Field Day stations

[WA8ZTZ]

Seems like there were more Class D Home stations for this year's Field Day than others. Which leads me to ask, "What's the point?"
OK, full disclosure, ran down to the basement shack to get something for my outdoors set-up and heard a guy on 6 calling CQ FD over and over with no takers so gave him a call. However, if for some reason you have to operate from home, why not at least go Class E? Otherwise, it's just another day in the shack albeit with more activity. Just my .02.

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

Two ham friends and I decided FD is a good excuse for a Solstice dinner party. We set up on the patio of my house- a 10 metre transceiver, a bar-b-que, a chiminea and wine.

We made several contacts- 'ragchews' actually... 1 D class, all on 29.6 FM.

No "CQ Contest...CQ Contest...... "


Lauri

 

[WA8ZTZ]

10 was wide open Saturday afternoon to the West and Southwest from here but no activity... seems everybody preferred the wall to wall QRM on 40 instead.

 

[wa8pyr]

Seems like there were more Class D Home stations for this year's Field Day than others. Which leads me to ask, "What's the point?"
OK, full disclosure, ran down to the basement shack to get something for my outdoors set-up and heard a guy on 6 calling CQ FD over and over with no takers so gave him a call. However, if for some reason you have to operate from home, why not at least go Class E? Otherwise, it's just another day in the shack albeit with more activity. Just my .02.

Actually, in an emergency situation it's entirely likely we would have people operating from home, so 1D isn't unreasonable. That being said, operating 1E at least for awhile wouldn't be a bad idea. Issue there is can you go from running 1E to 1D and put them on the same entry submission?

10 was wide open Saturday afternoon to the West and Southwest from here but no activity... seems everybody preferred the wall to wall QRM on 40 instead.

Concur on the QRM. I set up my IC705 in the backyard with a 9:1 unun and about 20 feet of wire, powered by a LiFEPo4 battery. Amazingly enough, I actually managed to bag four contacts (MD/DC and a couple of others, but the biggest surprise was Iowa).

I checked the other bands but at the time 40 was the only thing open.

 

[alcahuete]

Honestly? The majority of hams are old and lazy. Why go out when you can sit at home in the air conditioning? I (and many others) told the ARRL many, many times that it would be a HUGE mistake to allow the COVID-era rules to continue, and what do they do? They allow them to continue forever.

When you allow people to stay home and work the event by themselves, you get more participants, and you get more contacts. All the ARRL cares about is numbers, sadly, and these new rules give them the numbers and headlines they want. Sad.

Issue there is can you go from running 1E to 1D and put them on the same entry submission?

Nope, can't do it. Have to pick one class and stay there.

 

[ai8o]

I went North of the Arctic Circle to Utqiavik (Barrow) Alaska for Field Day.
Latitude 71N.
24/7 Midnite Sun territory.

I was using KL7BRW.
1D in my son's garage.

Setup a 40-20-15-10m Fan Dipole.

There is NO over the air broadcasting except KBRW (AM 680) in the area.
So there is no pressure to clean up RFI from unintentional emitters like wall warts, cheap big screen TVs, or leakage from the local cable company system .

In between RFI, Solar Flares, and Aurorae, the noise was overwhelming/inpenetrable.

I only heard one ham on 15m ( something, something, ? IKL).
I also heard some oriental language BC just above 15Mhz, otherwise zilch!

I couldn't even receive the 11282, 6640 KHZ USB signals from the ARINC facility 6 miles away.

FD was a total bust!

Oh well!
At least I got to visit family while I was there.

Maybe next year?

Dan
AI8O/KL7BRW

 

[mass-man]

If FD wasn't treated as a contest and like the emergency exercise it is, it would be worth it. Otherwise I get on 17 and find a few stations and we have a good ragchew!!!

 

[vagrant]

I was a 1D for Field Day this year, as it was 108°F that weekend. Still, I operated at 10W or less as that is what I would use if I connected a battery. I was not trying to compete, but rather test the TX / RX with more operators out there than usual. I used phone and FT8 and I am not mentally fragile where I needed to lie and claim 1E. I enjoy the experimenting of it all. Hell, I even connected my Chameleon loop indoors at one point to test out how well it received...and boy is it an inefficient antenna, as I already knew. Still, I could decode plenty of stations on FT8.

 

[AK9R]

Ah, yes. The age old debate about ARRL Field Day. Is it a contest? Is it an emergency preparedness exercise? Is it a public relations opportunity? Is it a gathering of old friends and time to meet new friends? Is it a cookout with enough food to feed a third-world village?

It's all of the above.

Field Day is pretty much whatever you want it to be.

From the ARRL's website: "Field Day is ham radio's open house. Every June, more than 40,000 hams throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio's science, skill and service to our communities and our nation. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. Field Day has been an annual event since 1933, and remains the most popular event in ham radio."

Also, this from a Field Day flyer produced by the ARRL: "Field Day is a picnic, a campout, practice for emergencies, an informal contest and, most of all, FUN!"

If you aren't having fun, don't do it. If you are jealous because others are having fun, don't do it. If you can't accept that others perceive Field Day differently than you do, don't do it.

"Most popular event in ham radio"? Sounds like the ARRL hit on a good formula.

