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Posts published in “Operating”

Field Day – the President’s Perspective

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 06/29/2015

First, I would like to thank our outgoing Field Day Chairman Dave, KR4U for his years of service and many memorable field days. Dave handed over the reins to this year to new chairman, Tom, NY4I. Thanks Tom for organizing a successful event.

In addition to a new chairman, lots of things changed this year’s field day. Our new location at DMI worked out well. While a true field day experience may not be air conditioned, our group has years of experience working under hot, humid, rainy conditions. Another year operating in a semi-tropical environment will not make us any smarter or more efficient. We did set up a large canopy on the patio and equipped it with tables and chairs. This provided additional room to socialize and eat. Our outside venue also had the best view of the grill. Thanks to Mike, K4ZPE for loaning us his canopy, tables and chairs. Thanks to Veronika, KC4YAW for logging in participants.

We also tried a different method of procuring food for the event. Rather than purchasing prepared goodies, we asked all participants to bring a food item to share with the group, while the club provided drinks, burgers and hot dogs. We sure had a diverse menu to choose from. There was about a 50-50 mix of homemade and purchased items. Thanks to Dee, N4GD and Tom, AI4QP for manning the grill. Walt, N4ELH supplied the winning food item in my book; a keg of homemade wheat beer brewed by his grandson. Tom, W4CU also provided a group favorite, meatballs. Lots of salads, cakes, cookies, chips and dip rounded out our menu choices. Thanks to all that made our dining experience unique. And an engineering attaboy to John, KI4UIP for turning an ordinary pool table into a buffet serving table. Let me know if you enjoyed this change.

We reduced the number of online transmitters at W4TA to three. This slightly reduced the antenna count and setup effort. Thanks to all the guys that set up our antennas on Friday so we could have a head start on Saturday. We compensated for the reduced number of transmitters and antennas by increasing our operating flexibility. Operating station #2 was configurable for CW, Digital, and SSB operation as determined by operator availability. Another engineering attaboy to John, KI4UIP for building an antenna patch panel which permitted any transceiver to connect to any antenna. A supporting engineering attaboy to Dave, KR4U for the triplexer he built which permitted all three stations to operate on the beam antenna simultaneously. We also tried new logging software this year. There were some issues; nothing that a quick reboot could correct. An engineering attaboy to Tom, NY4I for configuring the satellite station, our radios and logging network. Kudos to Paul, KC4YDY for providing and manning the 6M station again this year.

Our Get On The Air (GOTA) station was again provided by the reliable team of Tom, KI4RVU and Clayton, KJ4RUS. These guys mentored our newcomers through their first contacts. Their instruction must have worked, as I saw a few “students” at the mic of W4TA, our main station.

Overall, I rate SPARC 2015 field day a success. Were there issues? Of course. We will adapt and adjust as needed. One thing I can’t seem to account for is a birthday that occurs just before each field day. Each year I ache a little more when it’s over.

73, Bob, N2ESP

PS The July issue of the SPARC GAP will contain complete details of our field day fun.

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Who will copy the Field Day bulletin?

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 06/22/2015

We still need a volunteer to copy the Field Day Bulletin. This is an easy 100 points.

2015 Field Day Bulletin Schedule
You can copy this from home on Friday night or if you are a purist, from the Field Day site. The radios should be setup by 11:00 AM for the phone bulletin on Saturday if you want to copy it from there.
Again, getting back to the stated purpose of Field Day, imagine we had to setup in the field for a communications emergency. Copy bulletins from “HQ” would be an important step.  Someone would have to take that action to know the schedule and make sure we were tuned in at that time.
Who will do this? Please step up and help us out by taking this activity.

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Field Day Operating Signup

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 06/19/2015

For your review, here is a link to the sign-up sheet for operating at Field Day.

Note we have three stations: CW Only, CW/SSB/PSK and SSB Only.

The CW/SSB/PSK station will be on whatever mode we have the requisite operators. This way we can keep the station busy.

PLEASE NOTE…YOU MAY NOT SIGN UP YET.

I will post this sheet at the antenna setup on Friday morning at 10:00 and when we get to the site on Saturday at 9:00 AM. People that attend either setup can sign up at either of those two times. After that, people can sign up for spots at Field Day on Saturday.

This is done to give a chance to those that are helping to setup either Friday or Saturday a chance to pick operating spots first. Each spot is 1 hour long and unless no one is manning the station, we ask that you only take an hour at a time (although you can operate one hour and log the next hour).

Please think about when you want to operate and if you can attend one of the setup sessions, please do so and sign up for a operating slot.

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Adding a Second Receiver and DVR to the Elecraft K3 at the Club Station

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 06/14/2015

On Friday, June 12, four of us met down at the station for lunch and then to work on the K3. The K3 that the club uses is a radio that was used in the WRTC-2014 contest held in New England last summer. As contest radios don’t really need a second receiver or a digital voice recorder (DVR), this K3 was not fitted with these options. As we also like to DX with the radios at SPARC, NY4I procured the parts for the radio to add the second receiver, upgrade to the new K3SYNA synthesizer and add the Digital Voice Recorder (SSB and CW memories).

