Well, Field Day 2019 has come and gone. We didn’t do quite as well as we did last year. This year, we made just short of 2,100 QSOs, compared to 2,245 in 2018. We also missed some bonus points that we scored last year, so our overall score is going to be lower this year.
I had a good time, as usual, as did everyone that attended, but I’m a bit disappointed that our score is going to be lower. So, it got me to thinking about how we could do better next year. Here are a few thoughts:
- Schedule operators. I think that we should set up a written schedule so that we’re sure that the stations are in operation for all 24 hours. There were some times, especially late at night/early in the morning, when they weren’t being operated. You can’t make Qs if stations don’t have operators.
- Train operators beforehand. I think it would be helpful to give the operators some training before Field Day, so that when they do sit down in front of a radio, they know what to do .
- Better antennas. Steve, K8QKY, one of our CW operators, made this point. Even though there are no multipliers on Field Day, louder stations get more attention, and therefore, make more contacts. We’ve been using a series of dipoles held up by 40-ft. masts, and they work well, but if we want to take our operation to the next level, we need to think about directional antennas.
Of course, doing these things takes a lot of work, so, the question is whether it’s worth it or not. Scoring more points is more fun than scoring fewer points, so perhaps it is.
Tell me about your Field Day experience? Did you make any changes to your operation that helped you score more points or made Field Day more fun? Do you have any thoughts about how to improve your operations next year?
Doug Trouten KE8HSF says
Dan,
I agree with #2, though you can also add in have someone prepared as a back up for different stations, such as having multiple people with laptops having the software for digital modes installed and configured, in case you have to have someone else set up their station as the digital station at the last minute.
We (the Genesee County Radio Club up here in Genesee County Michigan) had a great field day. Our 40m CW operator was able to work W1AW Saturday night as his last contact for the night before he headed to bed, we were able to grab all the digital mode ARRL Field Day bulletins on our first try Saturday evening (even though we only needed to copy it once). We also enjoyed the opening in 15m Sunday morning. On 15m we were able to grab some of the states we were missing on the other bands and modes.
Howard says
As usual, I had a great time on Field Day. While I would like to be on the radio the whole time, I am always it seems with groups that are not so gung ho. As a result, I don’t pay much attention to scores, but am mostly concerned that I did my part. I was able to help more with setup and takedown this year, and I think that probably is more important to the rest of the guys than how many QSOs I made. I was able to call CQ for an extended period of period of time twice during the event, and that was very satisfying. I often say I feel the same way about Field Day that my children used to about Christmas. And I can’t wait for next year!
Anthony says
If you keep score, it’s a contest. Field Day is not a contest, so what do you do with the score? You measure performance, one year to the next, one setup to another. Without the score you have no indicator of the impact of change, positive or negative.
Your lower score got you thinking about what it will take to improve your score next year.
Scheduling operators is crucial, and it is very beneficial to have training _before_ Field Day, and preferably on the actual equipment (radio, laptop, etc). Also having seasoned operators for others to observe can be a big help, and a great chance for OJT.
Antennas are a subjective matter. Dipoles are easy to use, adjust, repair and store. Properly utilized, they can be magical. Directional antennas can boost your contacts if you can properly orient them. But they come with a cost of complexity (size, installation, etc).
At the end of your event, did you feel you still heard stations you did not have in the log? Did you leave contacts on the bands, or did you “work the bands dry”? If you still had unworked stations on the bands, your antennas are probably not the primary concern. Addressing #1 and #2 should help there. BIC time matters!
Our effort as 1A needs a bit more effort in maintaining rate. We had our goals, but it was too easy to join in the conversations and slack off on the contacts. Field Day is a social thing after all. We’ll cover it all in our upcoming wrap meeting. From there we’ll set some goals for 2020 – it’s never too early to start Field Day planning.
Good luck, and hope to see you on the bands next year.
Anthony
AB9YC
Blazing Paddles Field Day Team
Eric Tamme says
Hey Dan,
1. I think scheduling depends on the number of ops you have. We ran 3a with 4 people, so scheduling was not so much of an issue, and I think would have been unnecessarily restrictive. My biggest concern was making sure everyone got to work some “hot bands” and have some fun, rather than calling CQ on 15m at 4am.
2. Absolutely operators need to be comfortable with the logging software and the station they are operating. We all got together before and ran WPX “field day style” to test everything out, including fully networked loggin setup, for a couple hours so that we had all the kinks sorted out and everyone had some time to get familiar with the setup.
3. We ran 1/4 wave verticals, and inverted L’s. I personally ran 98% of the time and I had no problem pulling callers. I think as others have said, cost and complexity of directional antennas may get you some gain, no pun intended, but would it be worth it from a qso count/score perspective, hard to say.
For our team, I would like to improve our efficiency on digital modes, we will see where ft4 is come next year, but I would like to be prepared to do psk or rtty for increased rate over ft8.
I would also like to add more people to our team. We were not able to run for the full 24 hours – we went QRT around 12am, then back online at about 4:30am.
I would like to add another skilled CW operator to the team as that is where the bulk of our QSO’s come from :)
Finally, If we can get sharp narrow filtering to allow multi-mode operation on the same band, that would also be a huge win – we only had band pass filtering to allow us to run on different bands for this year.
This was our first year doing a “real” field day, but I am very happy with how we did, and how well prepared we were, but we also learned a lot and will be better prepared for next year.