 

[WA8ZTZ]

It just seems pointless to have Class D Home stations talking to Class D Home stations... it takes the "field" out of FIELD day.

 

[alcahuete]

It just seems pointless to have Class D Home stations talking to Class D Home stations... it takes the "field" out of FIELD day.

Exactly right. Plenty of other events where you can sit at home and work other home stations. But that's the ARRL for you...they just care about the numbers and headlines. Doesn't matter if everybody is sitting at home for FIELD Day.

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

Yes, I see the errors of my ways--- next year I will insist that my little group change their ways too.
No more Class 1 D.

I have this pasture that is really isolated and it gets rather nasty about this time of year (cattle kind'a do that)--we can truck out a noisy generator, maybe put up some sort of vertical antenna, with a lean-to of canvas for a shelter-- maybe build a smoky fire to try and drive off the demon horse flies (it is a pasture after all and those buggers can Bite !) Since this will be a dead-serious emergency exercise no alcohol will be allowed, and all the food will come out of tin cans heated (scorched) over that fire.... to keep it authentic we can squat on the ground and pretend---- pretend whatever, geeeez.
Oh, we will insist everyone wear Haz-Mat suits; (any) visitors will have to wear them too, with masks.

We will have one hoot of a time and probably kill off any of our future FD's but good .








Lauri

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[jhooten]

Every contact I made during FD was as a 1D using FT8.



(That ought to get some heads exploding.)

 

[WA8ZTZ]

(That ought to get some heads exploding.)

 

[mtindor]

Honestly? The majority of hams are old and lazy. Why go out when you can sit at home in the air conditioning? I (and many others) told the ARRL many, many times that it would be a HUGE mistake to allow the COVID-era rules to continue, and what do they do? They allow them to continue forever.

When you allow people to stay home and work the event by themselves, you get more participants, and you get more contacts. All the ARRL cares about is numbers, sadly, and these new rules give them the numbers and headlines they want. Sad.



Nope, can't do it. Have to pick one class and stay there.

I don't see it as a "huge mistake" at all. Not everyone is able to get out and about for the event. Why should they be punished? Sure, under the old rules they could operate but D's couldn't work each other for points. Sounds like a punishment to me. If zombie modes like FT8 are going to be allowed for points, then certainly D-stations should be able to work other D-stations for points.

PS: I worked 165 CW Qs and 114 zombie mode Qs. I'm triple damned, depending upon who is in the damning mood, by (a) working CW, (b) working FT8, and (c) running 1D.

 

[alcahuete]

I don't see it as a "huge mistake" at all. Not everyone is able to get out and about for the event. Why should they be punished? Sure, under the old rules they could operate but D's couldn't work each other for points. Sounds like a punishment to me. If zombie modes like FT8 are going to be allowed for points, then certainly D-stations should be able to work other D-stations for points.

PS: I worked 165 CW Qs and 114 zombie mode Qs. I'm triple damned, depending upon who is in the damning mood, by (a) working CW, (b) working FT8, and (c) running 1D.

It absolutely is a huge mistake. There is no incentive to get out in the field, which is what the event is all about. When 3/4 of the participants (that's about what it's up to currently, BTW) are sitting at home, kinda defeats the purpose of Field Day, does it not? Might as well just change it to Home Day and have everybody sit at home, like every other contest. There's no way you are going to convince me that 3/4 of the participants are not able to get out and about. That's utter nonsense.

Not sure how you run FT8, but our FT8 station was manned all 24 hours, with a minimum of 2 people, usually 3. No different than banging out CW or working SSB as far as I'm concerned. And in fact, it takes considerably longer to make a QSO.

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

FT-8 ?

That's 'ham radio ?"

Why not call that "Zombie Day." Hell.... we can set up a box in a field, drive into town and eat lunch while our zombie station cranks out contacts.

Goodness gracious....! watching that for 24 hours straight !.... FT-8 is about as exciting as watching paint dry.


.

 

[jhooten]

FT-8 ?

That's 'ham radio ?"

Why not call that "Zombie Day." Hell.... we can set up a box in a field, drive into town and eat lunch while our zombie station cranks out contacts.

Goodness gracious....! watching that for 24 hours straight !.... FT-8 is about as exciting as watching paint dry.


.

During the post FD discussions on the club repeater an "operator" came up saying how he used CW for the first time since taking his test 30 years ago, bragging about making hundreds of CW contacts by watching the computer decode the signals then pressing the appropriate F1-4 keys to have the computer send the pre-programmed canned message in reply. Same skill set as using FT8. Should those contacts be allowed for contest credit?

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

Personally I don't care what mode some hams uses- it can be sideband, FM. computer assisted CW, FT-8, ---even flashlights, bongo drums or code sent by beating a stick against a hollow log. For me the mode is not the issue (though I myself would choose the hollow log over FT-8 any day .)

Its a social event- unlike the other rabid radio contests held all the rest of the year.
............a weekend about more than just radio.
If someone thinks they are more noble by setting up a tent station in a sweltering asphalt parking lot, and then thinking this is in the true spirit of Field Day?........................................................... sigh.

.

 

[GlobalNorth]

I turned on my mobile on 70cm digital and heard nothing while doing yard work.