Tag: operating events

CQ Field Day CQ Field Day & ARSIB

Although I’ve been a ham since 2001, I’ll consider this my first Field Day. Instead of participating in the local RACES field site or one of the local clubs, I decided I’d operate from home using emergency power. I spent the majority of the day completing my amateur-radio-station-in-a-box (ARSIB) project. The ARSIB is centered around an FT-817ND and is housed in a large dry box, the type normally used by outdoors folks and hunters. I built a shelf unit that slides into the box. Components are stacked vertically and secured to their own shelf. At the bottom I have an Alinco powers supply, very compact. Above the power supply is the FT-817ND. Above that is a 100W Tokyo HyPower amplifier for the FT-817ND (normally a 5W rig). Above the amp is an LDG Z-11PRO, great tuner. The tuner is also connected to the FT-817 ACC outlet for seamless tuning during band changes. Above the tuner is an SWR/power meter. The power cables run up the side of the box and feed into a small RigRunner that is mounted on the inside lid of the box. I spent just about all day putting everything together, to include two trips to ACE Hardware.



Once the ARSIB was complete, I set the box up in my ham shack a powered it with my portable generator running outside. I was now a “1E” station for field day (running from home on emergency power). I worked on the air tonight for about three hours and probably had about a dozen or so contacts. Mainly SSB, but I also tried out PSK-31. I need to mount my Rig Blaster NOMIC to the inside lid as well to help with the PSK-31 option. I also got to work some bands I rarely work like 15M. Lots of folks out there working field day…. good stuff!


The ARSIB is now my radio for portable operations. No more ripping my IC-706 out of the ham shack every time I want to activate a lighthouse. I can now use the ARSIB<.

2006 W1AW/K6KPH Field Day Bulletin Schedule


ZCZC AX02
QST de W1AW
Special Bulletin 2 ARLX002
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT June 19, 2006
To all radio amateurs

SB SPCL ARL ARLX002
ARLX002 2006 W1AW/K6KPH Field Day Bulletin Schedule

2006 W1AW Field Day Bulletin Schedule

Day Mode Pacific Mountain Central Eastern

FRIDAY CW 5:00 PM 6:00 PM 7:00 PM 8:00 PM
Teleprinter 6:00 PM 7:00 PM 8:00 PM 9:00 PM
Phone 6:45 PM 7:45 PM 8:45 PM 9:45 PM
CW 8:00 PM 9:00 PM 10:00 PM 11:00 PM
SATURDAY CW 7:00 AM 8:00 AM 9:00 AM 10:00 AM
Phone 8:00 AM 9:00 AM 10:00 AM 11:00 AM
CW 5:00 PM 6:00 PM 7:00 PM 8:00 PM Teleprinter 6:00 PM 7:00 PM 8:00 PM 9:00 PM
Phone 6:45 PM 7:45 PM 8:45 PM 9:45 PM
SUNDAY CW 7:00 AM 8:00 AM 9:00 AM 10:00 AM
Phone 8:00 AM 9:00 AM 10:00 AM 11:00 AM
PSK31 9:00 AM 10:00 AM 11:00 AM 12:00 PM

2006 K6KPH Field Day Bulletin Schedule

Day Mode Pacific Mountain Central Eastern

SATURDAY CW 7:30 AM 8:30 AM 9:30 AM 10:30 AM
CW 5:30 PM 6:30 PM 7:30 PM 8:30 PM
Teleprinter 6:30 PM 7:30 PM 8:30 PM 9:30 PM

SUNDAY CW 7:30 AM 8:30 AM 9:30 AM 10:30 AM
Teleprinter 9:30 AM 10:30 AM 11:30 AM 12:30 PM

W1AW will operate on the regularly published frequencies.

The special PSK31 bulletin will be transmitted on the regular W1AW teleprinter frequencies.

CW frequencies are 1.8175, 3.5815, 7.0475, 14.0475, 18.0975, 21.0675, 28.0675 and 147.555 MHz.

Teleprinter frequencies are 3.625, 7.095, 14.095, 18.1025, 21.095, 28.095 and 147.555 MHz (includes PSK31).

Phone frequencies are 1.855, 3.990, 7.290, 14.290, 18.160, 21.390, 28.590 and 147.555 MHz.

W1AW will transmit the bulletin in 45.45-baud Baudot RTTY, 100-baud AMTOR FEC Mode B, and 110-baud ASCII.

