how did your 2016 field day go?

[Obed]

This year I decided to do things a bit different. I did not go to any of the local clubs field day activities, I set up in my back yard and the wife and I did our own field day.
I had a go box and rotatable portable all band dipole I wanted to try out and figured field day would be the perfect opportunity to put them through their paces.
I put the dipole up about 18 feet with a tripod base and a couple guy wires and the go box was to be operated on battery power with a solar charger....best laid plans, right?
The atmosphere was not completely kind to us, lots of QRN and QSB, in fact the QSB was terrible at times, folks giving their call signs would go from an S7 to an S1 in the space of their call...
after awhile I gave up on the dipole since I could not raise it up any higher effectively... so I strung up an off center fed dipole at 40' center and about 20' on the ends and things really improved.
We had a thunder storm come through Saturday afternoon that shut us down for a bit over an hour, then worked again for another hour or so... my youth is long gone so I had no plans of staying up all night for the numbers.
Got up and was back on the air at 7 am and worked about 4 more hours...then another storm blew in...
all in all I had a lot of fun, got to check out my projects and made all the contacts I wanted to...for the most part i could work anything I could hear...
the only odd thing about this year was that the weak signal stations we easier for me to work than the stronger signals...at least they responded well on the first call and some of the strong signals I had to call 3 or 4 times...

 

[Soup-man]

Did you read the rules for Field Days?
Did you look at all the ways you can get bonus points?
Do you realize that just making contacts doesn't really do anything to promote amateur radio - to the rest of the world?
I think that what Field Days is supposed to be is a way to promote amteur radio. If more licensed amateurs were to follow the rules and regulations and look at all the things that you can do to get the bonus points and invite all the different agencies in the rules, we wouldn't have to pay people in Washington to lobby to pass a bill to allow us to have antennas on our property and we wouldn't have all these covenants and restrictions in our communities.
I think your experience was all summed up when you spoke about how your first choice for your main antenna failed and your second choice - using a more resonant antenna was successful was very entertaining. But the part of you being able to work everyone you heard doesn't really say anything.
Yes, if all you work is the stations that were the loudest, you would have worked a lot of stations. But the ones I tried to work, weren't always the loudest.
As a matter of fact, I operated the whole contest with less than 15 watts - with a off center fed 80 meter antenna and I only managed to make about 150 contacts. Same deal - the other stations were looking to work the loudest stations first and between having the boy scouts visit and try to operate for about two hours and having a newly licensed boy scout operate for about 5 hours, I lost a lot of time in the main part of the contest that couldn't be made up by working more hours.
Our club - 5A, only ever had 2 operators at any one time actually operating. 6 meters only produced 4 contacts and 15 meters maybe produced about 15. Each operator insisted that the band was not open and refused to listen to static and they spent more time sitting under the hospitality tent bull chitting with their buddies then they did operating. I actually had to shut down the 40 meter station - because no one was operating it. I ran 20 meters - but my antenna was between the tree branches and leaves in the trees and I am sure it was shorting out.
I managed to make about 10 contacts on 75 meters phone, about 100 contacts on 40 meters phone, about 100 contacts on 20 meters phone, about 4 contacts on 10 meters phone and 5 contacts on 6 meters - with the same antenna. I even managed 3 contacts on 15 meters - even though the antenna was not resonant on 15 meters! In the end, we had promises that The Boy Scouts would return at another time and would each get to make contacts on air. The one licensed Boy Scout will probably upgrade to General in the near future, and we will have more events scheduled as a club where we can get new hams and unlicensed people on the air.
All this in just two days - and I am not even a member of their club!
I can't fix what is broken in this club, but I can foster amateur radio in new members and maybe give these tools to the next generation and maybe this will be enough help to create the next K3LR or WA6ITF....

