Tag Archives: HF

Featured, Field Day, General, Newsletter

Field Day 2019 Recap

Field Day 2019 was one to remember.  We built an 11A station with a new VHF Tower and 160 meters.   Setup and takedown went smoothly.  The operating positions were full for most of the event.  We increased our score by more than 3,000 points over last year!

Field Day Site
Field Day Site

Hudson Memorial School proved to be a great Field Day Site for the 2nd year.

Transportation and Setup

Tower and Antenna Setup
Tower and Antenna Setup

Setting up at Field Day was a challenge, with 4 towers, the 160-meter wire antenna, and RBOG and the Satellite station.  Thanks to a hardworking and organized team led by Craig, N1SFT, we had everything onsite by Thursday evening or Friday morning and the Tower and Antenna setup went very smoothly.  We even had some professional help, when Matt, KC1XX showed up!

VHF Tower
VHF Tower

Here is the newest addition to field day, the VHF Tower.  With the antennas on the tower and the use of FT8, we had a record number of 6-meter contacts.  And Fred was able to walk the VHF bands with a few clubs to get some QSOs on 2 meters and 70 cm as well.

Field Day 2019 Operation

Ryan, KC1KJS, operating at Field Day
Ryan, KC1KJS, operating at Field Day

At 2:00 pm local time, the operations began and continued for 24 hours. It was great to see some of our younger members operating at Field Day.

CW Operations
CW Operations

We also had world class contesters Matt, KC1XX and Bob, WA1Z in the CW Tent along with Dennis, K1LGQ.

Keith, KC1IMK at the Digital Station
Keith, KC1IMK at the Digital Station

We had a very cool high tech Digital setup with 3 stations running FT8 using networked Flex Radios and antennas on a 60 ft tower.  Thanks to Dave, K1DLM,  for providing this setup.

Abby, AB1BY Operating at Night
Abby, AB1BY Operating at Night

Operations continued all night.  Rumor has it that Abby, AB1BY and her dad Jamey, AC1DC operated SO3R in the Digital tent on FT8.

Great Food

Jerry, K1OKD at the Grill
Jerry, K1OKD at the Grill

We also had world class food at Field Day.  Thanks to Jerry, K1OKD, Food team lead and Andrea, KC1JDX and Peter, KC1FNF, we never went hungry.

Sterling, AK1K
Sterling, AK1K

Thanks to Sterling, AK1K, we got 200 bonus points for messaging and had fun in the process handling the messages.

Field Day Site after Field Day
Field Day Site after Field Day

We left the site just as it was when we arrived. Thanks to all who helped take everything down and bring it all back to BOB!

Field Day 2019 Results

Field Day Results
Field Day Results

Here are our 2019 Field Day Results – a big improvement over last year!  Thanks to everyone who helped out with Field Day – too many to mention in this article.  This was one of our best Field Days ever! You can see more detail on our score and the list of our Top Operators on our Field Day page.

Anita, AB1QB

CW and QRP, Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

May 2019 Contest Notes

2 Comments

May marks the end of the main contesting season. Sure, there are contests all year-round but the big contests (CQ WW, ARRL DX, ARRL SWEEP, CQ WPX) run October through May mainly leaving the Summer for state QSO parties and Field Day. There are two contests this month that are of note to NARS members: the NEQP and CQ WW WPX CW.

New England QSO Party [2000Z, May 4 to 0500Z, May 5 and 1300Z-2400Z, May 5]
The exchange for New England states is RS(T) + county + state. Outside of NE sends RS(T) + state/province/DX. Take a look at the NEQP website to see the standard county abbreviation list.

CQ WW WPX Contest, CW [0000Z, May 25 to 2359Z, May 26]
This is a serial number contest so set up your logger to automatically increment the sent serial number for each QSO. The full exchange is RST + serial. Everybody sends the same exchange. If you are not a great CW operator this is a great contest to play in. First, it isn’t quite so cut-throat as CQ WW. Secondly, the exchange is nice and simple. Listen (listen! listen!). It might take a bit to finally get the serial number, but once you do make your call and put it in the log. At risk of repeating myself, this is one of my favorite CW contests.

7th Call Area QSO Party [1300Z, May 4 to 0700Z, May 5]
First, note the overlap with the New England QSO Party! The exchange for this contest is also RS(T) + state and county. Check out the list of counties to expect here. The point is: you just record the exchange and the contact should be good for two contests.

Indiana QSO Party [1500Z, May 4 to 0300Z, May 5]
Exchange: Get RS(T) + county, we send RS(T) + state. The website has a list of five-letter county abbreviations that is worth printing out and hanging by your computer for this one.

