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Inevitably each year the debate over just what is Field Day erupts in club meetings, on the air, and in Internet forums.  One side calls it a contest while the other classifies it more as a casual operating event.  I can argue this both ways, but regardless of which side you’re on one of the objectives of Field Day is simply to make contacts.  If you consider Field Day a contest, more contacts means a higher score.  If you’re in it as just a casual operating event, making more contacts is naturally more fun than making less.  Here are some tips for making more QSOs, not only during Field Day, but really any operating event or contest:

The other station knows his callsign.  The only time you should say or send the other station’s call is when you are calling CQ and giving the other station his report.  A possible exception to this is if you’re replying to a CQ and there are multiple stations on the frequency calling CQ.  Otherwise, sending the other station’s call is unnecessary and it just wastes time.  It often messes up CW operators calling CQ because they’ll start typing the first callsign they hear.  Once they realize it’s their own call coming back, they have to backspace and type in your call.

Adjust your syntax based on the number of stations you have piled up.  If things are slow going, you can be more generous with the verbiage.  If you know you have a pileup going, be more sparse so you can turn around the QSOs more quickly.

Hold your ground on a frequency.  If you have had the frequency for a long time and a LID pops up on your frequency or nearby causing interference, just hold your ground and it’s likely that they will go away shortly.  Often I’ll make longer CQ calls or do a string of QRLs or say “the frequency is in use” and they’ll get the message.  When operating QRP this strategy may not work so well and QSYing may be your best bet.

Switch between CQing and search-and-pounce.   Often people will pick one over the other.  I tend to favor CQing as much as possible and then switch to search-and-pounce periodically to scan the band and harvest QSOs from those calling CQ who haven’t worked me yet.  Keep an eye on your QSO rate while you’re CQing and watch for declines; this is your cue to go into search-and-pounce mode.

Use phonetics when it makes sense and use standard ones when you do.  Much has been said about the use and abuse of phonetics, but there’s a reason there are standard phonetics.  They have the most clarity and are less apt to be confused with other letters over the air.  Cutesy phonetics can be problematic and actually aggravate the problem phonetics is supposed to help.

Make good use of air time.  If you didn’t get a station’s full callsign, you don’t need to give them a 30 second monologue on how you didn’t get their callsign, what letters you exactly heard, and the five combinations of letters you think their call might be.  Just say ‘again?’ and they’ll repeat their call.  The same goes when you have a messy pileup.  Just say ‘again?’  or if you were able to pick out one letter of a callsign, say that letter so you can thin out the pack and get a full callsign.

Series Four Episode Fourteen of the ICQ Podcast has been released. News Stories include :-

• Radio Ham gets National Security / Technology role
• UK Southern 80m news readings to cease
• Comments to RSGB
• New callsign suffixes for New Zeland Amateurs
• VHF interference problem solved
• Near-vertical incidence skywave measurements published
• West Yorkshire Repeater Group to go digital
• Limerick 2m repeater vandalised
• VK3RDD repeater
• VHF WSPR beacon from EA1
• Youngsters On The Air
• Malpas pupil takes to the airwaves
• Converting a computer PSU into a bench PSU
• Distance learning advanced exam

Your feedback, Austrialian report from Ed Durrant (VK2ARE) and Chris Howard (2E0CTH) reviews WSPR.

I’m not shy about expressing my opinion if I feel that I’ve been wronged by a company or product. Amateur Radio operators are the ultimate social network. Hams talk — quite literally. If you market a product or service to hams, you must be prepared to have every aspect put under a microscope. If you create poor products, or don’t stand behind them, you had better be prepared to find another line of work. While I can think of a couple of examples in our hobby where crappy companies continue to survive, it is mostly due to the lack of a suitable replacement. While I’m quick to complain, I’m also quick to offer up well deserved praise.

Enter Smiley Antennas. I’ve been buying their products for many years. They are well constructed, high quality, and customer service is always top notch. If you’ve never purchased one of their antennas for your HT, I believe that you are really missing out. In fact, whenever I buy a new or used HT, the first thing I do is throw away the stock antenna and replace it with a Smiley. Their 270A Dual Band antenna is small, sturdy, and really makes a big difference, especially when I’m trying to hit those distant 440 machines. In my opinion, it’s the best $22 you can spend to improve your signal.

I recently had a need for a customized HT antenna for a very specific application. Within a week of ordering it, I had it at my door. A custom HT antenna built to order. Incredible.