The highlight of the whole weekend was working K3FF - bicycle portable from the Sacramento Valley.
150 watts into a Buddy Pole.
All contesting stopped ( as in the band went quiet and everyone listened to our conversation) when I made contact with Bud, and we talked for about 5 minutes.
Being from the same little town as Bud and knowing the people he grew up with in his youth, it was a experience he will probably relate to for many years..
It's a small world! Especially when you operate all the time, not just on field days...

 

[Obed]

Did you read the rules for Field Days?
yes I read the ruled of field day.


Did you look at all the ways you can get bonus points?
Yes I looked at all the ways you can get bonus points.


Do you realize that just making contacts doesn't really do anything to promote amateur radio - to the rest of the world?
Yes I realize the just making contacts does not promote amateur radio to non-amateurs... but then again that was not what I was trying to do this weekend. If you rely on just one weekend a year to do that, one event, you are not doing a very good job. I have quite a few things I do in that area, and I know how many folks I have gotten interested and into ham radio over the years and only a couple of them have had a field day be their first exposure.


I think that what Field Days is supposed to be is a way to promote amteur radio.
It seem to me your thinking is a bit skewed if not one sided. Part of the reason for field day is to test your emergency/portable equipment to make sure it works, while building your skill at operation in "field" conditions. The go box and antenna I was testing were built for exactly that purpose, I figured it would be nice to test them and their effectiveness before any actual use of them was required


If more licensed amateurs were to follow the rules and regulations and look at all the things that you can do to get the bonus points and invite all the different agencies in the rules, we wouldn't have to pay people in Washington to lobby to pass a bill to allow us to have antennas on our property and we wouldn't have all these covenants and restrictions in our communities.
I think you are a dreamer. Your speculation on what your idea of the proper way to do field day would accomplish are a bit unrealistic.



I think your experience was all summed up when you spoke about how your first choice for your main antenna failed and your second choice - using a more resonant antenna was successful was very entertaining.
I am glad you were entertained by your misunderstanding of my antennas and the reason I switched. Resonance was not an issue. The portable, rotatable antenna I built, has coils and clips and is resonant on all the HF bands used in field day, the issue was the height I was able to reach with the tripod support I had.
The off center fed multiband dipole was higher and I used the tuner in the go box... the reason it was more effective was the added height and larger capture area.



But the part of you being able to work everyone you heard doesn't really say anything.
Finally a correct analysis of something I said.
You are quite correct because if I could not hear them, I would not have known they were there for me to work, would I?


Yes, if all you work is the stations that were the loudest, you would have worked a lot of stations. But the ones I tried to work, weren't always the loudest.
I wonder if you even read what I wrote?
I said the weaker stations I actually found easier to work. One reason of course, may have been that the louder stations had pile ups and the weaker stations did not, so I was able to get through to them quicker.



As a matter of fact, I operated the whole contest with less than 15 watts - with a off center fed 80 meter antenna and I only managed to make about 150 contacts. Same deal - the other stations were looking to work the loudest stations first and between having the boy scouts visit and try to operate for about two hours and having a newly licensed boy scout operate for about 5 hours, I lost a lot of time in the main part of the contest that couldn't be made up by working more hours.
Our club - 5A, only ever had 2 operators at any one time actually operating. 6 meters only produced 4 contacts and 15 meters maybe produced about 15. Each operator insisted that the band was not open and refused to listen to static and they spent more time sitting under the hospitality tent bull chitting with their buddies then they did operating. I actually had to shut down the 40 meter station - because no one was operating it. I ran 20 meters - but my antenna was between the tree branches and leaves in the trees and I am sure it was shorting out.
I managed to make about 10 contacts on 75 meters phone, about 100 contacts on 40 meters phone, about 100 contacts on 20 meters phone, about 4 contacts on 10 meters phone and 5 contacts on 6 meters - with the same antenna. I even managed 3 contacts on 15 meters - even though the antenna was not resonant on 15 meters! In the end, we had promises that The Boy Scouts would return at another time and would each get to make contacts on air. The one licensed Boy Scout will probably upgrade to General in the near future, and we will have more events scheduled as a club where we can get new hams and unlicensed people on the air.
All this in just two days - and I am not even a member of their club!
I can't fix what is broken in this club, but I can foster amateur radio in new members and maybe give these tools to the next generation and maybe this will be enough help to create the next K3LR or WA6ITF....

