Summer VHF Field Day 2013 - 12/13 Jan

[VK2XQ]

VK2DAG, I will be looking for you as I need QF-58 and also QF-68 as a rework, all we need is a good "local" path...

[VK4XA]

Most if not all of us up here in Far North QLD will not bothering with the Field Day.
Basically, we have all pretty much simply given up on the VHF/UHF field days due to the lack of scoring opportunities.
TREC (Tablelands Radio & Electronic Club) has in the past put in some fairly decent efforts in the VHF/UHF Field Day's but as our club's prime VHF and up movers and shakers are getting too old to do the portable ops thing and our other VHF and up nutters are either moving away or have become Grey Nomads, there is no real push up here any more.

Even calling 'til your blue in the face on the local 6M, 2M and 70cm FM repeaters or on channel 50 is unlikely to get an answer nowadays up here. (Kinda makes you wonder why we have 5 repeaters in the area doesn't it!)

Those up here believe that because we are 350 - 400Km or more from the VHF and up RF black hole that is Townsville and 1800Km or more from Brisbane it is always going to be a big ask on any VHF frequency and they cant be bothered.
Most folk up here nowadays are more than happy to do a bit of rag chewing and even some contesting on HF from home but they cannot be bothered investing so much time, money and effort into listening to static 99% of the time in the faint hope that they may hear something on the 6M and higher bands. (Sadly, this seems to be pervading our hobby quite a bit to the south of us too.)
Anyway, good luck to those of you that enter the contest, if you hear anything from north of Townsville snap it up, contacts from this end of Australia will be drying up fairly rapidly on VHF and up.

[ZL4DK]

I'm planning on driving through to the West Coast and setting up at Knights point again. The weather looks like it won't be great but lets hope for some DX across the Tasman. Will have 6m 2m 70cm and 23cm. Probably be joined by Terry ZL4TAE.

Regards
David ZL4DK

[VK3PY]

Jeff (VK4XA),

Get your fellow VK4's to look at Hepburn prediction for the FD weekend. Intense tropo from the top of the banana all the way down the east coast, with a sniff of ZL too! That's got to be a motivator, surely!

Chas,
VK3PY

[VK2GOM]

Yes, it'll be warm. I will be taking a sun brolly or some sort of tarp for shade. I am making up leads right now so I can extend my car battery 12V into the back of the 4x4 and set the radio up in there, in the shade.

Still taking 2m SSB and 23cm SSB, but thinking about it - I will also have 70cm (FM only) in the shape of the mobile radio.

73 - Rob VK2GOM / GW0MOH

[VK3PF]

Hi all,

Interesting banter on this topic!!

I am unlikely to be active this contest (again): limited antennas at home, family visiting, and I need to coordinate the proof reading of the next issue of Amateur Radio magazine over the weekend so that we meet the print deadline.

Regards,

Peter VK3PF

[vk1da]

Vk1da is unlikely to operate portable this weekend. Ginini inaccessible and a likely total fire ban is likely to close all the forests in vk1.

Limited Home operation from vk2uh is all I think is possible for me.

Stay safe everyone. This is just a hobby.


Andrew Davis VK1DA & VK2UH
Sent using Tapatalk

[ZL4DK]

I might have to pull the pin on my plans. Heavy rain on the West Coast has caused slips closing the road. Its likely to be opened again by the weekend but more heavy rain is forecast. I doesn't look very promising. It may be best if I just operate from home.

David ZL4DK

[VK4AQF]

I have 10G 3.3G 2.4G (borrowed from 4OE) 5G 1296. low power on most. Will venture out somewhere. deciding on a location.

[VK2XQ]

[quote="VK2DAG"]Been watching the 7 day forecasts on the BOM site. And it looks like Saturday will be over 40º on the East coast from Taree down the rest of the coast and inland will be worse. Was planning portable operation in QF58 & 68. But I won't be going out to make myself sick. Running around like a headless chook in that sort of heat wouldn't be that clever And I think of most of SE VK will be in the same situation.

Might be out and about on Sunday somewhere in QF58 with 6m and up. All depends on Hugie.

And I wanted to give my new portable shack it's 1st outing
[img]http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy31 ... AG0737.jpg[/img]

Matt.[/quote]
So with the big beer fridge on the back of the Toyota, where do you store the expedition gear? Maybe you just run the handheld or car mobiles eh?

[VK4ADC]

For those of you actually venturing into the field, don't forget to update your VKLogger /P profile ....

I will capture my off-line copy of the Op-info data on Saturday morning before I head out, and that info will provide me with actual bearing values as to where to point the antennas.

The Hepburn prediction data looks promising so we may get some good propagation at 2M as well as (hopefully) some Es on 6M. Some nice 2M QSOs with ZL, southern VK2 and VK3, or even northern VK4s, would go down a treat - even without distance-based logging

[VK4WDM]

I have almost got my portable setup completed. It is a FT-817ND driving 30w amps on 6 & 2m and a 15w transverter on 23cm. No amp for 70cm yet but I am working on it. Antennas are: 3 el yagi for 6m, 12el yagi for 2m, 18el yagi for 70cm and a 45el loop yagi for 23cm.

