ARRL Field Day in an annual operating event designed to demonstrate and practice portable station operation. The Field Day exercise is important in that it shows how radio amateurs can be mobilized in the case of an emergency of any sort. Those involved in the planning of a Field Day understand the detailed planning required to construct, operate and tear-down a quality operating station. There is also the social side of Field Day that is the annual highlight for many clubs, that is a side benefit of the operating activity.

I haven't participated in Field Day for a couple of decades. This year I was invited to participate in the Field Day operation of W5YA. W5YA has won their entered category numerous times and has finished in the top 10 of all Field Day stations multiple times, operating QRP. Their success is directly correlated to meticulous planning and the excellent execution of that plan by the team of KT5X, K1JD, K5KM, NM5S, K7SO, K6XT, W0CCA and WD9FJL. The primary antennas are wire antennas strung in the trees at the Field Day site near Chama, NM.

My role this year was to fill in some shifts at the CW stations but primarily to supervise the operation of the GOTA (Get On The Air) station along with my son, Michael Jr., AB5EB. The GOTA station used my call, AD5A, as the GOTA station must operate under a different callsign than the primary Field Day station. The GOTA operators were my grandsons Reid, KF5GYE, age 14 and Boogie, KF5GYD, age 13. Both have their General tickets, but are not very active, which is a requirement of the GOTA station. My son and I would coach them during the event. Neither of my grandsons do CW, so we would be operating SSB, QRP. Not the easiest of assignments. Operating on a crowded band with beginner level operators is quite a learning experience for all involved. What was slightly frustrating in the first 12 hours was a delight in the last 12. Both boys learned a lot about operating QRP, proper procedures and amateur radio etiquette. In the final hours of the event, no coaching was needed. They  learned to handle both calling CQ and answering stations in a pile-up. Overall a fantastic result, the boys finished with 158 SSB QSO's from the GOTA station using 5 watts from a KX3 and a wire in the trees.

The final tally hasn't been made yet, but the CW station contributed over 1,400 QSO.s with wire antenna's and 5 watts of power. A very cool accomplishment and a testament to what is possible with amateur radio. Teaching us those lessons and getting new hams involved is what Field Day is all about.

We camped in a tent for two nights so I got to enjoy my son and grandsons in a great outdoor radio experience. Below is a video of the two GOTA operators. KF5GYD is operating and KF5GYE is cooking. The video should give you a flavor of Field Day.



Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

The layout of MacLogger DX on my Mac

I recently tweeted that I had dropped Ham Radio Deluxe in favour for MacLoggerDX. Amongst the re-tweets and comments i received, Danny (PA3DM) did mention that HRD is not just a logbook, but a full suite of digital modes, rotor and a rig control system. This I completely agree with, and my time using HRD was always a great experience and I would recommend the software to anyone.

My issue with HRD is this. I use a Mac. I transitioned from PC to Mac around 3 years ago, and have been using a Virtual PC to do my PC based tasks (including my day job) and this is the issue. HRD over a Virtual Machine, using RS-232 connectors is unpredictable, slow and frankly unusable. Its not the fault of HRD, nor is it the fault of the Virtual Machine, The RS-232 – USB connectors. It’s a combination of all the elements tethered together that makes the experience unusable.

So the solution ? well its not a solution to be fair. It’s a compromise. Its not HRD, its not an all in one solution, its a log book that can use the radios VFO,  the rotor and DX cluster all together. That is basically what I used HRD for. And on the odd occasion I did venture into digital modes. 
I will complete a review of MacLoggerDX in future posts, but for now I thought I would explain my rationale of making the switch.  So far, so good.

Dan Trudgian, MØTGN, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Wiltshire, England. He's a radio nut, IT guru, general good guy and an all round good egg. Contact him him here.

The layout of MacLogger DX on my Mac

I recently tweeted that I had dropped Ham Radio Deluxe in favour for MacLoggerDX. Amongst the re-tweets and comments i received, Danny (PA3DM) did mention that HRD is not just a logbook, but a full suite of digital modes, rotor and a rig control system. This I completely agree with, and my time using HRD was always a great experience and I would recommend the software to anyone.

My issue with HRD is this. I use a Mac. I transitioned from PC to Mac around 3 years ago, and have been using a Virtual PC to do my PC based tasks (including my day job) and this is the issue. HRD over a Virtual Machine, using RS-232 connectors is unpredictable, slow and frankly unusable. Its not the fault of HRD, nor is it the fault of the Virtual Machine, The RS-232 – USB connectors. It’s a combination of all the elements tethered together that makes the experience unusable.

So the solution ? well its not a solution to be fair. It’s a compromise. Its not HRD, its not an all in one solution, its a log book that can use the radios VFO,  the rotor and DX cluster all together. That is basically what I used HRD for. And on the odd occasion I did venture into digital modes. 
I will complete a review of MacLoggerDX in future posts, but for now I thought I would explain my rationale of making the switch.  So far, so good.

Dan Trudgian, MØTGN, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Wiltshire, England. He's a radio nut, IT guru, general good guy and an all round good egg. Contact him him here.

Dan Trudgian, MØTGN, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Wiltshire, England. He's a radio nut, IT guru, general good guy and an all round good egg. Contact him him here.