Arkansas QSO Party [1400Z, May 11 to 0200Z, May 12]
Exchange: Get RS(T) + county, we send RS(T) + state

Hamvention and Contest University
Finally, the annual Contest University held in Dayton is one of the highlights of Hamvention. If you have any interest in contesting, it is well worth your time to sign up for one of these events. You MUST pre-register for the upcoming event on May 16th, and it is getting late for that, but I’d like to plant the seed of an idea that you should consider putting this on your “bucket list.”

I’m going to try to be in the New England QSO Party. Get on the air for 15 minutes or 15 hours and hand out some points!

Scott, NE1RD

Featured, General, Newsletter, On The Air

April 2019 Contest notes

1 Comment

Spring is here and not a moment too soon! In this last weekend before April we have the CQ WW WPX SSB Contest that is one of my favorites. The exchange is easy: just a serial number and a signal report (always 59, please). This is a contest where everybody can work everybody else, so there is always somebody to talk to. If you are new to contesting (and you can count!) this is a good one to try.

The big contests of the year are nearly behind us. Just the two WPX contests (one in March and another in May) remain. But, there are QSO parties and other small contests that are coming up. Remember, with the solar cycle in the doldrums this is a good time to be working on your Worked All States award or trying new operating modes (like FT8).

Missouri QSO Party [1400Z, April 6 to 0400Z April 7 + 1400Z-2200Z April 7th] The exchange is easy: RS(T) and state. Look for the special event stations W0MA and K0H for extra points.

Mississippi QSO Party [1400Z April 6 to 0200Z April 7] runs concurrently with part of the Missouri QSO Party and also has an exchange RS(T) plus state. This is a good opportunity to get on the air and get credit for multiple contests!

FT8 DX Contest [1200Z April 13 to 1200Z April 14] Digital modes like FT8 seem to get through when others do not. Perhaps you can work on your DXCC award this spring! The exchange is RST + state.

New Mexico QSO Party [1400Z April 13 to 0200Z April 14] The exchange is a little different in this contest: name + state (the RS(T) isn’t demanded by the rules).

North Dakota QSO Party [1800Z April 13 to 1800Z April 14] If you don’t have ND in your log, this is an excellent opportunity to get those states squared away. Both North and South Dakota have very few active hams, so try to get these folks on multiple bands. The exchange is RS(T) + state.

Georgia QSO Party [1800Z April 13 to 0359Z April 14 + 1400Z-2359Z April 14] Again, the exchange is just RS(T) and state.

ARRL Rookie Roundup, SSB [1800Z-2359Z April 14] The exchange is name + 2-digit year first licensed + state. I remember the first couple of years I operated. I was first licensed in 2002 so I would use “02” in my exchanges for contests like this. This confused the daylights out of many of the people I contacted, and I got lots of requests for repeats! Spend a few minutes and give these new operators some points.

Nebraska QSO Party [1300Z April 20 to 0200Z April 21 + 1300Z-2200Z April 21] The exchange is RS(T) + state. Nebraska was hard-hit by flooding this year, so I don’t know how many stations will be on the air. I’ve found this a hard state to get in the log in general, so this might be your best opportunity all year.

Michigan QSO Party [1600Z April 20 to 0400Z April 21] The exchange is a little different for this one: serial number + state.

Florida QSO Party [1600Z April 27 to 0159Z April28 + 1200Z-2159Z April 28] The exchange is RS(T) + state.

So many of the contests this month have just RS(T) and state as the exchange that you can usually get on the air, work people normally with this exchange, and enter multiple contests (or at least make other contesters happy for the points). Contesting is like regular operating without all the chit-chat {grin}.

The more you know! A contesting term you should know is “rubber clocking.” That’s when an operator begins the contest just  a little before the start time, or operates just a little past the end time in an effort to squeeze in a few more QSOs. In short: don’t do it. Begin on time, and when it is time to stop, finish your QSO and stop. Play fair.

Remember that you don’t have to turn in your log just because you operated during a contest. You can work stations in a contest just to have fun, or to collect QSOs for awards. Contest sponsors appreciate your entries (they help make sure the other operators copied the exchanges properly), but they can’t demand it. Get on the air. Put some Q’s in the log, and have fun. Maybe pick up an operating award along the way. Perhaps you’ll then write about it here on the N1FD website!

As always, you can get a complete rundown of all the contests this month (and this year) at the www.contestcalendar.com website.

73 and good luck in the contests.

Scott, NE1RD

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