Winter Field Day is coming up on January 27/28th. The club didn't participate in this event as a group last winter, but is there any interest for this year?
It just occurred to me over Christmas holidays that it will be too late to plan one if its left to the next meeting.
Who would like to attend a GBARC event for Winter Field Day if there is one?
I'm looking for suggestions for a suitable location, (preferably warmish lol) with room for an antenna and radio setup. It would be really nice if there were washroom facilities near by. Anyone have a garage or outbuilding that they are able to share? Any ideas are welcome...
Who would like to be an organizer for the event and help with planning? It would be fairly easy...just keeping everyone informed, make sure there will be all required equipment brought to the site, etc.
I will be sending out an email to everyone as well...because there isn't a whole lot of time left to get things planned.
I can bring my 2 kW Honda generator which will power the new club IC-7300 (and a couple more if needed). We'll need to get N1MM+ loaded on the club laptop and get it & the 7300 configured to talk to each other.
I registered last month as an individual out in my shed, shivering with my 7300 to my vertical. I'm going to go with that. If there is interest in getting together I will join, otherwise lone wolf.
There hasn't been a lot of interest in having a GBARC event for Winter Field Day this year. So far the only club members who have replied are:
Bobby VE3PAV, John VA3KOT, Dave VE3WI, Doug VE3DGY, and myself Dan VA3DNY.
If there are any updates, I will post them here.
Just a note:
Makes no sense to operate from a trailer, shed or garage near the house unless is >500 ft away. It is still Home regardless of operating Inside or Outside. Much more comfortable being at home.
"Ham radio operators should practice portable emergency communications in winter environments as the potential for freezing temperatures, snow, ice, and other hazards present unique operational concerns. WFD is formatted to help increase your level of preparedness for disasters and improve your operational skills in subpar conditions."
Allowing home-based stations doesn't seem to be compatible with the above.
Maybe its the idea of having overnight guests that makes for a difficult decision for anyone contemplating hosting the event. Would a possible suggestion be to operate from say 2pm to 8pm and then call it a day?
2024-01-16, 11:29:19 (This post was last modified: 2024-01-16, 11:42:24 by Adam_VE3FP.
Edit Reason: typo
)
Just a comment on the idea to practice operating in adverse winter conditions. Why?
- Winter means one thing to someone living in northerly climate vs someone in the south, the weather.
- operating from home still sharpens operating skills.
- setting up emergency operating environment can be done without having to drive to "Timbuktu" and freezing just to prove a point.
This can be accomplished from the comfort of your home by simply by setting up your operating conditions as in the field.
eg: Station powered by batteries, generator; Antenna could be anything you would setup in the field.
Radio interface and logging setup and working.
The only difference would be the weather and very likely the set ups will be different in each emergency situation.
Year after year we see the preparedness for ARRL Field Day. We spend first two to four hours dealing with setups.
In my opinion is to get setup Indoors or Outdoors at Home and have fun WFD.
(2024-01-16, 11:29:19)Adam_VE3FP Wrote: Just a comment on the idea to practice operating in adverse winter conditions. Why?
- Winter means one thing to someone living in northerly climate vs someone in the south, the weather.
- operating from home still sharpens operating skills.
- setting up emergency operating environment can be done without having to drive to "Timbuktu" and freezing just to prove a point.
This can be accomplished from the comfort of your home by simply by setting up your operating conditions as in the field.
eg: Station powered by batteries, generator; Antenna could be anything you would setup in the field.
Radio interface and logging setup and working.
The only difference would be the weather and very likely the set ups will be different in each emergency situation.
Year after year we see the preparedness for ARRL Field Day. We spend first two to four hours dealing with setups.
In my opinion is to get setup Indoors or Outdoors at Home and have fun WFD.
Adverse winter conditions present an entirely new set of challenges. Operating outdoors in winter is entirely different to operating in a nice warm shack. And, it is absolutely unnecessary to get excessively cold doing so. In fact, the whole point of doing a winter exercise is to learn how to overcome those challenges. You simply cannot take the same equipment you would use on a nice warm day in June and expect it to perform exactly the same way in winter. Batteries lose a significant amount of capacity in cold weather, gasoline freezes and radios can fail due to condensation and contraction failure of tiny copper printed circuit traces. Coax cables become very brittle and their connectors can fail. Telescopic antenna poles freeze up and cannot be collapsed after operating. Heavy ice can form on antenna wires and cause them to break.
All these challenges can be overcome with the right techniques. For example, there is a way to pass a radio through the dew point without risk of condensation causing problems when it is powered up; there is a way to avoid coax failure etc. Hams who engage in SOTA are experts at this; for example W0RW operates above 12,000 feet in Colorado - despite the weather. OH8STN operates outdoors above the Arctic Circle in northern Finland. A couple of ex-GBARC members here in Owen Sound thrive on operating overnight in tents and caves in the depths of winter.
I have some experience in winter ops myself, starting in 1999 in Resolute Bay, Nunavut where, as communications consultant for an Arctic expedition, I used commercial satellite radio equipment to send messages to the expedition team in their base in Oslo, Norway. I had to do that outside in order to get a signal from the satellite. Later, the expedition leader operated from his destination location even further north in Canada's Arctic. He and his team and their boat were deliberately frozen into a bay for a whole year. To send reports to the outside world he had to hike 1km up a hill to his radio hut, often in 24-hour darkness and carrying a rifle in case of polar bear encounters. Inside the hut he had to warm his radio equipment for an hour (it doesn't work at -43 degC) before he could use it. HF radio works differently in the Arctic so there are special techniques to maintain links. Satellite comms are difficult because the geostationary satellites are barely above the horizon.
