Your local ham radio enthusiasts were at it again last weekend participating in a national event, Winter Field Day. Much like the annual June Field Day event (our signs read “Ham Radio Daze” – because we stay up all night!), we set up emergency communications in a field, off grid, as quickly as possible. We make contact with hams across the country for a 24 hour period using voice communications, Morse code, and digital modes that utilize computers and specialized software.
Operating station W6SCF
For this event, OVY Youth Camp (Optimist Volunteers for Youth) in San Gregorio kindly hosted our encampment. Beginning Saturday morning, we brought in our communications trailer, raised several antennas, tested our radios and got on the air by 11am. For the next 24 hours we made contacts in places as far away as Hawaii, Florida and New York. Though the weather was reasonably nice, the advantage of participating in Winter Field Day is that it more closely resembles conditions in an actual emergency – cold, wet, and dark. We used a combination of solar and generator power to operate the radios and laptops, stay warm, as well as keep some strong coffee brewing.
Though this was a fairly small event, quite a few members of our club participated. There was scouting of the location, pre-planning the antennas, preparing computers for logging and digital contacts, selecting radios, and consideration of sleeping, heating, and eating arrangements. There was Saturday morning raising of antennas and connecting radios, and setting up camp. There were operators and loggers to make contacts during the event. There was a power master to oversee the use of generators, gasoline, and solar power. In the end all equipment needed to be taken down, cleaned, readied, and stowed for the next deployment.
Dipole antenna with feed line.
Here are some specifics of the weekend:
A total of 68 contacts were made in Hawaii, New York, Florida, Canada, and many states in between. We used Icom and Yaesu HF radios (high frequency) on several frequencies, 20m (meters), 40m, and 80m. The 20 meter band was the best performer with the most number of contacts.
Three antennas were raised and used throughout the weekend. One was a multi-band vertical donated to the club by Jack Eddy. Another was a fan dipole built by member Mike P. The third antenna, and possibly the most useful was an experimental antenna built just prior to the event by Angelo D., a delta loop which required some tweaking and set-up time, but performed extremely well in both daytime and nighttime communications. Mike also built a “C” pole antenna meant to be hung from a kite. The wind was sporadic, and never quite steady enough to make this fly, but on returning home Sunday afternoon, Mike strung it up through a tree and made contact with Japan! We’ll be trying that antenna again!
Testing the Delta Loop antenna
We can’t thank the folks enough who provided food; Saturday night dinner and a nice warm breakfast Sunday morning for a bunch of tired and cold operators. A big thanks also to the OVY camp and camp manager Matthew for being such gracious and accommodating hosts for the weekend. We worked hard to stay out of the way of camp activities and leave no trace behind. We hope this may become an annual event.
The Delta Loop antenna