Tag: field day

Shack Shakeup Continues

I have a stable of radios. I like radios. I have spent the past couple of years going through radios and finding the ones I like to use. I think I am getting close. In the shack, I like my IC-7610 and TS-890. They are big and all the controls I use are easy to get to. There performance is top notch. I am content.

QRP radios. This has been my greatest controversy. When I retired, I thought I was going to do a lot of QRP with little radios and maybe even do some SOTA. It didn’t turn out that way. I found myself using big radios at low power. They are easy to use and because of their heatsinks, they never overheat at low power. I did keep one little radio the IC-705, of all the little radios I had, the 705 was the one I grabbed the most.

Field radios. I went through a bunch of radios here too. I kept my IC-7300 which I bought new and has stayed with me over the years. I may sell it off for the new IC-7300MK2. I recently acquired a TS-590sg which went with me on my recent POTA activation at Black Rock Mountain State Park.

It was definitely a fun radio and I look forward to using it more in the future. Yesterday, an IC-7200 was delivered by UPS. The was a trade I had in the works. I always wanted an IC-7200. It’s a basic radio that has a military vibe to it. Being a Veteran, it appealed to me. The radio came with the rails and the MARS mod was already done. The radio is pristine. Power draw at idle is about 1 amp and at 20 watts it draws about 8 amps. Lowering the power level does not overly change the amp draw. Above 20 watts and the amp draw increases. Twenty watts is the happy medium. Here in the shack I had it turned on and was able to work N0SA. I have a set of his SOTA paddles from his last run before he retired. They are fun to use. I plan on taking the 7200 on my next POTA adventure.

During the past couple of years after making many POTA activations, Field Days (winter and summer), Army MARS, and SHARES I was able to shape how I operate. Some of it was a surprise as I was led in a different direction than when I started. I guess when it comes to radios, I may march to the beat of a different drummer. I prefer big radios (IC-7300 size) over little radios. I like that the controls are easier to get to and they don’t overheat. In the field I usually run around 20-35 watts. Most of the time I am in my micro-camper so I am not carrying the radios very far. I may have to lug them 50 feet to a picnic table. I recently bought one of those folding wagons so weight is no problem.

Another surprise was my use of FT8. Band conditions on many of my outings was poor. If it wasn’t for FT8, I may not have had a valid activation. Plus, I discovered I could work a lot of DX while in a park using FT8.

Yaesu’s. I don’t have any Yaesu’s. I have tried to like them, but they are just not for me. I had an FTDX10 for about 18 months, a FT-710 for about a year total, and a FTX1 for a couple of months. To me they are kind of quirky. The Icom’s and the Kenwood’s are solid performers and the ergonomics are superior. I know how to make them dance and sing. I know there are those who love Yaesu and I get it. To each his own. Find the radios that suit you best and enjoy them as I have. The journey is half the fun. 73 de Scott

Hurricane Season 2025

NOAA has released their 2025 hurricane season (01 June to 30 November) prediction. they are calling for an above average season with 13-19 named storms and 6-10 to reach hurricane strength. Of those hurricanes, 3-5 are predicted to become major hurricanes.

As we learned last year, coastal states are not the only ones vulnerable to the havoc a hurricane can bring. Now might be a good time to break out the portable gear and give it a shakedown. Turn on those go-boxes and feed those portable antennas. Make sure everything is in working order. Take your gear out and go at least 20 miles from home. Why 20 miles? It’s a distance that is too far to go back home and retrieve a forgotten part or replace a broken piece of kit. Field Day (winter and summer) are good events to try your gear. Only if you use the same gear you would bring for EmComm and use the same power levels. The lesson here is don’t wait to get ready, get ready now. I try to keep myself prepared to deploy in 4 hours or less.

You can’t plan for everything that may go wrong. You can however, minimize the chance of failure by ensuring your gear is in the best possible condition. Remember Proper Planing and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance (7P’s). Be THE guy, not THAT guy. 73 de Scott

Deja Vu all over again

The 2025 promises to be a better year. I am looking forward to being more radio-active. I am also looking forward to more blogging and more vlogging. I am hoping to undertake some long term reviews. I have two in mind. One is going to be a Maestro Evolve III laptop computer. I know a lot of hams use them so I thought I would give one a whirl. My other project is going to be another Yaesu FT710, this time the field version. I last owned one about a year and a half ago, I traded it off after a few months of use. The radio was going through some growing pains and was probably not ready for prime time. My general thoughts back then was the radio was a likable and fun radio and compared favorably to my IC-7300. I thought I would give it another look and a fair shake since it’s been through a few firmware updates since its release in 2022.

