Posts Tagged ‘field day’
Yes, I am a bit of a wimp
March 26th, 2015 | 
Author: So I've been spending my lunch hour writing this post and Googling "Field Day Wire Antennas". Last year's EARCHI EFHW (Emergency Amateur Radio Communications Hawaii End Fed Half Wave) and G5RV both worked well, and more than likely, we are going to use them again. However, we have decided to add a digital station and a GOTA station, so we need to come up with two more wire configurations.
The digital station will be W2OU's FT-817 and I believe we are using KD2FSI's FT-897. Both W2OU and I have PAR END-FEDZ 10/20/40 antennas. While easy to deploy and use, they would prohibit us from getting on 80 Meters and 15 Meters. I am considering as possibilities, the G7FEK or perhaps the D3+ antenna. Both seem somewhat easy to construct. As the weather gets warmer, I may have to build one of each and then take them to the local park to see (in reality) how easy they are to set up and what kind of results I can garner.
K2VHW has a few disassembled multi band yagis in his garage. If he can determine that he has all the pieces and parts, we broached the concept of perhaps deploying one using an extension ladder as a "tower". That would make life a little easier for the QRP SSB guys.
My goal is to keep things as simple as possible while still allowing us to get credible results. After being out in the field for 24+ hours (if you include set up), no one really wants to face the prospect of spending an enormous amount of time tearing everything apart. Come 2:00 PM on Field Day Sunday, my mind is more on a good meal and a hot shower than worrying about packing and stowing.
We have ample time yet, so more investigation seems likely. Now if only I can find my copy of Bill Orr's "Simple Wire Antennas". That would help immensely!
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Did you participate in Field Day 2014
You can check to make sure they received it, and if there were any discrepancies with the class/category that you claimed.
Go to: http://www.arrl.org/news/2014-arrl-field-day-logs-received-list-available-for-review
Scroll way down to the bottom of the page and download the PDF.
Even though we got an e-mail confirmation when our log was submitted, I double checked to see if the log for NJ2SP was there. You can call me paranoid, but I just wanted to make sure our inaugural Field Day effort gets counted amongst the masses.
It's there.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
17 Meters was decent
I managed to hobble out to my car at lunch time today. The weather was decent, but my right foot isn’t. Seems I aggravated the same tendons and ligaments that I had a few years ago – so now I’m wearing “the boot” for the next week or so. Sigh.
Anyway, after the past couple of days of torrential rain, the skies were blue and sunny today. The temperatures were downright pleasant and 17 Meters seemed to be hopping.
I worked CT8/DL5NUA, CR5W, and J79BH. So – I reached the Azores, Portugal and Dominica – not terrible.
In other news, we have 118 Skeeters signed up for the Hunt on August 10th. Still plenty of time to sign up. We could use more participation from the West Coast states – HINT, HINT, HINT!
I also attended a meeting of SPARC, the South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club. We reviewed our Field Day effort and claimed score before officially sending our entry off to the ARRL. We also started making some basic plan changes for next year. It’s so nice to know that my fellow club members had a good enough time with a QRP Field Day that they want to do it again next year!
By the way, if you want to read the local newspaper’s account of our Field Day – here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/ls56z6u. I think they did a very good job, even though they did get some of the details wrong (like our callsign, for example). But on the whole it was an excellent article which put Amateur Radio in a very positive light.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!
Field Day 2014 – Wow!
That’s all I can say – wow! A magnificent time was had at the first Field Day for the South Plainfield Radio Club. I posted the following to QRP-L, and I’ll insert some other thoughts at the end.
The South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club operated Field Day in Spring Lake Park in South Plainfield, NJ. We used Club call NJ2SP, and ran as 2A (Battery). The “2A” were two Elecraft KX3s. The CW station ran to a EARCHI antenna (53 foot radiator, 9:1 UNUN, 25 foot length of coax). The elevated end of the EARCHI was about 30-35 foot up in a tree. The SSB station used a G5RV, about the same height between two trees.
And if you look closely (click on the picture for a bigger image) you can see the EARCHI antenna sloping upward and away towards the tree it was anchored in.
The EARCHI antenna was a resounding success. The KX3’s internal tuner handled it exceedingly well on all bands. We made just a tad over 270 CW QSOs, with our best DX being Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands.
The G5RV worked exceeding well, also. The KX3 again tuned without a hiccup. The SSB team completed just over 100 SSB QSOs – these guys are all QRO ops and they were skeptical about completing even a single QRP SSB QSO. They ended up surprising themselves, and they ended up being quite amazed at what they were able to accomplish. Yes, it was not as easy as using 100W rigs, but even in keeping with the ARRL’s 5 Watt limit for the battery category, they were quite pleased.