The antennas will be mounted on a 5m mast attached to a trailer. I have scouted some good sites between Townsville and Bowen.

Unfortunately I cannot operate in the FD this weekend but I might be able to sneak up a local hill for a couple of hours. I am sorry that the Tablelands mob are not operating in FD anymore as they are the most likely contacts from here.

I will have my home QTH antennas up again in a month or so and will be looking for contacts on the above bands. It will be challenging because I have a height limit of only 10m.

73

Wayne VK4WDM

[VK4OE]

Greetings to all again!

Further to my earlier posting and noting the current good predictions that William Hepburn is making, I have decided to operate only from one location - Springbrook Mountain QG61PS - on the Saturday evening and the Sunday morning.

Working DX contacts from this good location is more attractive than merely operating in the event, although both aims should come together well from this one location rather than two locations.

Best 73 and good DX to all,

--Doug, VK4OE.

[VK2GOM]

After discovering bad SWR issues with my 23cm Yagi, I'm going to abandon my plans. There isn't time to obtain another or build one in such a short space of time.

I will have a quick go from home instead and try and give a couple of points away on 2m only.

However, for the Winter FD I plan to be back with a telescopic mast, and Yagi's for 2m, 70cm, and 23cm.

73 - Rob VK2GOM / GW0MOH

[VK5AGZ]

G'day All.

VK5RX/2 will be operating QRP portable from the Mt Kosciuszko summit from start of contest Saturday.

From reading the posts and given the extreme weather it looks like no mountian top operations in VK2 or VK3.

I would appreciate some points on 6,2, and 70 (SSB and FM) to make the trek to the top worth while......

Calling / Listening the usual frequencies.

Good luck and keep cool.

Cheers
Derek
VK5RX (ex VK5AGZ)

[VK2JDH]

G'day All.

VK5RX/2 will be operating QRP portable from the Mt Kosciuszko summit from start of contest Saturday.

From reading the posts and given the extreme weather it looks like no mountian top operations in VK2 or VK3.

I would appreciate some points on 6,2, and 70 (SSB and FM) to make the trek to the top worth while......

Calling / Listening the usual frequencies.

Good luck and keep cool.

Cheers
Derek
VK5RX (ex VK5AGZ)

You might have to rethink:
http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/kos ... owAlerts=1

Kosciuszko National Park
All tracks and trails are closed for walking, horse riding and cycling from Friday 11 to Monday 14 January 2013.

[VK3BQ]

I wonder if vk3er has decided to pack up / skip their normal location.

In the middle of a large fire

The yellow symbols are the bad ones

[VK3BJM]

Fortunately the Blampied fire is now listed as contained - though that may change when the cool change reaches the area. The cool change has moved over Melbourne, but it's still blowing strongly from the north here (30 km NE of the main fire area); I think the wind is starting to drop in the fire zone as they are now calling the fire slow moving, whereas it was fast and out of control earlier this arvo. Due to the wind direction, there's been nothing to see on the horizon, or smell, from here, but I expect that to change in the next 2 hours.

If VK3ER were planning on heading in there, I'd be rethinking if I was them... Assuming that the authorities aren't already limiting access to the area.

Actually, Andrew, the red exclamation "Emergency Warning" symbols are more worrisome than the yellow "Watch and Act" symbols. But it's a fine line - none of them are great..!

73, and stay safe, y'all.

Barry
VK3BJM

[VK4ADC]

Further to my initial posting, I am still Beechmont-bound tomorrow (QG61OV), hoping that it will be a little cooler high up in the Gold Coast Hinterland. It's not in a fire-critical area so access should be ok. I have my FD trailer all packed and ready to go, and the radio gear packed safely in the back of the wagon.

I will be operational on 5.760 and 10.368 GHz SSB at low power (approx 0dBm into the horn) so may not make it into Brissy but I will certainly work Doug 4OE after he comes up from Springbrook about 7PM, however the gear is untested on-air so it will be a suck-it-and-see as to how well it functions. Here's hoping though !

That will give me 6M ---> 3CM all in all, at varying power levels. I won't have VKLogger running but usually use 144.150 as a calling, 432.150 as the next one up etc.. If we need to liase for higher freq contacts, usually I shift up to .170 or .180 on either band (or up to FM simplex), that being a separate transceiver to the one used to drive all the transverters, 23CM ---> 3CM.

It's a pity the weather is so extreme, rather than just the normal heat, as I have been working towards this event for the last couple of months - with many hours spent building up microwave gear. It's a long wait until the Winter FD (the John Moyle not being quite the same as a standard VHF/UHF FD) to make those elusive uW contacts.

Good luck all, FD'ing or not, but please come up on air and give out some numbers if you can spare any time - I suspect the total number of stations around will be well down this time around - so any extra home station contacts will help fill in the slow hours .

[VK4GHZ]

It's a long wait until the Winter FD (the John Moyle not being quite the same as a standard VHF/UHF FD) to make those elusive uW contacts.

Doug, are you forgetting about the S/E QLD microwave activity day in February?
The October 2012 activity day was well participated (well more than those who posted their intention) despite the patchy wet weather.
Lot's of fun, and no rules to get hung up on.
See you there, only 6 weeks to go.