The highlight of the whole weekend was working K3FF - bicycle portable from the Sacramento Valley.
150 watts into a Buddy Pole.
All contesting stopped ( as in the band went quiet and everyone listened to our conversation) when I made contact with Bud, and we talked for about 5 minutes.
Being from the same little town as Bud and knowing the people he grew up with in his youth, it was a experience he will probably relate to for many years..
It's a small world! Especially when you operate all the time, not just on field days...

The rest of your post had me wondering if you were trying to educate me or chastise me. Neither worked.
I was left wondering by your post if you actually enjoyed your field day this year and why you went with the group you did, considering the way you feel about them?

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

The rest of your post had me wondering if you were trying to educate me or chastise me. Neither worked.
I was left wondering by your post if you actually enjoyed your field day this year and why you went with the group you did, considering the way you feel about them?

I was wondering if Soup-man actually read and understood the purpose behind your activities You were doing what appealed to YOU after years of helping out others. Nothing wrong with that at all. Soup-man is also wrong about the purpose ot Field Day and if he thinks changing the way Field Day operates will mean antennas for every ham in an HOA then he should just dream on. Congrats on having fun on FD. THAT is the most important part.

 

[Soup-man]

I was wondering if Soup-man actually read and understood the purpose behind your activities You were doing what appealed to YOU after years of helping out others. Nothing wrong with that at all. Soup-man is also wrong about the purpose ot Field Day and if he thinks changing the way Field Day operates will mean antennas for every ham in an HOA then he should just dream on. Congrats on having fun on FD. THAT is the most important part.

CK - how can it be Field Day if it is held in your backyard?
I think the point most people forgets is FIELD.
For me, it was days of preparation, followed by 1 day of loading everything up in the truck, driving 60 miles, getting out of the truck, setting up the morning of Field Days, helping out the club by showing them how to operate.
No one ever exposed me to amateur radio - in a positive light when I was a kid. In later years, I would honestly have to say that even the club scene at the local school was cliquish and the people in the club were standoffish and snobby - and no one did anything! It took me a long time before I was able to scrounge up the necessary funds and equipment to do this.
If I can operate and get others to operate and find other people that wants to operate, this does a lot more for me in the long run then just sitting there with my back to everyone, making hundreds of contacts with a 2000 watt amplifier and a 7 element 40 meter beam antenna. I heard a lot of poor operators this year on the ham bands. More then other years it seems. Its like these people only operates one day a year and no one taught them any etiquette or how to operate properly.
For the new people in my group I was able to teach them how to operate properly. Asking if the frequency was in use before they started to operate. Teaching them how to ID, teaching them how to log and dupe, teaching them how to operate the transceiver. Teaching them how to call and how to respond, when to call, when to respond. The best part is teaching them that you don't need a lot of power to talk - even to California from the east coast. One guy was licensed 30 years ago and had never made even just one contact in 30 years. I was able to find someone to program his transceivers for him and we got him to check into their local 2meter net Sunday night. One kid, I'm going to lend him a radio and antenna, to get him on the air, with the agreement that he has to use it every week, and not just to check into a net or talk on repeaters. And a woman that showed up - her husband died, she needed someone to climb her roof and put an antenna up for her dual band radio - we are going to try to get her back on the air. I heard a lot of dumb advice before I offered to help her. One local expert that never talked across the street told her that all she needed was a Ringo Ranger strapped to her chimney. The woman lives way down in a hole.

