2014 Winter Field Day

[VK3ALB]

I wondered why we persist with differentiating between portable and home stations - Personally I think they should all be in the same category - with hill-toppers looked upon as Dx-peditions for the contest but without any constraints such as setup time.

Probably because the idea was to encourage portable activity. Also, portable operation takes a fair bit of organization and effort and it's not always the most comfortable weekend. I guess that's why SOTA identifies mountain goats and shack sloths. Take a look at the dramas Doug VK4ADC goes through on some field days with the weather - not many would be willing to put up with that for too long.

The distance based category was of interest and some different tactics may well be needed in future -

There is a discrepancy between sub grid and distance traveled in Div 2. There also seems to be a loophole in the rules regarding moving 10km. I know that was unintended but it certainly is there right now and I think it is valid to take advantage of it. I can hear the anti rover brigade baying for blood now.

I also must wonder about the rules not allowing the operators of a multi op to contact other stations - in the quiet times what would be wrong with being able to use more than one call-sign from a multi-op site as long as it could not contact say within the same grid locator (6 digits) ? There is always a reaction to a change - it could be as simple as manipulated contacts - perhaps those with more experience could enlighten me... Probably those pesky VK3s

Sub grids are only a few km across at best. How good would it be if I could send one of my guys with a fully loaded car (50MHz thru 47GHz) into the surrounding 9 sub grids to work the mother ship? What if one of my guys used all the team gear (50MHz thru 47GHz) and somehow amassed the winning score in the single op portable category and our team won the multi op category. Oh dear more blood to be spilled.

[VK4TS]

Thanks for the explanation Lou - I suppose if people are happy to sit in the same tent in the RD Contest on HF VHF and work each other for 24 hours on all bands; then there are some sad types around -

[VK3ALB]

Some ops may not be aware that their Div 2 score may be adversely affected by not appending /P to portable stations they worked in the contest. All is not lost, you can go back and check your log to make sure you correctly logged all portable stations you worked. Click on view log in VKCL and check the callsign column. If you find any that are wrong you can edit the contact & update the callsign.

This is not the fault of VKCL.

[VK3BQ]

Whoops. Thanks lou. And thanks for contacts between your wine appreciation outing. Even if only to my backyard vertical.

[VK3MY]

Guilty Guilty Gulity

Made a difference of 300 points for me.

Thanks Lou.

[VK3YFL]

Expecting wet and windy weather I decided to take my newly acquired (secondhand) caravan to my usual field day location of Kinglake National Park. It certainly reduced setup and knockdown time and provided a few comforts not accorded by my usual setup. I chose to ignore Gavin VK3HY's comment regarding me next having a butler!

I found the 6m halo had a poor VSWR as it was too close to the caravan roof, but I subsequently increased the separation by extending the telescopic support pole after I'd lowered it to track down the cause of very low signal strengths on 70cm. It turned out a joint at the feedpoint of the yagi had fractured, but I was able to effect a temporary repair to restore it.

This is the view towards the Melbourne CBD - generally SW. Incidentally I use the Eureka Tower in the CBD to calibrate my dish bearing indicator, however on Saturday I had to wait for the cloud/fog to clear before I could do that.

Most rewarding contact was with VK3PY and VK3ACG on 10GHz. Persistence over some time was required to make the grade over the 132km path.

Most interesting moment was a visit from the Police who said I'd been accused of chopping down trees. It all turned out OK after my accuser turned up later saying "I come in peace" and apologized after realizing it must have been surveyors who had been working in the area.

Unfortunately Sunday commitments limited my activity to just Saturday until early evening. Thanks to all of those that made the effort to go out portable and the home stations who came on air to exchange numbers.

Bryon
VK3YFL

[VK3LL]

Many thanks to all those stations who took the time to work VK3KQ/P during the weekend. Damian and I had a ball - special thanks to the 3ALB/P crew for entertaining us late on Saturday night between red cordial sips!

Here's a view of our station at QF22DM (835m ASL):


Here I am inside the tent, chatting with Lou and Jenni on Saturday night (whilst watching ATV):


And here's a view of me purging the excess RF from my system after the end of the contest (with apologies):


Cheers,
Ralph VK3LL
Co-operator of VK3KQ/P

[VK2JDH]

I wondered why we persist with differentiating between portable and home stations - Personally I think they should all be in the same category - with hill-toppers looked upon as Dx-peditions for the contest but without any constraints such as setup time.

Well it is a 'field day' to encourage 'portable' operation.

[VK4TS]

Heaven forbid -

The whole idea of the day(s) is to encourage activity from the VHF UHF+ scene - Change the name to activity day and go for it no holes barred. One of the big projects of clubs is repeater stations - if the rule changed to allow permanent stations to compete in the multi op category - Clubs could create true VHF UHF contest stations which could be permanently established. Watch the activity rise with good setups improved over the years without the tear it down and start again head ache..

[VK3ALB]

How would that work Trent? Most people work from public areas and some are lucky enough to negotiate access to private land with big bald hills. What would a permanent contest station involve?

[VK4GHZ]

Clubs could create true VHF UHF contest stations which could be permanently established. Watch the activity rise with good setups improved over the years without the tear it down and start again head ache..

And operate these super stations from where???

How many clubs are fortunate enough to have clubrooms?
From a local perspective, Sunshine Coast, Redcliffe, Gold Coast. Ipswich? Not sure about others.
There are close to a dozen operators in S/E QLD that have monthly gatherings in TAFEs or private homes.

