2020 Field Day AAR

This year our amateur radio club had 5 stations plus the GOTA (Get on the air) station reserved for visitors who do not have an amateur radio ticket.

The five stations used the following antenna set-ups,

The five stations worked the following modes,

  • Two CW (Morse Code) Inverted ā€˜Vā€™.
  • Two PH (Phone) Vertical and G5RV.
  • One DIG (Digital). Vertical.

The digital station had some issues with RF from the other antennas so not as many DIG QSOā€™s (Contacts) happened as expected in that mode.

The overall QSOā€™s by mode were,

  • 103+ CW. Towards the end of the event our logging system went down
  • PH 322 plus 21 GOTA QSOā€™s must be hand entered into the electronic log
  • DIG 31+Ā willĀ be enteredĀ into the electronic log asĀ a paper logĀ was used for a short period.

 

CW tent

Besides the points for the QSOā€™s we also will claim points for,

  • The GOTA station QSOā€™s.
  • Having a County supervisor show up.
  • Having the event open to the public ā€“ Three folks showed up and participated in the GOTA station.
  • Having handouts available for the event.
  • Police and fire companies attending.

The event was running off two 8,000-watt generatorsĀ located inĀ the center of the field. We used a master computer that gathered the logged information from the slave computer at each station. The master computer livedĀ with the generators in the power tent. The system did have a hiccup Sunday morning and we went to paper logs until it came back up. Those QSOā€™s will be entered into the data base today by the club eventĀ coordinator.

Our club used a 100 x 200-yard field on top of an 1,840-ft hill that share two communication towers. We probably screwed with the cell phones for that area a bunch. LOL.

Drones eye view FD-2020

Friday about midday we launched the antenna messenger lines for my G5RV, setup tripods for inverted ā€˜Vā€™ dipole antennas, and setup tents. There were five tents for stations, one for the generators & master computer, and two mess tents for rain. A porto-Jonny was also dropped off along with a small camping kitchen.

Saturday morning antennas where hoisted or as in the verticals cases setup and ground wires laid out. All done during rain showers and a few thunderstorms.

At 1400 hrs ET, the stations started calling, ā€œCQ Field Dayā€¦CQ Field Dayā€ and gathered QSOā€™s by the hundreds.

Mom and daughter raking in those QSO’s…Work it girls, work it

Sunday, we started the generators and got the master computer up and running at 0700 hrs ET and kept recording those QSOā€™s. Around 1315 hrs. the sky started to turn dark and I could hear thunder in the distance. At that time, I went around to each station and told them the first lightning seen, I would pull the plug on the generators so, be ready to disconnect their rigs from their antennas. At 1340 hrs I saw a flash north of us and before I could get to the power tent to kill the generators someone else did. We received a short squall and once that passed, we broke everything down and left the field by 1515 hrs.

CW setup inverted ‘V’ antenna

Lessons learned,

  • Make sure tents used are in good working order. We had two, mine and another that leaked.
  • Have more tables and chairs for the mess tent.
  • Have a better battery back-up for the master computer. The generatorsĀ were shutĀ down at 0015Ā hrs. Sunday morning. The battery usedĀ to keep the master up and running all night failed. QSOā€™s were not lost but we operated with paper logs until the system wasĀ back up.
  • Have the DIG station away from the other stations to limit interference. We do not know why but the only station that gave us RF issues was the DIG one.
  • Bring extra socks and or a pair of plastic boots for if the ground is wet due to rain. I hate wet feet!

Freedom Through Self-RelianceĀ®

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By Published On: June 30, 2020Categories: Comms11 Comments on 2020 Field Day AAR

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About the Author: johnyMac

11 Comments

  1. Green Mountain Shooter June 30, 2020 at 08:40

    Good exercise, that’s what field day is for. I see you used N3JFP’s logging software. I really enjoy using it as it is so intuitive and Scott provides the best support.

    • johnyMac June 30, 2020 at 09:16

      Thank you Green Mountain Shooter!

      Yeah, the N3JFP software is the ‘cats meow’.

      I wish we had gotten more DIG QSO’s but live and learn.

      73 & God Bless Brother

  2. DVM June 30, 2020 at 08:54

    Awesome job JohnyMac!! Everyone, the importance of this kind of hands-on experience cannot be overestimated for our Team. To all readers of of this website: If you have not practiced with a radio (in some fashion) this year you are in DANGER mode in this area of your preps. I have written several times over the past few months that I believe Brushbeater’s RTO course is the best in the nation (and I am a 3x alumnus). I see he is offering RTO Basic on August 1-2. Why is this class not full?

