The ARRL Field Day - 2021...

Field Day 2021...

 

In three words: “What a Zoo”!!!!

 

As another ham said: “FD is a contest no matter what the ARRL says. Contests bring out all that type of behaviour most of us dislike.”

This Field Day was like the three stooges all trying to go through the same door at the same time.  Nobody listening out for other stations on the same frequency, nobody asking if the frequency is in use...yep, just spin the VFO, and wherever it stops start calling CQ FD right away before somebody else does.

 

The ARRL placed a power limit on the home based stations of 150w because of issues caused by the home based stations last year. Yet, there were home operators out there bragging they were using 1000w and 1500w again this year....and many of them. I heard a W4 and a K3 in particular, talking about their high power levels during one of their exchanges. If you’re not going to follow the rules, why take part?

 

There seemed to be more LIDS out there than usual causing issues this year, and the foul language on the air at times had to be heard to be believed. Perhaps it’s time the ARRL took some steps...big ones...to put an end to this bad behaviour on the bands. This isn’t the first year this has happened, it’s just that it gets worse every year.  Nobody seems to care about the bad behaviour and nobody will do something about it, so after a while it becomes acceptable because there is no penalty for flaunting the rules and the accepted behaviour standards.

This is what I wrote last year about Field Day:

"The ARRLs decision to temporarily modify the rules was, in my opinion, an absolute disaster. I'm sure the ARRL will scream that this year was the "Largest Field Day Turnout in History!" within the next couple weeks as the logs begin to roll in, and of course the numbers look good for their amateur radio publicity, but Field Day should not be a numbers game. It might just well have been any other contest weekend. 

 

The people who actually participated in the real SPIRIT of Field Day had absolutely no chance at all. They were getting completely blown away by the D and E stations running large antennas and amplifiers. That's all you heard. I'm just guessing right now without looking at my log, but I would say easily 95% of the contacts I made were Class D and E."

The ARRL did nothing about this, and this year it was even worse.  Every word I wrote last year I could write again about this year.  The spirit of Field Day is emergency preparedness, not a contest.  If you're not prepared to operate under minimal conditions and with minimum equipment, why bother taking part?

I think that after 25 years of doing them, I’m over field day. This was the last one for me.

QRP and Field Day...

Coming up in two weekends is Field Day 2021.  I'm not sure where I will be operating from yet, I'm still waiting to see what will be open by then.  My best guess right now is that I will be operating from a screen tent located on my back deck.

One thing is for certain, I will be running QRP on battery power with my KX3.  In fact I have just bought a second 1212a Bioenno battery to make sure I don't run out of power.  Remember, operating QRP on battery gives you a multiplier of +5 on each contact you make.

Here's a few QRP hints for you...

Timing is everything!  If you're operating QRP don't jump in at the very beginning because you will be severely stomped on by hundreds of high power stations, all looking to work the other high power stations.   Wait until late evening, perhaps even until early Sunday morning before you start.  There are two reasons for this.  Firstly, by that time the big guns will have worked all the other big guns and the "easy to work" stations.  Secondly, by Sunday morning the big guns are starting to get desperate for contacts and actually start listening, and work harder, to get weak and low powered stations in order to gather more points. 

Antennas, Antennas, Antennas.  You can never have enough.  I'll be using a vertical, and multiple dipoles.  A few points for you... If you're using a vertical, double the number radials you already have on the ground.  That will give you a gain of 1 or 2 db, and remember when operating QRP every db counts!!  Most people will put up a dipole as an inverted V as that is easier.  However, a flat-top dipole will gain you 1 or 2 db.  Once again, every db matters.  

Verticals are good for DX and distance.  From my QTH they make it easier to make contacts out on the west coast and down into the Gulf Coast, and more contacts mean a better score. I will be putting up a 40m NVIS antenna this year to make sure I can work into the upper States, Quebec, and Northern Ontario which I always seem to miss.

Know what band to use and when.  During the day 20m is normally the work horse, but don't forget to spin the VFO over 15m and 10m, as sometimes they open and get busy as well.  20m can remain open until late evening and you can catch some good stations as the Greyline goes through your location.  40m can also be a good place to hunt during the day, but it's a lot better in the evening and over night as is 80m. Very rarely do I go down to 160m, I find it's just not worth the effort.  

Two last things to remember.  The MUF begins to fall in the late afternoon or early evening.  That's the time to follow the greyline. And, skip normally lengthens in the late afternoon or evening depending on the propagation.

I hope you all have fun during Field Day. Enjoy the time and enjoy experimenting with different antennas.

Field Day Rules can be found HERE.

Stay safe out there!

Lousy Propagation...

The bands have not been cooperating for the past couple of weeks.  They have been noisy, full of deep QSB, and not much fun to operate on.

I did two local POTA activations this past weekend, and only just managed to scrape the minimum of 10 stations for a successful activation on both occasions.  In fact, on Sunday I started early in the morning and with only 5 stations in the log hit a wall.  I had to pack up and hope the bands improved in the afternoon so I could come back and finish the activation.......it did.  I managed another 6 to squeak by.  That is the very first time I had to come back to finish.

