John Moyle Fild Day, March 19-20, 2016

[VK3LL]

It is with regret that I report that VK3KQ/p wont be operating this weekend in the JMMFD.

After battling 9 hours of gale force winds, rain, hail, lightening - during which time our brand new jumbo gazebo was destroyed when it blew away and our main operating tent was irreparably damaged when guys and poles snapped like twigs from the 100+km/h gusts. At 2pm today we made the difficult decision to come back down off the mountain and withdraw from the field day. Although the Wx for Saturday and Sunday looks a lot more promising, our antennas and systems take some 10 hours to deploy and we realised that there would no longer be sufficient daylight remaining in which to deploy our station.

We tried very hard - Damian even made a 6 hour return trip back to Melbourne to collect two spare gazebos. The clincher was the fact that our X500 vertical 2/70 antenna was "burned" clean through the middle from a very close lightening strike. Scary stuff.

We are reassessing our plans and will certainly be a little more circumspect in the future. Unsettled weather like this seems common at this time of year in VK3 and it is not the first time we've had to abandon this particular Field Day due to wild weather.

Good luck and best DX to all who have braved the elements or who have been lucky to miss the wild storms lashing much of VK3.

Ralph VK3LL and Damian VK3KQ

[VK3QI]

Greetings,

It was certainly windy yesterday afternoon (Friday) and we had a few anxious moments when erecting our tent, but everything survived and we are all set to work on HF and 6 thru 24 GHz.

Hopefully with the improving conditions some other VK3s will make it out into the FD.

Cheers

Peter VK3QI (VK3ER/p QF22DM15BA McLaughlin's Lookout Wombat State Forest 100 Km N/W of Melbourne elevation 840 metres.

[VK3ZAZ]

1 hour in 1 qso VK3ER 6M
heard VK3DXE 2m and that's about it.
whata bummer

[VK3QI]

Steve,

If you want to call again on 6mx we can arrange a sked for 2mx. Problem is different operators, not knowing where you were located.

Cheers

Peter Vk3QI (VK3ER/p) 0438678736

[VK2ZIW]

The SES and WICEN search and Cars at Eastern Creek have spoilt our weekend, me thinks.

Here at Katoomba Airfield, 991m ASL, barely a dozen contacts on 6,2,70.
23cm, Dural beacon is strong, no stations.

In the Blue Mts here, we are the only portable station.
So far:
VK2BCC, 2IJM, 2YOC, 2BHO, 2MB, 2YAC, 2JV, 2SK, 2CDS, 2YJS. 2IO

[VK3QI]

JMFD wrap-up from VK3ER/p

Weather conditions no doubt played a part in reducing activity in the SE of Australia.

Despite this, radio conditions were actually quite good with good strength beacons up to 2.4 ghz.

Conditions into VK2 on 2 and 70 were good for most of the contest time, but no contacts from VK5 this year.

Overall our HF station did as well, if not better than last year, whilst our VHF/UHF qso rate was about 40% down.

Thanks to all who came up on the various bands to give is qsos.

Until next JMFD!

Cheers

Peter VK3QI (VK3ER/p)

[VK5ZT]

JMFD operation by VK5ZT

For the first time ventured down south of Adelaide with the roving van for the JMFD.
It was a somewhat cobbled together effort as the van is in the midst of a makeover and update.
No huge antenna arrays, dishes, masts etc... just a setup that can park and be on air up to 24 GHz in less than ten minutes
and packed up even faster....

The site was a property owned by Barry VK5KBJ...ten acres on a hilltop with good views to the
north and west and generally good coverage in all directions. It is a popular site with southern Adelaide hams
and there were others nearby on site which was occasionally problematic, as one would expect!

In terms of operator numbers it was pretty quiet, especially for a VHF & Up operator. Signals from the city were fairly weak as there is
a bit of real estate in the way. There were other operators up north who provided regular contacts during the contest.
It was still the usual flurry of activity followed by periods of nothing...

Here's a few happy snaps of the van on site...

Van setup on site...

Another view...