Dan Trudgian, MØTGN, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Wiltshire, England. He's a radio nut, IT guru, general good guy and an all round good egg. Contact him him here.

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

Two of the big names in radio programming are CHIRP and RT Systems. But which one should you choose?

CHIRP is free, open source software that’s used with a third-party programming cable. RT Systems makes commercial programming kits which include both  software and a radio-specific cable.

CHIRP supports a large number of radios including:

• Anytone
  AT-5888UV
• Baofeng/Pofung
  F-11, UV-3R, UV-5R and variants, UV-6, UV-82/82L/82X, GT-5, UV-82C, UV-B5/B6, BF-666S/777S/888S, GT-1, BF-F8HP
• Icom
  IC-80AD, IC-2820H, ID-800H, ID-880H, IC-208H, IC-2200H, IC-91/92AD, IC-V/U82, ID-RPx000V/RP2x, IC-2100H, IC-2720H, IC-T70, IC-T7H, IC-T8A, IC-Q7A, IC-W32A, IC-746, IC-7200, IC-7000, ID-31A, ID-51A
• Kenwood
  TH-D7A/G, TH-D72, TH-F6A, TH-F7E, TH-G71A, TH-K2, TK-7102/8102/7108/8108, TM-271A, TM-281A, TM-D700, TM-D710, TM-G707, TM-V7A, TM-V71A
• Yaesu
  FT-1D, FT-60R, FT-90R, FT-817/ND, FT-857/D, FT-897, FT-1802M, FT-2800M, FT-1900R/2900M, FT-7800R/7900R, FT-8800R, FT-8900R, FTM-350R, VX-170, VX-2R, VX-3R, VX-5R, VX-6R, VX-7R, VX-8R
• Wouxun
  KG-UVD1P, KG-UV2D, KG-UV3D, KG-UV6D, KG-UV6X, KG-UV8D

The RT Systems software supports a much larger array of radios:

• Alinco
  DJ-A10, DJ-A40, DJ-100, DJ-175, DJ-G7, DJ-G29, DJ-V17, DJ-V27, DJ-V47, DJ-V57, DR-03, DR-06, DR-135, DR-138, DR-235, DR-435, DR-635, DR-638, DX-SR8
• Anytone
  AT-398, AT-518UV, AT-588, AT-3208, AT-3318UV-A, AT-3318UV-C, AT-3318UV-D, AT-3318UV-E, AT-5189, AT-5888UV, ANILE-8R, NSTIG-8R, OBLTR-8R, TERMN-8R
• Baofeng/Pofung
  997-S, BF-F8, BF-F9, BF-388A, BF-530, BF-888, GT-1, GT-3, GT-5, UV-B5/B6, UV-5R, UV-E5, UV-8HX, UV-F11, UV-66, UV-82, UV-89, UV-920, UV-TEN4
• Icom
  IC-R2, IC-T2, IC-R6, IC-Q7, IC-T7, IC-T8, IC-V8, IC-R10, IC-R20, IC-W32, IC-T70, IC-80, IC-V80, IC-T81, IC-U82, IC-V82, IC-V85, IC-T90, IC-91, IC-92, IC-208, IC-746, IC-756 PRO, IC-2100, IC-2200, IC-2300, IC-2720, IC-2730, IC-2820, IC-7000, IC-7100, IC-7200, IC-7410, IC-V8000, IC-9100, ID-31, ID-51, ID-51+, ID-800, ID-880, ID-5100
• Kenwood
  TH-K2, TH-F6/F7, TH-D7G, TH-K20, TH-D72, TM-V7A, TM-V71, TM-271/281, TM-471, TM-D700, TM-G707, TM-D710, TM-D710G, TS-480, TS-590, TS-590G, TS-2000
• TYT
  TH-UVF1, TH-UV3R, TH-UV6R, TH-UV8R, TH-UVF9, TH-UVF9D, TH-UVF8000D, TH-9000,  TH-9800
• Wouxun
  KG-UV23, KG-UV1DP, KG-UV5D, KG-UV6, KG-UV8D, KG-UV899, KG-UV920P, KG-UV950P
• Yaesu
  FT-1D, FT-50, FT-60, FT-90, FT-250, FT-270, FT-277, FT-450, FT-817/D, FT-847, FT-857/897/D, FT-950, FT-991, FT-1500, FT-1802, FT-1807, FT-1900, FT-1907, FT-2600, FT-2800, FT-2900, FT-3000, FT-7100, FT-7800, FT-7900, FT-8000, FT-8100, FT-8500, FT-8800, FT-8900, FT-DX3000, FT-DX1200, FTM-350, FTM-400, VR-160, VR-500, VX-1, VX-2, VX-3, VX-5, VX-6, VX-7, VX-8/D, VX-8G, VX-110/150, VX-120/170, VX-127/177

Both CHIRP and RT Systems support several other less popular radios not listed above.

Here are my questions:

Have you used CHIRP or RT Systems programming software? What are your thoughts?

If you’ve used both, is it worth spending $49 on the RT Systems programming kit if your radio is supported by CHIRP?

Leave your answer as a comment!

Matt Thomas, W1MST, is the managing editor of AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].