I had been working on my mobile yagi mount (for my Bunnings Special) over the last couple of weekends , interrupted by 400mmm of rain.
Mobile Yagi Mount
It seems it may be all in vain as another East Coast low is due to spin up on Sunday with a further 150mm forecast.
So as a fall back I'll use the home station and try some data contacts.
I'd like to ask a newby question , what is the structure of a valid contact using JT65, as the rules state callsign plus square locator, " plus two further digits that cannot be predicted the the other station "
I'm not clear the structure of a valid contact in that mode.
I will operating from home this weekend, but I note that you are likely to be on Tower Road (QF21HV70), so there is a good chance that we can get through on the higher bands from that location.
I have 6 metres through to 24 Ghz setup ready to go.
Yes the outlook in your direction is very good indeed and (weather permitting) we'll be ready to go at zero hour from that location. We'll have 2m through 10GHz.
Am planning to be out this afternoon on 2m SSB/CW/FM only from a good location near Frankston.
The plot from the site shows a good 270 degree coverage to most places from Geelong. Gippsland,
traditionally a weak area for me but essential for grid squares, should be workable.
Coverage
Last edited by VK3YE on Sat Jun 18, 2016 9:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Despite that, there has been a demonstrated lack of interest (I don't dare use the 'a' word) in using VK Logger during VHF Field days over the years, and Contest Radar took over the role of proximity awareness anyway.
Apparently it was too hard to create/update a Logger profile to indicate where you would be and what bands you would be active on.
(The real value was being able to generate distance & TN bearing information, but so few embraced this.)
I would just use Contest Radar instead, and forget about VK Logger.
I didn't go portable yesterday due to a number of considerations, including the weather forecast here in SE Qld, but the outcome had I gone to the effort would have possibly driven me to give up participation in these events completely. I worked a total of 11 callsigns in 41 contacts over 8 hours from the relative comfort of the home QTH - a very disappointing participation level from my point of view. The 2 hour re-work period was the only saving grace.
Historically, I know that the Winter FD is activity always lower than the Spring or Summer events but this strikes me as just too low and whether to bother next year.
I hear you Doug... I had started to plan an activation for this weekend a little over a month or so back (the required timeline to work in with the family diary), and it became very evident that activity levels in SE VK4 were going to be very poor when I looked at this thread (you did originally say you weren't operating), and then this was further reinforced through conversations with a couple of the 'regular' FD stations who also advised that they had prior commitments that had to take precedence. So I stopped planning.
From reports and the activity I've seen this morning, it looks like what was the reality.
But the good news is that for those in SE VK4 the upcoming 23-on-23 + MAD is just over 4 weeks away and you should start planning for it as there is already a number of stations that have advised they'll be active... and the more the merrier! http://www.vklogger.com/forum/viewtopic ... 495#p61495
I didn't hear many Melbourne stations but gave a few numbers on 2 and 70 to 3KQ in Blackwood forest at 250km away. I'm too far for anyone on 1296 but had it running all weekend nonetheless.
Swung the beams to Canberra and made a few contacts, plus Wagga Wagga. Not a boo from Albury.
ADMIN wrote:
Despite that, there has been a demonstrated lack of interest (I don't dare use the 'a' word) in using VK Logger during VHF Field days over the years, and Contest Radar took over the role of proximity awareness anyway.
Apparently it was too hard to create/update a Logger profile to indicate where you would be and what bands you would be active on.
(The real value was being able to generate distance & TN bearing information, but so few embraced this.)
I have to agree with you Adam. We tried very hard to steer away from making CR (Contest Radar) a copy of VKlogger. Whilst we've had requests for higher resolution on the contest radar map the point of CR was always to be a really simple tool to see who is out there and roughly where they are - no more than that. CR was born of the fact that many ops do not keep their Op Info up to date in the logger so it was difficult to plan field day events. As you have already pointed out, Doug VK4ADC spent a lot of time trying to make an easy to use tool for the field day operators but it still relied on a small effort from each of us to keep our VKlogger OpInfo details up to date.
I would encourage people to maintain their logger OpInfo (it only takes a couple of minutes every year or perhaps every field day). In the end these things all help us to make contacts and to make us known to others with similar interests.
The other thing to remember is the VKlogger Mapping tool is a very powerful and sophisticated thing. You can find other operators (if their OpInfo is correct and up to date) you can evaluate field locations before you step away from the computer. CR is not a patch on the VKlogger Mapping tool and I would recommend the serious field operator should try to get to know how the tools of the VKlogger can be used to help their planning for field day events.
A great place to start is in the Help section of the VKlogger forum - Just click the Board Index link at the top of this page and look for Help - VKlogger.
Last edited by VK3ALB on Sun Jun 19, 2016 1:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
ADMIN wrote:
Despite that, there has been a demonstrated lack of interest (I don't dare use the 'a' word) in using VK Logger during VHF Field days over the years, and Contest Radar took over the role of proximity awareness anyway.
Apparently it was too hard to create/update a Logger profile to indicate where you would be and what bands you would be active on.
(The real value was being able to generate distance & TN bearing information, but so few embraced this.)
I would just use Contest Radar instead, and forget about VK Logger.
I have to agree with you Adam. We tried very hard to steer away from making CR (Contest Radar) a copy of VKlogger. Whilst we've had requests for higher resolution on the contest radar map the point of CR was always to be a really simple tool to see who is out there and roughly where they are - no more than that. CR was born of the fact that many ops do not keep their Op Info up to date in the logger so it was difficult to plan field day events. As you have already pointed out, Doug VK4ADC spent a lot of time trying to make an easy to use tool for the field day operators but it still relied on a small effort from each of us to keep our VKlogger OpInfo
This weekend wasn't going to happen for me due to the weather and a pending exam for which I should be preparing for rather than trolling through the forum
Personally I try and use theVKLogger mapping facility as much as possible while out and about. It gives me a good idea of headings which is oh so important at 10/24/47Ghz. Whilst I can see the benefit of Contest Radar, Lou is quite correct it's not a patch on the functionality provided by VKLogger (thank you Adam for the effort).
To counter the 'a' factor, I always encourage operators that are known to be participating to update their /P profile. In this time of the all pervasive things and devices, I not sure why there is resistance to do so. Portable Internet connectivity is easy and cheap these days.............
