Field Day 2020 is now over and you have until Tuesday, July 28th to submit your log and bonus points. Members can find details in our Field Day Forum on the bonus points that we achieved as a group. Here are some guidelines on how to submit your score.
Steps to Submit your Score
Export a Cabrillo file from your logging software
Capture the breakdown of your score by band and mode from your logging program. For N1MM it is the score window.
N1MM Score Window
Collect the evidence required for your bonus points:
Natural Power Bonus – List of QSOs made on natural power
Formal messaging – Copies of each message you originated, relayed or received (up to 10)
Message to ARRL Section Manager (Copy of fully serviced message)
Field Day Bulletin – an accurate copy of the message
Publicity from the local media – a copy of a press release sent to the local media or a copy of the actual media publicity received.
On the web form, fill in your information (Call, ARRL Section, Number of Participants, Entry Class, etc.) For the Club or Group Name, you can enter Nashua Area Radio Society so that your points count toward our club score.
Check off the bonus points that you earned and upload the documents that you collected in step 3.
Use the score breakdown from your logger to fill in the Band/Mode QSO Breakdown. Note that you may need to combine your QSOs from multiple digital modes on each band to fill in the Digital QSO columns. For example, in the Score window illustrated above, on 40 meters, we had 128 FT4 QSOs and 9 FT8 QSOS, so I would enter 137 for the total 40m digital QSOs.
ARRL Webform – QSO Breakdown
Use the “Choose File” button to upload your Cabrillo file.
Check over all of your entries on the web form. Then fill in your Name, Call, and email at the bottom and submit your entry.
Any questions about bonus points, scoring, or other Field Day rules? Consult the ARRL Field Day page and review the rules.
Anita, AB1QB presented a segment on Submitting your Field Day score as part of the June Tech Night onField Day from Home. For more details on Field Day score submission, you can watch the video of that Tech Night and view the slides on our Tech Night page
My shack is more of a secretary desk of a shack-in- the-box. But it’s not the shack so much as the radio right. This is what I used for Field Day at AC1FX this year.
My Humble Shack
I have an Icom 7300 running 100W and I connected it to my laptop to log my contacts.
7 band OCF Dipole up 35 ft.
The Antenna
They say the antenna is the most important part of any setup. I’d go as far as maybe half along with the radio. My antenna is a 7 band Off Center Fed (OCF dipole). It’s only up 35 feet so it’s only a half-wave above the ground on 20M.
AC1FX On the Air
Retrospect
I’m writing this after the fact so my hindsight is clearer. I had a great time this year. Even though I think I made more contacts with the Club last year, being able to talk to other home class (1D) stations made up for it. I operated on in HF SSB mostly on 80 and 40 Saturday night and 10M on Sunday. For me, 80 and 40 were open to Penn and New York, while Sunday 10M was more open to Ohio and Illinois. My original plan was to try to sit on a frequency and do a run. That seemed to work well for others but I found out they had higher power output and higher or more directional antennas. I sat on 28.460 around noon today and picked up 6 QSOs but they were relatively local. I then went on search and pounce and had so much fun seeing what was out there. My most surprising contact was N3FJP of software fame. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was using N1MM+ for my logger.
Improvements
Just a few things I would like to do for next time :
If I could get my dipole up to 66 ft it would at least be a ½ wave over the ground on 40M.
Maybe put up my old Cushcraft R8 vertical and see how that goes.
Practice CW more. It seems like they were having fun at the bottom of the bands but the fast pace of a contest and my lack of speedwere incompatible.
Do more digital. Although for me this year talking to people did seem fun.
If you worked field day and are a NARS member don’t forget to add the full club name (Nashua Area Radio Society) in your entry. See this link for details.
AC1EV is operating 1E for Summer Field Day this year. I would have loved to operate in an ambitious club organized remote field day like we did last year, but Covid-19 social distancing requirements canceled that. I hoped to exercise my mobile setup and operate near saltwater, but again restrictions due to the virus made that difficult. I have a full house generator, so I will operate my home station on emergency power as class 1E. Here is how I am setup.
Power
17KW generator with 3 x 120-gallon propane tanks and Transfer switch
Power
Antennas
K4KIO Hex Beam, 6 meters through 20 meters @33 feet and Alpha Delta 40/80 Dipole as an inverted V @ 45 feet.
Antennas
AC1EV Field Day Station
Here is my shack in Tewksbury. I have an Icom IC-7300 with an Elecraft KPA500 amplifier along with an Elecraft KAT500 antenna tuner. Top that off with a Heil Pro 7 headset. The tuner allows me to select between the antennas. I have N1MM+ running on my laptop with two additional monitors leftover from my days as an IT Guru.
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