And how many of these clubrooms are in viable VHF/UHF/microwave locations?
None.

Trent, we all know you are a keen HF contester.
You may have 100's of HF club contest stations around the world, and it probably doesn't boring working the megabuck bank account contest stations (?)
This is not HF though.
A different story if you only have 3 or 4 workable club stations in the region.
The novelty wears off pretty quick.
In all the Redcliffe meetings & events I have attended, I have never seen anyone operate the club's HF station.... and the gear just sits there.

Still, how about setting a lead, where others can follow?
Get your own club's VHF/UHF/microwave operators to operate from your club rooms, instead of Howell's Knob.
I have a feeling I might know what the answer may be:

It's boring enough as it is, with the same individual operators going out to their same old spots.

Back to preparing my massive Winter FD log for submission....

[VK4TS]

Adam you are a bit confused - Not for one minute did I propose to operate from a useless VHF UHF site but rather establish in quality remote locations that can make the experience for the operators and those who work them even better.

For example places of interest for permanent sites - New England region of NSW - Southern Highlands of NSW - Central Queensland Western Victoria.

It needs co-ordination and may mean more than one club are involved and co-operating.

Over the years i have established several repeater sites for clubs and commercial use and they are a great projects, something that can be done when people set their mind to it.

[VK2AAH]

No thanks Trent, I find that setting up a temporary station with 1 or 2 mates is far more enjoyable. The permanent club stations do have a massive advantage over us but I went into one club based team a few years back & the bitching and back-stabbing turned me right off... going bush with a couple of mates is much more fun and challenging without the personalities... And I know I have an advantage in getting access to some nice quiet rural base sites but we build our antennas and erect them and remove them for each contest- nothing stays in place (well, except the odd pulley and rope...).

Cheers


Richard
VK2AAH

[VK3ALB]

... going bush with a couple of mates is much more fun and ...

There's the magic!

[VK3BQ]

No bush on top of gellibrand lou! Maybe some grass )

Going padlocking with mates?

Radio this morning said they had 100km/hr + gusts there today.

[VK4GHZ]

Adam you are a bit confused...

Trent, with all due respect, I'm not the one confusing VHF/UHF with HF.

Clubs are like operators.
They generally look after their own self interests, and function within a bubble.

For instance:
If clubs could see a bigger picture and actually work together, all the clubs in any one region would do obvious things like put on one big combined hamfest... rather than stage their own piddly events with poor attendance.
Yes, it shouldn't be hard to come together and work on bigger projects.
But too self absorbed, and too much politics. Herding cats is easier.

Still working on Winter FD log here...

[VK3ALB]

Many thanks to all those stations who took the time to work VK3KQ/P during the weekend. Damian and I had a ball - special thanks to the 3ALB/P crew for entertaining us late on Saturday night between red cordial sips!

Not guilty your honor! Perhaps one of the other team members may shed some light on the Saturday night entertainment?

And here's a view of me purging the excess RF from my system after the end of the contest (with apologies):

"The horror ... the horror ..." Field days will never be the same.

[VK4ADC]

Probably because the idea was to encourage portable activity. Also, portable operation takes a fair bit of organization and effort and it's not always the most comfortable weekend. I guess that's why SOTA identifies mountain goats and shack sloths. Take a look at the dramas Doug VK4ADC goes through on some field days with the weather - not many would be willing to put up with that for too long.

Well Lou, the weather got me again this time too. I saw the storm front coming up from the Border Ranges and hoped that it would go to the west of me, but it wasn't to be... I ended up doing a quick pull-down in the rain so FDs are not always prime weather up here - even in Winter. By the way, lightning & heavy rain was the environment on my way down the mountain and beyond and even home was subjected to 19mm of rain in just a few minutes. Even so, I am already looking forward to the 2014 Spring FD

Overall, there were relatively few unique callsigns around during my stint on Saturday, two club stations logged plus various home and single & multi-op portable stations, but that is fairly normal for the Winter event.

I was again visited by the mysterious Murphy but those details will appear on my VK4ADC.COM web site in the next few days as a FD report, around the same time as I submit my two log files.

[VK3BQ]

Gris square results released !

(I wasn't last on my vertical! Makes me the winner!)

Interesting to note John's note about stepping away from contest.

Thanks all who made the effort. (Again)

Winter Field Day Results
(Division 1)

The Division 1 results of the Winter Field Day have been finalised. Once again, most of the top scoring stations were in VK5. As is usual for this time of year, the home station section attracted plenty of support, with the number of portable stations being lower than average.

The section winners were:
Section A Single operator, 24 hours - VK5KK
Section B Single operator, 8 hours - VK5NE
Section C Multi operator, 24 hours - VK5LZ
Section D Multi operator, 8 hours - VK3ALB
Section E Home station - VK3MY
Section F Rover Station - VK5ZT
The top scoring F Call station was VK5FSKS.
Congratulations to all.

Full details are available for download on the contest web page
http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/vhfuhf/index.php

[VK3BQ]

Unfortunately owing to the Div 2 logs not being forwarded to me as required & only after phone calls to the WIA have I been able to obtain all the Division 2 scores yesterday so I will have results hopefully in the next few days.

Sorry for the delay which has been out of my control.

73 Colin VK5DK.