We operated on solar charged batteries all weekend without a hitch. The energy hogs for the weekend were the two laptops that we used for logging. The Field Day rules state that since we were not using the laptops for rig control, we could have powered them from mains (which we did not have) or a generator (which we had, but didn’t use). In keeping with our self imposed “severe emergency capability” theme in order to make this a drill as much as possible, we also powered them off a deep cycle battery using an inverter. We needed to switch the laptops over to a fresh battery somewhere in the mid morning hours, Sunday.
SPARC’s first Field day was an outstanding and unqualified success, and I think we ‘busted’ the myth that Field Day has to be QRO to be fun.
The EARCHI worked great and way better than I dared hope for. With less exceptions than I can count on one hand, I was able to work everyone that I tried to. Being on an energy budget because of the batteries and wanting them to last all weekend if possible, I didn’t try calling CQ or running a frequency (it was S&P all weekend). I will reserve that for FOBB and the Skeeter Hunt, which are only four hour events. I can afford to be a little “battery foolish” during those, and I expect the EARCHI to work just as well during those two events.
The other Godsend of the weekend? That Joplin ARC antenna launcher kit that I purchased and built up. We were able to place antenna lines pretty much exactly where we wanted with hardly any effort at all. That thing is one of the greatest things since sliced bread! One or two of the guys were skeptical about being able to place an antenna line so easily and accurately with such little effort. The old saying is “That seeing is believing”. They’re believers now!
After being awake for 24+ hours, I fell asleep while waiting for the Mayor to show up late Sunday morning. I woke up in time for his visit, though!
In closing, I’ll answer a question that was posed to me by a member of the visiting public, the way I wanted to answer it. A woman asked me if it was a bit extreme staying awake throughout the 24 hours of Field Day. Of course, I gave her the answer of “In the event of an emergency or a natural disaster, sleep may very well be a luxury, …….” Yadda, yadda, yadda.
What I wanted to say was any of the following:
1) It’s Field Day! Sleep is overrated!
2) Heck no Lady! Field Day is fun!
Or I could’ve gotten all Clint Eastwood and said:
3) Ma’am? I’ll sleep when I’m dead!
One final, last added mention. Last year, Marv K2VHW introduced me to Deep Woods Off moist towelettes. They are a must for the Field Day Go Package. They worked extremely well, and I was not bothered by a single “Skeeter” (pesky little fellows, I should have had them pound brass!) all night long.
This is Amateur Radio Week
in South Plainfield!
Field Day is two days away and the weather here is supposed to be gorgeous! Psyched!
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!
Town Council Meeting
I attended the Town Council meeting in South Plainfield, NJ. Our mayor issued a proclamation declaring June 23rd through June 29th as Amateur Radio Week in South Plainfield. Most of the members of the South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club were on hand, and we had our picture taken with the mayor.
One of our members, Wayne N2LRE has the actual printed proclamation, and he is going to scan it, and when I get an image, I will post it here. (Got it! You can see it below ……)
Here is an aerial view of the park:
Field Day stuff
Marv K2VHW and I met this afternoon to scope out the two parks we have in mind for Field Day. As I had mentioned before, our first choice is Spring Lake Park, which is the property of Middlesex County. That gazebo is huge! It can easily accommodate two large tables for operating, as well as supply space for observers and guests. In addition, there are trees that are close enough to support a full sized G5RV and another to support the EARCHI end fed (more about that later).
The other venue possibility, Putnam Street Park, is another excellent site. There is plenty of space, it has high visibility and plenty of traffic. Trees are plentiful and there are restroom facilities on hand. There’s only one drawback – a lack of shelter. We would have to borrow or rent a multi-person tent, to have a place to operate in the case of inclement weather.
After I got home from our scouting trip, I decided to play for a bit, and try out that 53 foot radiator for the EARCHI antenna. I was hoping that if all worked out, this would be our CW Field Day antenna, as well as what I would use for FOBB and the Skeeter Hunt.
My experience today shows that that chart published by Balun Designs was spot on! I quickly got excellent matches with the KX3’s auotuner on all the bands almost instantly. 17 Meters was the hardest band to match and that only took about two seconds to accomplish.
I made contact with Josh 6Y5WJ and CO0SS on 15 Meters and a PY2 station on 10 Meters. These were made with the antenna at a less than optimal height too, as I used my Jackite pole as the support. Once I get this baby up properly in a tree, it should perform even better.
After that, I worked on a design for a banner that we will use on Field Day. This is what I have come up with so far:
This is an 8 X 3 foot banner made from heavy outdoor vinyl, with grommets and wind slits. If I get approval from the rest of the Field Day Committee, I will place the order tomorrow evening.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!