The Maritime Radio Historical Society’s K6KPH will transmit the “W1AW” Field Day 2006 message for the benefit of West Coast stations on 3.5815, 7.0475, 14.0475, 18.0975 and 21.0675 MHz, CW only. The K6KPH schedule is accurate as of June 19, 2006.

K6KPH will be transmitting Baudot RTTY and FEC AMTOR on 7.095 and 14.095 MHz during Teleprinter transmissions.

Any additional transmissions or changes in the schedule will be posted on the web at, http://www.arrl.org/contests/forms/06-fd-w1aw-sked.html . NNNN /EX

What’s been going on with AD7MI?

It’s been a busy summer so far.

– Memorial Day: I really enjoyed the special event station operation – W4M. I operated from Fort Monroe on Saturday and Sunday from a WWII coastal artillery battery overlooking the Chesapeake, wonderful weather and some great contacts. I setup a G5RV for the antenna and used a portable generator for power.

– The Smithsonian, NN3SI: During my trip to Washington DC, I had the opportunity to be a guest operator at the Smithsonian’s own amateur radio station, located at the Museum of American History.

– Lighthouse Activations: Enjoyed a relaxing few days down in the Outer Banks, NC and was able to activate the Bodie Island Lighthouse (USA-067) and the Currituck Beach Lighthouse (USA-212). Link here to the Outer Banks Repeater Association: http://obra.aginet.com/


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From : W2EHD
To : ad7mi
Subject : Re: 442.850

Scott – It was a pleasure to meet you – if only on the air.
Re: the the UHF side of the mobile radio. Might consider selecting medium or low power when running mobile – especially when the repeater of choice is not far away.
–
I am sending along a URL for a tape measure beam. Originally, I think the author meant to use it in DFing – Direction-finding – competitions – but despite the fact that it’s rather ugly and makes lots of noise when the wind blows the elements – it seems the ideal solution for accessing a repeater from a remote (vacation) location.
I bought an el cheapo grande 25 ft. tape measure a few years ago, and 8 bucks worth of the PVC tubing he recommends.
There are several of these antennae in my workshop. One thing I did was to cast a couple of concrete bases – using galvanized pails that I bought at ACE.
One 60-odd bag of Sak-Crete will let you make a couple of bases. Glue some scrap carpeting to the bottom and you’ve got built-on floor protection.

As presently described, the tape measure antenna is only good on 2 meters. The author mentions that it may well be possible to change the element dimensions and spacing to put it into the UHF portion of the spectrum. I may try one out on 70 cm, with a watt meter in the line, just for grins.
Keep in touch.
If you wish, I will add your address to the OBRA email list, which will keep you informed about major doings around here. You would not get a lot of mail from OBRA, believe me.
73,
Jack
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next project: I’m working on a portable HF/VHF/UHF system. Intent is to build a complete setup (rig, power supply, tuner, SWR meter, NOMIC RigBlaster, etc.) into an easily transportable box.

W4M – Day One

Wow! Day one is over – a total of 78 contacts to include two new states for me… Nebraska and Delaware. Worked a number of other states as well to include Washington, Texas, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, North Carolina, Missouri, Kansas, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Also a few into Canada.

Biggest lesson from today – operating a portable station away from a vehicle on generator power using a G5RV is a lot of setup work to do by yourself. I set my station up on the top of a WWII coastal artillery battery, taking advantage of the extra height and incredible view. However, this also entailed hiking up down a series of stairs with all the gear. Also learned some better techniques for using the G5RV. My intent was to use two painter’s poles nested one on the other with a 1/3 of the bottom sticking into the top one. I attached the center point of the G5RV and then tried to raise the pole to the vertical. The bottom pole’s top 1/3 ended up snapping due to the weight. What I should have done is run a line through the eyelet at the top of the top pole and then raised the center point once I had stabilized the pole into a vertical position. Also – I need to secure the guy-wires to the side of the pole, the guy-wires got needlessly tangled when I did finally get the pole into a vertical position.

The generator worked quite nicely – I had no issues with it at all. It started right up, operated quietly, and had hummed away nicely until I shut it down.

Overall, it was a good day and I learned quite a bit. Tomorrow’s operations should go a lot smoother.