    • johnyMac June 30, 2020 at 09:21

      Agree 100% DVM.

      You do not have to have an amateur radio license to attend his class. I have taken both RTO 101 and 201 and they are awesome classes! As Scout writes often, “get out there and train.” We all know, things are going sideways and will continue no matter who you vote for in November. TRAIN!

      73 & God Bless!

    • NC Scout June 30, 2020 at 11:25

      Many thanks for the compliments brother…the people in the course make it what it is! The one in August actually just about is full. ;)

  3. Travis June 30, 2020 at 08:58

    Nice, field day is always fun. I had surgery the day before, had to One Delta.

    • johnyMac June 30, 2020 at 09:24

      Well that sucks Travis. Tomorrow starts the 13 Colonies contest. Hopefully, you will be able to make that contest.

      73 & God Bless.

  4. keypounder74 July 1, 2020 at 05:49

    Very nice job, JohnnyMac.

    We ran 1A and made over 1200 contacts (mostly SSB and some search and pounce CW) with two operators. We were able to hold and run frequencies despite the chaos on the bands, (40 was notably worse than last year) due to good antennas on good sloping ground, very good equipment (Kenwood 590SG) and experienced ops.
    We also used N3FJP. Great program!

    My comment was prompted by your problem with RFI on your digital station. Digital stations sometimes have more cabling than other setups and can be prone to RFI. I’ve had this issue in the past and solved it by installing a good central ground rod 6+ ft deep at the digital station, grounding the computer at the chassis and all of the other equipment with 1″ copper strap or stranded 10 gage wire, and using clamp-on or other 31 material toroid chokes on every cable in that station, including the power cable, as well as choke baluns (one at the feedpoint and one at the radio,) bandpass filters and coax stub filters on the antenna feedline. With those in place, we have no trouble with RFI or blanking. It also helps to use long coax cable feedlines and let 30 or 40 feet lie on the ground. I’ve run multiple HF stations on 80, 40, 20, and 15 in immediate proximity with antennas all inside a 400 foot circle and had no issues at all, but it does take some time and supplies to deal with.

    BTW, the first time I did that I was worried about getting the ground rod out, but pulling the ground rod after the event is relatively easy with a piece of 5/16 chain and a digging bar; takes one guy about 5 minutes. Tamp the hole with the digging bar and you are done!

    Best regards, Keypounder

    • johnyMac July 1, 2020 at 06:30

      WOW, congratulations Keypounder on your 1,200 contacts. That is very impressive and a whole lot of dedication from your team.

      Great suggestion on the RFI for digital. I will pass it along to the digital guys in the club. We are all learning that mode for sure.

      I too used my Kenwood 590 but the ‘S’ version not the updated ‘SG’ and stayed on 20, 40, and 80-meters. One of the stations started out with 15-meters Saturday but eventually that band went to pot. As you wrote, 40-meters was a bit disappointing. I used several propagation predictors which all showed that 40-meters would be the ‘cat’s meow’ both days however, it was not.

      Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.

      73 & God Bless

  5. […] ARRL Field Day exercise, […]

  6. keypounder74 July 2, 2020 at 18:03

    @Johnny Mac-

    The 590, whether the S or the SG, is a very good radio, and anyone looking for a good transceiver for portable operation would be well served with one. 1200 contacts for a 1a is decent but by no means exceptional; if you look in December QST you can see that plenty of 1A stations do better.

    My buddy and I are brainstorming on how to do better next year. Another good op or two would be first on both of our lists, but improving our antenna setup is right behind that, and a bit more within our control. There are other things that can be done, too, starting with me improving my ability to run CW, and preferably while solo logging. Most of my CW contacts were search and pounce; I did try running on CW but quickly got overwhelmed and had to go back to S&P.

    While knowing how to make quick crisp clear transmissions and maintain control of the frequency in a chaotic situation is a useful skill to have in the basket, it is by no means the only one, or even close to the most important one. Being able to organize and plan the station setup, design and erect the antennas and stations, organize the available volunteers, deal with all the logistics issues (access control, transport, food, sanitation weather protection, sleeping, etc. etc.) is far more important. If you have a good handle on those things, and it sounds as if you do, then you are way out in front of most operations I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a few. As the number of people increases, the difficulty managing them rises geometrically.

    My understanding is that NCS is going to post our AAR here this weekend.
    Now I am off to try to land some more of the 13 colonies!
    73, Keypounder

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