Winter radio operation down at our latitude is a little easier but still requires a lot of care and special techniques to be successful. Last winter I snowshoed into Hibou hauling my radio gear on a sled to do a POTA activation. The snow was 2 feet deep on the beach where I setup my antenna. That is when I learned that it is not an easy task to adjust the length of a counterpoise if you have to trudge through deep snow to do so (I use a different technique now). But I did develop some ways to stay tolerably warm while operating outdoors. Through similar exercises while operating Polar Bear QRP Ops events I developed techniques to protect equipment from falling snow and keep paddle contacts from shorting and erratic performance due to cold.
I understand you are mainly interested in contesting Adam, but please don't dismiss winter outdoor operations as simply a question of moving all your gear outdoors; it is much more complex than that and requires a lot of practice. I still learn something new every time I do it. And, by the way, it is fun for me and many other hams who enjoy it.
The picture shows my antenna setup on the beach at Hibou Conservation Area in Owen Sound.
I agree with you John. Adverse operating conditions are definitely more challenging but l think there may only be a handful of hams who would go to the extremes you mentioned. Challenges will occur with almost any new setup due to location, weather and equipment. We experience this at ARRL Field Day every year.
Ham radio covers a broad area of interests. Some hams build stations with huge antenna farms using max allowable power and others down to simple antenna and flea power, while some ops stick to mobile or portable operations. With the advanced technology in computers and radios many other modes of operations are now available besides phone and cw.
My opinion is to take part in many events this hobby provides, so going to the extremes is ok for those up the challenge but for most is just staying active in your area of interest.
Out of curiosity I wanted to find out how many ops each class had in WFD.
My results are only based on my CW QSOs from 2023 WFD.
All QSOs 517
Home 304 59%
Outdoor 104 20%
Indoor 93 18%
Mobile 16 3%
Pictures from 2013 WFD at my QTH
I think it was -20C that evening.
Well said Adam. I guess I am one of those who thrives on outdoor operating in any season. In summer I like to carry my gear into the bush and operate away from public areas. In winter I will haul my gear on a sled and operate inside a Bothy bag to shelter from the cold. My home shack gets very little use except for a weekly CW rag chew with friends on 80m. I have to be extra careful nowadays because both my wife and I have health issues. I guess that comes with age but it hasn't blunted my enthusiasm.
So we’re going ahead, here are the details:
QTH, Ferndale visitors center, 2928 Hwy 6, Lion's Head, ON N0H 1W0, heated with power
Saturday, Jan 27, 11am-9pm
2 Radios, club 7300, and Marvin’s G90, Marvin will bring antennas
Marvin is bringing a pot of chilli, Doug will bring plates and waters
If we get our PC we can N1MM to 7300
Bring your own portable gear if you want (some will)
It was good to see so much real radio activity going on yesterday. I counted 4 stations at one point. I think the most interesting one was Bernie's setup inside the picnic shelter adjacent to the main building. The shelter had a steel roof about 10ft high. Bernie optimistically erected his linear-loaded dipole under the steel roof and actually made contacts! My guess is that the roof was re-radiating his signal.
A suggestion for the future: the club should consider buying a Heil headset for operators and some Heil headphones for loggers. The club 7300 has only a small speaker and in high ambient noise environments it is very difficult to copy contacts on the radio.
Personal note: as some are aware I suffered a TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack; aka "mini stroke") before Christmas. A CT scan in the hospital emergency dept revealed a partial blockage of an artery in my neck which is restricting blood flow to my brain. I will be seeing a vascular surgeon this week to determine if surgery is possible. Meanwhile I get very tired very quickly (bed by 9:30pm) so can't participate fully in club events. I hope this is only a temporary setback.
Well, we didn't break any records this WFD but like John said, it was good to see the participation in this event. External speaker and head phones would improve the operating the station(s). John and I nearly made half the contacts in CW, 7 out of 18 logged.
I don't have all the QSOs made by the other stations but here are current results. Dave VE3WI, Tom VA3TS and myself VE3FP also helped with the logging.
If there are anymore QSOs from other stations, you can just email me the ADI file and I will submit the results as soon as I get the file(s).
I spent the rest of the WFD at my home QTH working as VE3FP 1H ONS.
They are pricy. I've seen ads for others e.g. Inrad, Paradan, Radiosport, but I don't know any details about them. Occasionally I see headsets (mainly Heil) advertised on KWARC.
The "iC" on the Heil name means the mic has an electret element designed for ICOMs. They need DC phantom power which ICOM radios supply (8V I think).
If we wanted to use a dynamic mic, a blocking capacitor is needed to prevent the phantom power from damaging the dynamic element. Dynamic mics have lower output so more mic gain is needed. Some hams say they use a preamp.
Heil sells both mic elements for the Pro7 & you can change them yourself. I think you have to send them the headset if you want the element changed on the ProSet or Elite.
Any of those headsets will need an adapter. For the IC-7300, Radioworld sells the Heil AD-1-iC adapter for $34. The version with the blocking cap is also $34. They include a 3.5mm mic jack and a 1/4" phone jack for a PTT pickle or footswitch. The headphone plug on the headset goes directly to the radio. Someone with a well-stocked parts bin could build one, but for $34 I would vote for buying one.
Headphones for the logger would also be nice, also a speaker so guests can hear the activity. That would need a splitter of some kind and a powered speaker.
2024-01-30, 10:49:58 (This post was last modified: 2024-01-30, 10:53:21 by Adam_VE3FP.)
Looking at the level of radio activity results in my previous post and spending the money on high end head set is not necessary when $50.00 gaming head phones would do the job. I've been using them for years and don't have any issues. Just need to make sure it's a wired set because most are USB type. I have one set that the USB Bluetooth part can be separated and used as conventional wired set. Headphone/mic head set is great for an active operator doing its own logging operating SSB. The ops doing CW and digital, mic is not needed. Just my 2 cents.
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