I'm not saying that every HOA would see it my way, but I am saying that if you do things for others, eventually they will see the good in what you do and they will go out of their way to also do good for you too! No one in my neighborhood is a licensed amateur, and yet if I asked any of my able bodied neighbors to help me, they would. Donations of tower, coax, steel are easy to come by when people are willing to help you.

 

[Obed]

well, to cut soup-man a bit of slack, he did not know that amateur radio has been my hobby for 55 years.
I have been to more field days than I can count, I have worked with the red cross and other organizations, I have done numerous events with the boys scouts and have demonstrations at schools... I have brought many folks into the hobby... I just do not get out and go as far and do as many things as I used to do...
the field day that the wife and I had was indeed fun for both of us...we have been together a long time and she has always encouraged me in anything I wanted to do... she is my golfing buddy, my fishing buddy and my hunting buddy...for us this was a time to do something we both enjoy... together...
she has been to many a field day and slept in tents, made meals for all the guys, used the rest room in the bushes... and took her turn operating...
this time she got to sit beside me on a covered patio...
have a ceiling fan running over us and log the stations for me...this morning over coffee, she told me that this was one of her favorite field days...
that alone made this field day a success for me.

 

[Soup-man]

No Obed, I didn't know that you have been a ham for 55 years.
I apologize for my attitude. Only having 9 hours of sleep in the past 3 days has made me more than a little cranky. My sugar spiked this morning and I was more than just a little turned off by all the slackers I met this year at the Field Days site.
I realize that the one family owns the camp, does all the set up work, weeks before Field Days even starts, then just wants to sit and hang out. Most of the club members are elderly. I was only there to try to inject some new blood into their club. At this point, either they start recruiting new members, or the club is going to die. One young man, the son of the camp owner, has been licensed 30 years and couldn't understand why a club would want to have a vanity call sign or more than one call sign. I spent about an hour explaining to him that a 1 x 2 or a 2 x 1 call sign gets worked 40% quicker then a 1 x 3, and 60% quicker than a 2 x 3.... Honestly, these people didn't know anything about amateur radio. You can buy a HF radio, you can buy a beam antenna, you can buy a 1500 watt amplifier, but you can't buy experience! What each of these people needed was for someone to sit down with them and teach them how to operate. The camp owners wife honestly thought that people would want to talk to the scouts, just because they were boy scouts. How can I tell a woman that this is Field Days, and all these people wants from me is my call sign, my class and my area. Every minute they spend talking, they loose points by not working someone else. Not having a lot of power, there isn't a lot of people willing to stand aside and allow a QRP station the opportunity to work a few other stations, and for me it seemed that the other stations were only looking for the loudest stations, were not willing to spread out and refused to turn the big knob on the front of the transceiver. Some frequencies were practically devoid of any activity, while other frequencies had 10 people all calling CQ on top of each other. Very poor amateur radio practice. It seemed like most every Field Day site could have used an Obed or a Soup-man to help teach these LIDS how to operate!

 

[Obed]

each activity within the hobby has its own purpose and appeals to different folks. My own interests have changed over the years, and is different from time to time within the year.
Scout day, kids day, field day and contesting each have their appeal to different folks for different reasons.
The hobby has changed considerably, not just the rules, but the technology... all of that affected the manufacturing industry that must have the economics to stay in business... they have to appeal to a large number of folks. We have all seen folks that made great equipment go out of business, not because their products were inferior, but because there was simply not enough market to sustain what they did as a business...
the laws have changed, with the reason given being the expansion and growth of the hobby would benefit..maybe there are more hams today as a result, but some of us will always like the way it used to be better...
testing today is too easy in this old mans opinion, others argue that if testing had not changed, and the licensing structure had not changed that the hobby would have died off and we would have lost our frequencies to commercial interests...
all of that is more than I want to deal with or debate anymore... I just want to enjoy what I am doing...
as to the lids and bad poorly run and organized clubs... well I just do not belong to the clubs and my radios have two great features... the VFO and the on/off knob.