International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend-2006

This highly popular and ever growing amateur radio event is on again this year on 19-20 August. In 2005 we had 382 lighthouses in 48 countries who registered on our web site. This year’s event in particular will be dedicated to the memory of its founder and main organiser, Mike Dalrymple GM4SUC, who passed away in December 2005. The event normally starts at 0001 UTC on Saturday 19th August and ends at 2359 UTC Sunday 20th August. This year we will start at 0002 UTC reserving the first minute in silence as a moment of reflection on Mike’s life.

As you all know by now the event is a fun weekend designed to promote amateur radio and lighthouses. It is NOT a contest so take time to have a chat with the stations contacted and maybe get the public involved as well. On the Sunday the International Association of Lighthouse Keepers will hold their Lighthouse Day opening their lighthouses all around the world to the public. Last year some stations even had the media present taking film of the event.

Full guidelines, an online entry form and a list of entrants are all on our web site at together with contact details if you need further information. So, come along grab a lighthouse and join in the fun. It’s also a great opportunity to increase your DXCC contacts and other lighthouse awards.

Kevin VK2CE,
Webmaster and Co-ordinator
http://illw.net

Busy day…..

(1) Complete support pole for G5RV feed point….
– this is complete except for the guy-wire. I need to get guy-wire for the upper 1/3 and lower 1/3 of the mast. I think the mast is going to work out well. It is composed of two painter’s poles (Mr. Long Arm). Each has a maximum length of 23′. For the upper section, I cut away the handle on the bottom. This will allow me to nest the upper portion’s lower 1/3 into the bottom portion’s top 1/3 of the pole. I think the total height of the mast will be around 38′. Also drilled a hole in the very top of the upper section and put an eye-bolt through it. Attached to the eye-bolt is a d-ring. I will attach the top of the feed point for the G5RV to the d-ring. As long as I can get some guy-wire… I’ll be good to go.

(2) Prep supports for the G5RV ends….
– got two large buckets from Home Depot. I placed a 3″ piece of PVC pipe (length just over the lip of the bucket) vertically in the center of the bucket. Around the pipe I put in about 4″ of cement. Turned about pretty good. I’ll be able to slide in a 2 1/2″ PVC pipe (10′ long) into the bucket and use it to secure the ends of the G5RV.

(3) Get a pop-up shelter for the operations table….
– got it at Target. 10′ by 10′ with a mosquito net. It will probably due okay in light rain, but not much more.

… and that was it for the list.

I did set up the FT-817 outside with my new RigBlaster NOMIC. Worked pretty good, got an PSK31 contact on 20M from Iowa with 5 watts. Have not set up the Tokyo amp yet.

Weekend wrap up

Got to see a bit of the air show today from a nearby park that has a good view of Langley Air Force Base. Had my Bearcat Scanner (BC245XLT) with the Radio Shack antenna and was able to monitor the Air Boss as well as the air/ground communications for the Golden Knights parachute team.

Tired to contact the special events station at Fort Knox (W2P), but the propagation just wasn’t there. I was able to make two other SSB contacts while trying as well as a PSK31 contact with a Swedish amateur radio operator on St. Martin.

Worked on cleaning the radio room.

Started looking at using my TH-D7A for accessing a DX packet cluster… but I’m not sure if we have any packet clusters in the area. We’ll see.

I’m looking at getting an amp for my FT-817 so I can use it for portable operations without having to pull the IC-706 out of the shack.

Finished about 30 QSL cards to be sent out tomorrow.

Weather Display works on Ubuntu!! I need to transition my weather station from the radio room to the linux box out in the garage. I need to figure out how to do do the FTP upload and webcam.

Started working on a webpage for Old Point Comfort Lighthouse activations: http://www.ni0l.com/monroe/monroe.html

3 Feb 2006 – update from Peter I

Beginning yesterday afternoon we encountered long swells that gently raise and then lower the boat.. It was a fairly comfortable ride. Today the seas have changed a bit and are averaging twelve feet. The ride is a little more uncomfortable, but not a problem for most of the team. We are experiencing winds speed of 33 knots with gusts higher…..direction is from the SSW. Outside air temperature is 36 deg F. Current position is 65 deg 2 min S. Lat and 65 deg, 44 mins West at 1900Z on Feb 3rd.