Those of us that activate parks around Kingston have noticed that while we nearly all now use Hamsticks, there is very little difference between them and our other portable wire antennas.  The hamsticks are sure a lot easier to put up!

The map of my Saturday contacts.

My map of my Sunday contacts

Hopefully the bands will get better before Field Day rolls around two weekends from now.

A bit of a surprise...

 

Very pleased to receive this certificate, my Worked All States (WAS) from Parks on the Air.

This was much harder than getting the ARRL WAS certificate. It took me the better part of a year to work a POTA station in every state, and it was even longer than I expected due to some individuals not submitting a log and having to search again for an active park in the missing state.

Now that this is done I guess I have to find a new goal to work towards.

May, a busy month...

I just looked at my calendar for the month of May, counted up my POTA activations and discovered I did 15 separate activations.  Of those activations, 5 of them had never been activated before.

During those activations I put over 400 contacts in my log. Now 400 may not look like a big number, but when you consider I only do POTA as a QRP station with 10w into a hamstick, held on to the roof of my van with a 5" mag-mount, it's not too shabby a number.

So far June is shaping up to be a quiet month for activities, especially now that the Rideau Bike Tour has been cancelled for the second year in a row due to Covid.  

I haven't made any plans for this years ARRL Field Day yet, I'm going to see what the rest of my ham buddies are going to do first.  But if I do participate this year, it will be as a QRP station.

The decision last year by the ARRL to temporarily modify the rules was, in my humble opinion, an absolute disaster. It might just well have been any other contest weekend.  The people who actually participated in the real SPIRIT of Field Day had absolutely no chance at all. They were getting completely blown away by the D and E class stations running large home based antennas and amplifiers. That's all you heard. Looking through my log, but I would say easily 95% of the contacts I made were Class D and E. 

This year, to appease the large number of hams who complained about the D and E class stations last year, the ARRL have ruled that these classes can only run a maximum of 150w.  Yeah...well, let's see how many of them play by the rules this year...I'm not going to hold my breath.

Stay safe out there!

What A Night...

Saturday was a great night. It was our Clubs monthly HF QRP Sprint, and I decided to drive to Fort Henry and do a POTA activation at the same time.  I thought I may do well there, and I was not disappointed at all.

Propagation has not been very good around here for the past month.  The bands have been very noisy and have had a great deal of very deep QSB.  

Last night the propagation numbers were:

SFI=75, SN=13, A Index=5, and K Index=2.  We also had some deep QSB.

I used my KX3 at 10w into a 40m Hamstick mounted with a mag-mount on the roof of my van.  40m was up and down, one minute it was going long, and the next it was extremely short....so you never knew what you were going to get after you called CQ.

The Sprint runs from 1900 to 2100 local time here in Ontario, and for those two hours I hardly stopped entering stations in my logbook, it was just insane at times.  

At 2100 I shut down with 75 contacts in the log, from 22 different Provinces or States.  It was an excellent time, and I must do it again soon.

Stay safe out there!

Light CAN-766

John, VE3ISE, will be activating Canadian Light CAN-766, the Port Weller Lighthouse, on Wednesday May 19th.  

He will try and start early 1300Z to 1500Z. Running 100 Watts to a Hustler Antenna on his Jeep.

Frequency in use will be 7260 +/- 10.....Hopefully.

 

The propagation is not looking good for Wednesday right now, but let's hope that changes.  As far as I can tell, this is the first lighthouse activation of the year, so let's try and work John.

The picture shows the entrance to Port Weller Harbour.

Busted...at first!!

The day didn't start very well today radio-wise.  I had decided to try another POTA activation and do the Great Trail of Canada, better known to many people as the "Trans-Canada Trail", which is VE-5082.  It crosses Highway 38 about 15 km north of the city, so it's pretty easy to get to.

I arrived at the nearly empty parking lot, and set up for 40m.  Wow!  What a surprise.  Both 40m and 20m had a S9+20 noise floor.  I couldn't hear a thing across both bands, and the other bands were the same.  There are no power lines or building near the trail, so I have no idea where the noise is coming from.

The propagation numbers this morning were: SFI=73, SN=18, A Index=4, and K Index=2.

I gave up, packed up, and went home defeated......but not for long.  Later in the afternoon I decided to activate, again, VE-0023, the Frontenac Biosphere.  This is an easy drive from home and this will be the third or fourth time I done this site.

To be honest I wasn't expecting much after the mornings disappointment, and once again I was surprised.  

Over 60 minutes I put 26 contacts in the log, including EA1AF in Spain, DJ4POT in South Germany, and NP3MR in Puerto Rico.  I also had contacts in Newfoundland, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan....places I haven't worked in months. 

I was using my KX3 at 10w with a 20m Hamstick with a mag-mount on my van roof....nothing fancy, but it works.

So it turned out to be a pretty good day after all.