Eric KK0ECT
K0DIT, Fort Collins CW
Kent Trimble says
SCHEDULING:
Depends on whether the club votes points or participation. If points, then you want your best operators in the chairs for as long as possible. Everyone else observes and supports. If participation, then you encourage all and accept lesser skills and diminished contacts. We’ve done it both ways but usually end up with the latter. Running 2A, I schedule our CW ops (our best) and let the phone ops come and go as they wish. We have no skilled SSB contesters at the present time. CW carries the day for us every year.
TRAINING:
Very important for radios and logging. For the past 12 years Field Day has been exclusively K3s (that’s plural) and N1MM. Once set-up, a K3 needs very little fiddling. But a lot of our ops (even CW) fumble at the keyboard. That’s where our guys need help.
ANTENNAS:
For years we did the “more-aluminum-the-better” routine with towers, tribanders, rotators, verticals, etc. Tear-down was around 4 hours. In recent years we have opted for fiberglass masts and multi-band antennas. Tear-down is now less than an hour. Due to storms, we tore down at 9:30 a.m. Sunday and none-to-soon, either. June in the Midwest is 90-degrees and 100 percent humidity. We aren’t geniuses, but we aren’t fools either. And we aren’t young anymore. Fiberglass and wire is the only way we’ll be doing Field Day. Period.
N0SS
Mid-MO ARC, Jefferson City, Missouri
Ed Thierbach, AB8OJ says
Hi, Dan – as you know, #3 is hard to do because our FD site is literally just north of the airport’s control tower. We really don’t want much of our signal to be pointed at that. That’s why we have dipoles oriented N-S, sending our signal mainly E-W.
If we use more directional antennas, we must be sure they can’t be rotated toward due north or south. And we’d need a wide beamwidth, or we’ll end up covering less territory than the dipoles.
As much as I hate to suggest it, I wonder if it’s time to look for a new site for next year. We do give up a lot of Qs by having little signal going south.
73,
-Ed- AB8OJ
Dan KB6NU says
At this month’s meeting, Tim, KT8K, described a directional antenna that we may be able to use. It’s basically a bi-directional (think east-west) wire beam. The null would be pointed at the tower, and because the beam has a 110-degree beam width, we’d still work some folks in the south. Sounds like something to experiment with.
Having said that, looking for a new site isn’t out of the question, and I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to it. Got any sites in mind?
Bill Mader says
Last year our FD site was closed due to fire danger. We ended up at the State DHS EOC site using one of the trailers. We setup a triband beam at 40 ft., a 40m dipole at the same height, and a 6 meter beam. We ran 1F and took first in that category in spite of very high noise levels. In years past, we’ve placed as high as 4th overall running 5A, although the 5th rig was seldom used. (Not a contest–right!)
This year, we ended up staying in NM at the last minute. Nobody else was interested in planning FD so my wife and I took our RV to the mountains. Antennas were an Inverted L at 30 ft. and a fan dipole at 40 ft. Setup was relatively easy and teardown set a speed record!
I crashed around 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning when the rate slowed down below 25/hour. I was cold and tired (the planned nap Saturday morning fell through). With just 14 hours of operation I managed 741 contacts, about 95% CW. There were ops who couldn’t copy my 100 Watts and others I couldn’t copy (QRP?). While not as bad as last year or at home, the amount of noise was surprising. It’s hard to find noise-free locations nowadays!
For multi-op FD’s our club always schedules ops, even with a single TX. Why would a group not schedule their ops, unless making contacts doesn’t matter? The brief time I spend on SSB always reminded me how important training is and the fact that it seldom occurs. A trained op using N1MM+ with a great radio (we run as many K3’s as necessary) makes an incredible difference!
While wire antennas work, directional antennas make a world of difference! Having at least two antennas, even with one TX, is a great aid! At times, I could copy stations on one antenna I couldn’t hear at all on the other. Such is propagation. I plan to use the Inverted L again next year along with at least a fan dipole. Setting up a beam is challenging and likely not possible without a full crew (at least five) to accomplish safely.
While I sent 1A, it was in hope of others showing up. I submitted the log as 1B since my wife helped with setup and only I operated. In spite of smoke from forest fires, we had a fun and relatively relaxing time. If done the same next year, I’ll look for a spot with taller trees and maybe setup a hex beam. Having reach my mid-70’s, keeping setup to a minimum has become more important!
73, Bill, K8TE
Albuquerque DX Assn, W5UR
John Palmisano says
Just two quick comments.
1. Site Location: the University of Michigan had offered North Campus as a site for FD. As a second choice for a location; the athletic fields at either Concordia University or Huron High School offer space, public visibility and would provide the opportunity to expand.
2. Operators: the group should consider moving to a 5/6A category. Sure some will argue that the “midnight shift” is left unmanned, thus why change categories when enough operators can’t be found for the hours of 2-7am. Depends. Is the focus of FD on points or demonstration of skills? Considering that only 3% of all contacts are made during the “off” hours (about 70 contacts) and of the approximately 2000 contacts made during each of the past 3- years, a 4A, 5A or 6A category doesn’t matter. Two thousand contacts (80,000 pts.) is a top 5 contender in 4/5/6A.
A possible second argument raised not to move to a 5/6A category is that duplicate contacts might occur “earlier” during the “contest”. Again, is FD a contest, a demonstration of skills or maybe an opportunity for new operators to gain experience in “contesting”?
Final Thoughts: Change FD location and increase to a 6A.