Adding this kit took about 4 hours using the very well written Elecraft instruction manual. Dave KR4U led the build team with assistance from Tom, NY4I, John KI4UIP and Club President, Bob, N2ESP. We had the radio buttoned up but not tested plus Tom forgot to add the DVR so after taking the radio home for final testing, NY4I ended up taking the sub receiver out two more times to get it to work (I gave Dave some bad instructions on the order of filters). After the source of the issue was located, and a quick test on the trusty HP service monitor, it was time to tackle the DVR. This required removing the front panel of the radio and removing a board. The unfortunate thing is this was the exact same procedure that was used to add part of the second receiver. The moral of the story is when installing two kits at once, make sure you read both sets of instruction FIRST!

After about 2 hours (being extra careful), Tom, NY4I installed the DVR and all checked out well.

You might be asking how this helps the general club member. Besides this being one of the K3s we are using at Field Day, you now have access to world-class radio complete with a fully-independent sub-receiver and DVR. This makes DXing easier as you can also hear the other side of the pile-up. The DVR means you can record your voice and push a button to give your call in a contest. This is also the radio we use in the remote HF station available to SPARC members.

Our hope is that members want to get on the air and operate the station. We normally open the station the Saturday after the club meeting plus for contests. Other times are available—just ask someone. If you haven’t been down to the club station lately, make a point to come down during Field Day and see the setup. If you are a seasoned HF operator or a new general class ham looking to learn, we can help you use the station however you like. It is there to be used and the more the merrier.

KR4U starts work...
KR4U starts work…

 

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The K3 in pieces…

 

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Main receiver filter installation

 

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Sub Receiver Filter Board

 

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Complete view of the sub receiver PC board

 

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New K3SYNA synthesizer

 

 

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Field Day Preparation Underway

By Bob Wanek N2ESP on 06/07/2015

Field Day preparation by the Antenna, Radio and Computer teams took place on Saturday. In the photo below, John, KI4UIP, Hal, W1EES; Tom, NY4I; Dave, KR4U and Johnnie, W4TSP work on two HF radios.

FD 2015 Prep2

Below, the CW station gets tweaked by Tom, W4CU and Ron, KP2N.

FD 2015 Prep4

Below, Ron has identified a problem with the CW configuration.

FD 2015 Prep3

We will be setting up antennas on Friday, June 26 at 10:00 AM. All help is appreciated. Field Day setup will begin at 9:00AM on Saturday, June 27th. Lunch for those arriving early and setting up the station will be around noon. The fun begins at 2:00PM.

Don’t forget to bring an appetizer, side dish or dessert and your headphones.

N2ESPhotos

 

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Race to a Million

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on 05/31/2015

A million points, that is… As a tune-up for the CW contest part of Field Day, several operators of the SPARC Contest Group fired up the W4GAC station to have some fun in the CQ WPX CW contest. This is a 48 hour event where we try to contact as many other stations anywhere in the world. In this contest, the goal is to work as many unique prefixes as possible. To make ourselves sought after in this contest, we opted to use NY4I as the club call (there are only 26 NY4’s in the world as the FCC never issued anything but 2×1 NY4 calls).

The "Schaef(f)er Brothers" - Tom Schaeffer, W4CU and Tom Schaefer, NY4I
The “Schaef(f)er Brothers – Tom Schaeffer, W4CU and Tom Schaefer, NY4I

Tom, W4CU, Tom NY4I and Scotty N4RI started at 8:00 PM on Friday evening and went through to about 4:00 PM on Sunday (we did break from 1 AM – 9 AM each night—-we are not spring chickens any more you know).

When all was said and done, we worked 802 stations for a total score of 1,005,206 points. We had a goal of 1000 QSOs, but as it became clear that band conditions on Sunday were not going to allow that, we opted to go for one million points instead.

We all had lots of fun. Thanks to Tom W4CU and Scotty N4RI for joining Tom NY4I with operating and a special thanks to both Bob N2ESP and Dave KR4U for opening the club station for us.

Tom NY4I providing a great billboard for SPARC. :)
Tom NY4I providing a great billboard for SPARC. 🙂

Tom, NY4I with the K3 and Alpha 9500 in the background
Tom, NY4I with the K3 and Alpha 9500 in the background
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We are always ready to activate the station for folks to operate. If you want to use a great station to run a simple one person contest or a full 48 hour team effort, all you need to do is ask. We focus on teaching new people how to contest first, and the points and contacts second! Newcomers interested in contesting are always welcome. After all, surely the lot of us are not delirious and there must be something fun to this contesting stuff. You owe it to yourself to find out why we love it and what you are missing.

All photos by Bob, N2ESP.

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