There's a cable leading away from the tank whip antenna on the front of the van. This was to allow Dave temporary use of the whip as it was the best performing six metre antenna on site despite the length of cable involved!! The RF field can get a little troublesome with equipment in the van if 100 W is used....I don't think the operator has been affectered affeeted affectte affec affe..........................

Here's the contest operating desk...

Contest desk in the van....

Not too far away was Dave 5KK. Here's a night view of his station....

Dave 5KK's station

We had a late evening dash to a Maccas for food and COFFEE. The temperature was dropping fast at the site.
The 4 AM start to hit the overnight time slot was a bit erratic due to operator fatigue!
I think (the very few) other operators felt the same way! I crashed for a couple of hours when I got home
to try and recover from the lost sleep a bit!

How well we did remains to be seen but not too bad a day when all was said and done...maybe next year, maybe!

Cheers

Tim VK5ZT

[VK3QI]

Nice setup Tim,

Not sure how VK3ER/p team of 4 would fit, but for a single mobile operation it looks great.

Cheers

Peter VK3QI (VKK3ER/p)

[VK3ZAZ]

1 hour in 1 qso VK3ER 6M
heard VK3DXE 2m and that's about it.
whata bummer

VK3ER on 6 2 432
that's about it
Didn't hear a VK5 of any sort nor NE to VK1 VK2.
Maybe next year.

[VK2ZIW]

Well, it's over now.
BMARC wrap up. Katoomba Airfield 991m ASL
6m SSB - 10 contacts
2m SSB - 15
70cm SSB - 1
23cm SSB - 1

HF about 1/2 last year's contacts.

Generator troubles:
It looks like most generators these days use some kind of switchmode regulation.
This causes havoc to 80m in particular. We DID take a "spare" gene, a 2-Stroke "Dingo" 900W
and it did the trick.
Be warned, test before, on the mountain.

Alan BMARC sec.

[VK5ZT]

Alan

Looks like you were a bit light on for contacts.....

I have had the same generator issues....if you look at my photos of the van on this thread you can see
a blue generator behind the van. Neat little four stroke inverter, dead steady voltage and runs quietly but destroys 160 and 80!!!

Less noticeable is a red generator in the shadows....that's the backup and is one of those cheap two stroke jobs.
As you probably have found they need to be used with care. If allowed to over-rev especially when running out of fuel, the voltage can go really high. I've been lucky, the one I have starts easily, runs smoothly and handles load changes very well. They are not all like that, believe me!!

I have another that is rather more erratic and I am considering designing a homebrew regulation setup for cheap two strokes.....just another project on the list!

Better luck next year!

Cheers

Tim VK5ZT

[VK3QI]

Alan, VK2ZIW,

We had three generators running continuously for the JMFD. 2 Honda Eu20i and 1 Yamaha EF2400is.

Our ops on 80 mx had their dipole strung above and quite close to the generators with no noise issues.

The trick is to manufacture outboard powerline filters that can plug directly into the output sockets of these generators. Unfortuntately C tick in Australia does not mean the same thing as it does in Europe, where it is mandatory to fit EMI filters to the internal casing of the generator.

We use good quality EMI filters preferably with two series inductances/capacitors and rated to the current rating of the generator and mounted in a suitable waterproof plastic box.

THE SECRET TO SUCCESS HOWEVER, IS TO ADD A SUITABLE INDUCTANCE TO THE EARTH LEAD AS WELL, since most EMI filters only filter the common mode and differential mode between the Active and Neutral. Unless of course you can find suitable EMI filters that are used in the medical field, where the earth lead is also filtered.

Attached is a suitable circuit setup, details of the earth filtering and a picture of one such layout. There are available suitable waterproof female power sockets that mount internally to the box. The connection to the generator is a short male plug on a flylead so that the box sits on the ground right next to the generator. The whole purpose of the design is to provide appropriate filtering without compromising the electrical integrity of the generator as required by the various standards that apply to portable generators.

Cheers

Peter VK3QI

[VK4BZ]

Folks, attached is the link to my attempt on the John Moyle. Have a look if you want.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn7YIzyX4Qo



Cheers!