs outside each tent to identify the station, e.g. “80/20/10m CW tent”.
7. The tents are big enough to accomodate two tables plus operators. Next year, even if we don’t have a second radio in the tent, we should set up a second table for stuff. This will keep food, drinks, etc., away from the operating position.
8. It was a hot day. Whoever arrives early should bring some water, as it takes a while for the food/drink area to get set up.
9. Scheduling. There are a limited number of cw operators, and some operators require a mentor to ride shotgun. We were off the air from 3:30 to about 6:30 am on Saturday morning. Ideally, we would recruit additional operators to provide shorter shifts and reserve someone to cover the early morning hours.
10. Tags. I’m not sure everyone got back their own ropes and other odds and ends. Chances are that one rope is as good as another, but if we had some self-adhesive tags, we could label stuff as it is unpacked, and be sure that everyone gets their own stuff back.

For Field Day 2011, the Vienna Wireless Society fielded four HF stations, plus a GOTA, a VHF and a satellite station. As mentioned previously on the blog, planning for the event had started months before, and picked up speed in May. Somewhere along the way, I ended up as captain for the 80/20 cw station, which was quite a learning experience, never having participated in a VWS field day prior to this one.

We had a pow-wow about antennas and rigs a couple nights before the event, but the plan continued to evolve until spud guns started puffing around 2 pm on field day (when antennas were allowed to be erected). The centerpiece in our antenna arrangement was a 40-foot galvanized pole. To the west, an alpha-delta DX-EE was hung between a tree and the pole. To the east, an 80m OCF dipole was hung, with the long end crossing the road and suspended from a high tree. We were able to adjust the tension so those two antennas more or less balanced each other. To the north, we hung a home-made 40/20/15/10 antenna, and about 12 feet behind it on separate lines, we suspended a 20m reflector. Having no antenna to the south, the pole bent a bit towards the north once we got it up.

Raising the pole was an interesting affair, never having done this before. A stake was driven in at the base of the pole. Guy ropes were attached to the next-to-top-most ring. Two to the side of the antenna were set up as pivot points, with a forward and aft halyard as well. Carabiners were looped through the upper most ring to serve as pulleys for the antennas. The 20m reflector was drawn up through a large toroid knotted into the rope suspending the OCF. Consequently, when the whole thing was pulled up, it had about ten ropes hanging off it. Note to self: make sure that all the ends of every rope are either being held or are tied off. As soon as the mast went up, one rope went whizzing through the carabiner and the mast had to be lowered again to rethread it.

We checked each antenna with an analyzer and had to tweak the homebrew multiband, but once we got going, the antennas all worked really well. Mike K3MT started us off with some solar-powered contacts, powering Byron’s Ten Tec Omni VII from a lead acid battery that he had charged earlier. We then ran for quite a while on the Kenwood B2000.

I’m probably leaving out of a few people, but as I recall, quite a few people tried their hands either calling or running on 20m including Sheila and Mel, Hap, Dave, Deapesh, Ray (Albers), Kevin and a ham who was new to the area, Leon.

A couple days before FD, the solar flux was edging into the low hundreds, but there were some low grade solar disturbances. The ionosphere calmed down just in time for field day, and propagation was great. Ten meters was open throughout the afternoon and into the evening. Although the voice stations continued to work 10m into the late evening, I switched to 20m to take advantage of our “2 element beam” westward. While others continued to work 20m, I did a survey of 80m on the Ten Tec, and 80m also sounded good. At some point after midnight, we switched over to 80m and went up and down the band a few times. Deapesh and I wrapped up at 3:30am, but were relieved by Byron and Hap early on Saturday, as they continued to work 80m before the sun was up.

80m faded in mid-morning, and we were back to 20m for the rest of the event. On Saturday, there wasn’t much activity on 10m, and solar flux was already on its way down. Ron came by later in the day and worked as my logger, which was a real luxury. We lined them up and knocked them down in a solid run, which was satisfying.

Tear down went quickly, and I think I ended up with all the right equipment at the end. A few items need to make it back to their owners at the next meeting.