We have almost 2,000 QSOs on two radios using an OCF Windom antenna and a 4-BTV. Callsign is XR9A/MM. The Team is in good spirits, only two are having trouble with sea sickness. Training is continuing on the use of the Icom 756 Pro III’s and Alpha 99 amps and with Writelog. Last night after dinner we viewed a video and discussed once again how to erect the shelters. Most of the team has hands-on experience with shelter erection from previous training, but six have not. Tomorrow will be spent moving our equipment from the container on the lower deck to the main deck and staging for helicopter airlift!

Current ETA at Peter I is midnight, Sunday, Feb 5th. This means the earliest we could begin setting up the camp would be the following morning on Monday….. weather permitting!

73’s to all!

THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO

The North American SSB Sprint
Vermont QSO Party
YL-ISSB QSO Party
10-10 International Winter SSB Contest
YLRL YL-OM CW Contest
Minnesota QSO Party
FYBO Winter QRP Sprint
AGCW Straight Key CW Party
Delaware QSO Party
Mexico RTTY International Contest
ARCI Winter Fireside SSB Sprint
ARS Spartan CW Sprint

…. busy weekend

ARMAD Information Nets Scheduled

Beginning Sunday, January 22 at 2030 Eastern Time, 0130 UTC there will be a nationwide (worldwide?) tri-weekly information and planning net scheduled in preparation for “Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day” which will take place on Saturday, May 27. The purpose of the nets will be to assist individual amateur radio operators, clubs, and any other interested group with any information that they need on how to participate and get involved.

If you and or your club wish to get involved with ARMAD or just want more information you can check into the net in the *ARMAD* EchoLink Conference, or connect to node 146670, 52301, 106819 or 241401 and check into the net beginning at 0130 UTC on January 22nd. Also if you know of a friend or relative in the military services or a civilian working with the military that is an amateur operator, be sure to let them know about EchoLink and this net so we can help them get involved. You can also get your local American Legion, VFW, DAV, AMVETS, & etc involved in ARMAD.

Real RF radio is the primary tool used for ARMAD and EchoLink, IRLP, and other modes are used to tie it all together and make it all possible. Many troops as well as civilians overseas cannot have any sort of ham shack set up even a simple HT because of where they are, local laws, distance from repeaters, and so forth. However many can get computer and internet access to use EchoLink with their callsigns. This can allow them to connect to an EchoLink node on their local repeater back home and talk to folks as if they were there using a radio through the local repeater. This works both ways as we can also use our RF modes through EchoLink to send our greetings and talk to them from baseball fields, shopping malls, and any other location by connecting from our radios to an EchoLink enabled repeater or simplex link and talking to them on their EchoLink computer node.

For more about ARMAD visit: Armad.Net

Listen to an interview with Emery McClendon here: Emery’s Radio Interview 1-8-06

Following is a history of ARMAD and what it is all about.

Amateur Radio Operators have begun a unique way of showing support for our Military Veterans, and Active Duty Members. Emery McClendon, KB9IBW, founded ARMAD – Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day as a way to allow the people of communities worldwide to express thanks, and appreciation to those that serve in the military.

Since the inception of ARMAD in May 2004, ARMAD has grown, at a rapid rate, with Amateurs joining in from locations around the world to spread messages of support during this “LIVE” forum.

It all started when Amateurs from Two local clubs decided to hold an event during Memorial Day weekend at a local Baseball stadium. Amateurs were able to set up radio stations inside and around the stadium to allow the fans a chance to say thanks to military members, and to show support to their families during the game. The idea took off with over 25 other Amateur radio groups from around the US, and 7 International groups joining in the effort after hearing about the idea. The Fort Wayne, Indiana event at the stadium drew a crowd of over 6,600 people. Contact was made to several military bases, ships, and foreign military units serving as part of the Coalition Forces. ARMAD 2005 involved over 100 locations worldwide, and troops from Iraq were on the air to listen to the members of our communities say thank you. These troops also responded, and let the world know how much it meant to them to hear our LIVE voices. Emails and letters are great, but through the gift of Amateur Radio those that serve heard expressions of appreciation LIVE, and were also able to respond back with joy, and thanks to us. ARMAD expects to continue to grow, and invites amateur Radio Operators, Clubs, local community members, and Military Amateur Operators to participate in future events. Amateurs can help to bring awareness to our hobby by spreading the word about ARMAD, and setting up for these events at public venues. Together we can “Ham It Up For The Troops.”

The next main ARMAD event will be on May 27, 2006. For more information please visit Armad.Net, and get involved. Please post this information for your organisation members, and consider a link to the ARMAD web page on your web sites.