 

[Tallman]

I would very much like to study these rules. I went to the ARRL website and searched and found nothing. I figured if rules were involved they would have the copy.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Hey Soup-man.....I can't say I disagree with anything you said in your reply to me however Obed's first two sentences summed it up. He was trying something different. The points other stations earned working him were as good as any other stations whether they were FD stations or not. It's all about what HE enjoyed doing something different. I just took exception to your first response of "Did you read the rules....." Nowhere does it say you cannot operate from your backyard with a generator etc. While some may be interested in FD a lot of the general public could not care less and never will regardless if you operated EME from the Walmart parking lot.Again.....it's all about what the individual wants out of it. I disagree with some folks that simply want a 2m HT and that's it but I respect their decision.

 

[Obed]

I would very much like to study these rules. I went to the ARRL website and searched and found nothing. I figured if rules were involved they would have the copy.

The field day rules for participation are on the ARRL website...
I printed them out before hand... and they do vary a bit ever so often...
when you go down the listed points, one will be the rules list.
it contains all the instructions...
that is what you use to determine your class of operation...
whether you are a A,B,C,D or E class...
it defines the amount of space you can use...
what points are awarded per contact by mode and power...
what bonus points you get for media announcements, officials visit, message traffic and son on...
it tell you about the time frame for set up and when you can start operating and whether you have a 24 hour window or 27 hours window based on your set up start time...
This year I operated as a 1B and my region is south Texas... that is all the contact log required to list the other stations call, type and section.
A "D" station to not count another "D" station but could count all others... a DX station could be counted as a contact, but they did not get points for participation...lots of little details

 

[RatsoW8]

Thank you for this post. It's why I don't do field day. I did the first few years in the 80's with the Navy club I belonged to - WA4ZUA. Great gang and field day was ball every time. In civilian life with a club? Not so great so, I've had had my own backyard battery operated fun since but wasn't interested it FD this year at all. But believe me if the "S" ever hits the proverbial fan I'll jump in there with both feet.

 

[N0NB]

Our small club went back to a location that is publicly accessible but private property for the third year in a row. It is much higher and a more quiet RF location than any public place in town. Perhaps that goes against the spirit, but whatever.

Our antennas consisted of a TA-33 @ 40', N0MST 2m Big Wheel @ 50. and dipoles for 40 and 80 @ 35' on the portable tower trailer. A KB6KQ loop for 6m @ 25' and a Ringo Ranger II @ 35' on a push up mast completed the ensemble.

Radios were my FT-890 to start and later a TS-590SG brought by the newest hams in the club so they could learn more about the radio and gain some HF experience. They did very well helping us with setup, sticking around for the 24 hour duration, and then helping with the take down. They asked a lot of questions, received a lot of good advice and procured a lot of experience. We ran as a 1A operation again this year.

For me, this was the first time I made a contact using the Big Wheel even though I've had it since 2003. We've put it up at prior FDs but never at a good location nor this high. Right away Saturday morning I worked WQ0P at St. Marys, KS when I was testing it. Then the band went quiet until Sunday morning when I worked several stations including WD9BGA in Madison, WI a distance of about 410 miles.

The effort on 6m was a bit of a bust with just 2 QSOs completed to N0LL in Smith Center, KS and K0USA in Omaha, NE. I heard a brief bit of Es later Sunday morning so I directed the HF station to 10m where some activity was picking up.

I also made a number of calls on 146.520 MHz, but was disappointed we didn't have more takers on that frequency as well.

Overall we had fun. Had to shut down for a while due to lighting. Ate well. Slept well and let the younger kids have the overnight hours for a change! Offered encouragement and instruction to the newer members. I think they will do very well.

 

[Obed]

sounds like you had fun and congrats on getting the newer hams involved.

 

[N0NB]

We did and it's quite enjoyable helping someone get up to speed on things.