WFD Station Building in Progress

Winter Field Day 2020 Final Station Test

Winter Field Day 2020 is almost here! A few weekends ago, Jerry K1OKD, Jon AC1EV, Andrew NF1H, Anita AB1QB, and I got together at our QTH to complete the final station test for our planned 5O operation in Winter Field Day (WFD).

Portable Wireless Networking

Portable Wireless Networking Pod
Portable Wireless Networking Pod

In preparation for WFD 2020 and our test, I built a new Wireless Networking Pod. This unit was made possible by a very generous donation of a router with LTE wireless access capabilities by Dave, K1DLM.

Networking Pod Details
Networking Pod Details

The system consists of the following components:

Our Networking Pod will be used in a number of ways to support Nashua Area Radio Society activities including Youth Expos, Ham Bootcamps, Field Day Operations, Portable Operations, and others. It provides a wired and wireless (via WiFi) network capability including DHCP, DNS, Firewall and other IP services that can be used to network computers running the N1MM+ logger and other apps. It can also be used to provide wireless internet access via LTE in situations where we need this.

Station Testing

VHF Station #2 Test
VHF Station Test

We had already assembled and tested our two Winter Field Day 2020 HF/VHF+ Stations during a previous station test so the final test was focused on the three planned HF stations and the networking of the N1MM+ Loggers that we’ll be using.

Winter Field Day 2020 HF Station and Network Test
Jerry K1OKD and Jon AC1EV Perform an HF Station and Networking Test

We set up the three HF stations and connected the associated laptop computers to the Network Pod for the test. Each of our HF stations includes:

WFD Station Building in Progress
Triplexer and Bandpass Filtering system at Winter Field Day

We also tested our Triplexer and Bandpass Filtering system along with the radios.

160m All-Mode Station Main N1MM+ Monitor

A big part of this test was to get the N1MM Logger+ working with the radios and in a network configuration using the Networking Pod. Networking N1MM+ enables us to maintain a common log across the 5 stations in our Winter Field Day setup. All of the stations were also set up for SSB Voice, CW and Digital operation via N1MM+.

All of the station tests are complete and we are ready for Winter Field Day! Come on out and join us for what I am sure will be a lot of fun!

Fred, AB1OC

Radio Amateurs Developing Skills Worldwide