I couldn’t recommend this company more. Check them out at http://www.smileyantenna.com or you can call them at 1-800-527-5439.

It’s always a pleasure to recognize publicly a company that goes above and beyond.

These last few days have been surreal. I don’t feel like a man with a time bomb in my head. I’m still weak, tired and find concentration difficult (the ability to get some decent sleep would help) but every day seems to bring an improvement in many functions. I’m even typing more accurately than I’ve done in a long time. I suppose it’s possible this brain tumour was having an effect on things before I even became aware of it.

I’m far from feeling up to spending a lot of time on the hobby (or anything else in particular) but my mind still needs things to occupy it and my links and contacts with the ham radio community help lift my spirit. As I’m not using my magnetic loop antenna I thought I would connect up the 30m QRSS beacon I built last autumn. So my callsign will be going out over the airwaves as a sign that I’m down but not out and not giving in to the doctors’ pessimistic predictions.

I’d appreciate reception reports direct to my email (julian . g4ilo at gmail . com). At the moment I can’t make head nor tail of grabbers. Nor can I figure out how to change my entry on the Knights QRSS Clipboard. A long way still to go, then, but at least progress for the moment is in the right direction.

73 and thanks for all the messages of support. They really were appreciated during this awful week. If you are interested, you can follow my progress with treatment in One Foot in the Grave.

Welcome to Handiham World!

Before I mention anything else, I want to thank all of you who expressed sympathy or had suggestions for me and my broken computer. Things are looking up this week, and most everything is back to normal. I did have everything properly backed up. In our radio club, this is called the “belt & suspenders theory”. You wear both to make sure that if one fails, the other will still hold your pants up! It does pay to back up your data, since you just never know when something will quit working, whether hardware or software, in a system as complex as a computer. The idea of having backups extends to other parts of your ham shack, too. Having more than one radio can be a real relief when another has to be repaired at a factory service center a thousand miles away. Having a spare HT battery during a public service event is just plain smart. Engineers call this concept “redundancy”, and there is certainly good reason for it when you need to protect a high-stakes system like the communications system in an airliner or the brakes in a car. Since you have a lot at stake with your personal computer’s many files, you have an interest in protecting it with regular backups.

Turning to Field Day, we have an email from Ken, W6KHS, who came up with the idea of holding our own version of Field Day on the HANDIHAM Echolink conference:

You probably know by now that Field Day operations using the Handiham conference server was a total success. As this entity becomes more and more popular, repeaters and radio links using it will be more likely to receive emergency or life or death messages from situations when cell service is not available. I recommend that there be a twenty second break between transmissions so that there is room for emergency traffic to enter. If this information comes from you, it will be carved in stone, rather than from me. Thanks again for just being there.

73, Ken Schwartz W6KHS

Yes, Ken, you are right about that! Occasional longer pauses are in order considering that we are using a worldwide resource. Susi, WA0DKS, who worked behind the scenes to manage the Field Day event on the HANDIHAM conference and put in considerable time as net control station during the overnight hours, commented on the event, calling it a “rousing success”. Podcast listeners will hear Susi tell them about it herself! Our thanks to Jim, WB4LBM and the other net control stations and participants who made this first-time event possible. In talking with Susi after the event, we concluded that the HANDIHAM conference really gained a lot of exposure worldwide. I just happened to tune in later in the day on Saturday and heard a YL who had been at a local Field Day station here in the eastern Twin Cities Metro area. She was driving back home and heard our net on the N0BVE repeater system. (Thanks, Don!) As I have said many times before, having Echolink or IRLP on a repeater really enhances its value to the community, and will make the difference between a dead, unused system and a vital, much-appreciated community resource.

Even though the contacts made on our system don’t count for points, the whole idea of building our operating skills, making friends, showcasing amateur radio and technology, and building a stronger community while HAVING FUN just somehow seemed more important to me. I’ll bet it did to you, too.

Linux in the Ham Shack would like to be involved in more community events and we need your help to do it. Please check out our new Ambassador Program and let us know if you’re willing to participate. Help us make the world a better place for free software and amateur radio.

73 de The LHS Guys

Less than three weeks ago I wrote of having a bit of a headache. Since then, a lot has happened. I went to hospital in Newcastle, where it was discovered that I have a brain tumour. I was going to write about all of that in a bit more detail but things didn’t turn out quite as I hoped they would.

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