Some photos from Field Day, from… Linda (AC4LT) and Bernie (N4JDF)

Next post: What worked, and what I’d do differently next time for field day.

It’s about two weeks until Field Day. I’m captain of the 80/20 cw station, and I’m trying to pull together plans for the station. The club has done this event many times in the past, and there is plenty of experience to tap into, which is good, since this is my first time running anything at Field Day. Pete K6BFA is the top boss for the event, but there are a large number of people involved in logistics. A large chunk of the planning took place last month during a walk-through at the site, Burke Lake Park (see map of proposed station locations and antenna deployment). Due to work commitments, I was out of the area on that day, and on every weekend since then. Earlier today, I had a chance to scope out the site for myself. Tomorrow night, I’ve invited people who have signed up to work the station during the contest plus a few members of the planning committee over to my house to talk about antennas for the 80/20cw station, but I wanted to get the lay of the land before the meeting.

The present plan is relatively limited — to run a long wire antenna from a mast near the 80/20 station to a tall tree. It sounds like this would be reasonable for the 80m, although maybe not optimally high near the station end. I’m not sure it would work well for 20m. We have a number of other antennas available to us, plus a push-up 40-foot mast. Also, the station is near the spider beam, which is designated for the ssb station, but perhaps could be shared (?). In pow-wowing about antennas tomorrow night, my goals are:

1. Put up a single and reliable antenna so we are ready to go when FD starts.
2. Not interfere with the other stations.
3. Lay out a strategy for best use of our resources at different times during FD.
4. Incorporate any experimental suggestions that are not likely to interfere with #1-3.

I went to the site of the 80/20 station, and spun around, capturing the landscape around the site with my cell phone’s camera. The site is a bit lower then the surrounding area, and there is a slight grade upwards to the west. I am initially facing west. At 0:03 seconds, facing the non-40SSB. At 0:06, facing 40/15SSB support tree. At 0:09, facing the tall tree planned to support? the 80/20. Another potential support tree is masked in background at around 0:11 seconds.

I also took some still photos, thinking about trees that might make good antenna supports. Starting with the current plan, there is a really tall oak tree just across the road to the East, in the direction of the minigolf course. We could use a 40 foot mast towards the station end to give it some height. I counted 132 paces over to the tree, so something like 130 meters. According to the layout picture on google maps, the antenna is about 160 feet, and the support rope about 185 feet (but considerably longer in practice, since it has to go up to the top of the tree and the antenna wire will slope upwards, so not all of its run will contribute to the horizontal distance).

The advantage of this layout is that it should be dead simple to set up. An ICOM AH-4 antenna tuner would be at the tent, tied to a ground, and the single long wire would run up to the mast and then over to the tree.

A number of people have volunteers other antennas for the effort as well, including Ian N0IMB’s Buckmaster OCF dipole, my G5RV, or Byron W4SSY’s 80/20 fan dipole. Of these, the fan dipole may be the most attractive because it is resonant, and perhaps to least likely to interfere with other nearby stations. The difficulty with these antennas is getting the feed point near the 80/20 station.

There is another large tree to the South of the large oak, pictured above. On the aerial, the tree is just west of the run of three smaller trees near the road:

The other end of a dipole could be suspended from the large tree just up the hill from the station. According to the site layout, this tree would also support an antenna for the non-40 ssb station. The tree could be used to support a rope, so the two antennas would not be so near each other. Additionally, the two antennas would be near right angles to each other. This end of the antenna would also be near the spiderpole, though, so perhaps that would be a problem.

Looking eastward from the site of the non-40 ssb station, the “long wire” tree is to the left, and the tree proposed as the other end of the dipole is on the right in the background. Closer, the trees on the right are the site for the 80/20 cw station, so the dipole would run in a straight line past the station, requiring a 50-100 foot feedline if we played it right with the ropes on each end.

In addition to these antennas, Byron has volunteers the use of his 20-meter Moxon, which has been used several previous times at Field Day. John K4US has also made available a 40 foot push-up mast. We’ll have to figure out how to best use all of this equipment tomorrow night.

Guess I should get some soda and chips for tomorrow night…