I am hoping this FT-710 is more polished than my first one. I can see at least two firmware updates since my last 710 and the manual has been updated. Hopefully Yaesu cured those early issues. I picked up the radio yesterday. I plan on using it as a field radio for POTA activations as well as for Winter Field Day and Field day with my club. In general the IC-7300 and the FT-710 are comparable, each with their pluses and minuses. Whichever brand you are married to, either radio will probably serve you equally well. One reason I got this radio is there are many members in my club that use Yaesu radios. Having familiarity with the Yaesu system allows me to help them with their radio problems.

My initial thoughts are similar to the ones I had a year and a half ago. It is a likable radio and it has a certain fun factor. I am going through my past blog posts and YouTube videos to make list of things I found with my first FT710 and see if they have been corrected. I will also post the settings I changed on the new radio to suit me.

I like big radios when I go camping or even on POTA day trips. I like having the controls I use handy and if band conditions get ugly, I can turn up the power. I normally run 20-25 watts for CW and digital. The rare times I am on SSB, I may go as high as 50 watts. Another plus with a big radio is I can run digital modes all day long and it will not overheat the radio. I do have a couple of QRP radios and I do take them out for a spin every now and again; but I can just as easily turn my big radio down to 5 watts. I am looking forward to using it in the upcoming Winter Field Day. 73 de Scott

Field Day WGARS Style

Field Day, the opportunity to take our equipment to the field and test it in preparation for the “Big One”.

The West Grorgia Amateur Radio Society (WGARS) takes this seriously. We bring our radios, antennas, batteries, etc to a local park twice a year to make sure we know how to operate in the field when the time comes. But this is not the only thing we do, in fact, sometimes it becomes a much lower priority because…

We like to have fun. We like each other and we often spend a lot of time socializing with each other. We have pot-luck meals where club members and their families show off their culinary skills. This year we had some guitar playing during the off times. I can see music a growing venue in our get togethers. We had a Fox Hunt before the start of Field Day to kick things off. The kids loved it. We have some talented youth in our club. During events like Field Day we see families joing us. We have room from everyone. When we do get on the radio, the youth jump on the radio calling CQ Field Day. They do this because for them it is fun. We have no quotas, they can walk away from the radio at any time for as long as they want. If a radio isn’t manned — so what!

Our setup is evolving. Last year we lost our clubhouse and instead of finding another place, we bought an 8 x 24′ trailer that we have been modifying to suit our needs. It is great because we can have a warm (or cool), dry place to operate almost anywhere we want. We have 4 stations setup with soundproofing. It works well. We set up 5 antenna for the trailer. We have half wave dipoles for 10, 15, and 20 meters tied end to end with about 10 foot of rope in between them. We oriented these east-west. We have another antenna system comprised of 2 half wave antennas for 40 and 80 meters oriented north-south. I run a satellite station about 100 yards away with a vertical antenna. With this configuration we have little to no cross band interference.

I enjoy running the satellite station, I usally run either FT8 or CW and I am usually the only one on that mode so I can run up and down the bands without causing dupes. Like everyone else, when I want to take a break, I do.

As you can see, we are somewhat laid back, go with the flow kind of folks. Because we look at our club light-heartedly, we have little drama. I can’t think of a better club I would rather be in.

On yeah, so how did I do? I only have my log as the rest of the club was still operating when I left. Throughout Field Day we would have members come and go; operate a little, eat a little, talk a little. Band conditions were funky. At times QSB was rather sudden, often within an FT8 exchange. I operated well into the night, which I often do during my outings. I stayed up until 0200 hrs Sunday morning and was rewarded with 148 contacts to include 2 from Hawaii, 1 from Alaska, 1 from Luxemburg, and 1 from Dominican Republic. I made as least one contact in all but 10 sections in the Continental United States. I enjoy seeing how far my radio can reach. Below is a QSO map and below that a link to My YouTube video. 73 – Scott

Field Day 2023

This weekend I got to participate with my local amateur radio club, the West Georgia Amateur Radio Society (WGARS) for Field Day. This is a great club and every event is fun. It covers a wide variety of activities, including Parks on the Air, Fox Hunts, Balloon releases, Field Day, and Winter Field Day. This year, Field Day was held at the Little Tallapoosa Park located in Carroll County Georgia. We operated as W4F, 5A GA. We did not operate 5 stations all of the time, we padded the number to allow members to bring their own rigs and operate for a short time if they desire.

I decided to make a night of it and brought my micro camper. Because I was in a group setting I set my radio up outside as there were plenty of folks to keep an eye on each other’s equipment. My original intent was to operate FT8 and CW. I have a newly acquired Elecraft K3/10 I wanted to try. However, band conditions were poor, so I relied on my IC-7300 and FT8. The club president tried CW and only made 2 contacts.

Everything worked well. The only glitch was a software one. We networked our computers together with N3FJP’s AcLog for Field Day. The glitch was with the CQ message. I set mine up for CQ FD W4F EM73. It would stay that way until I clicked on an incoming message (red). The FD would change to PACC on its own. I would have to change it back to FD before calling CQ.

I know this wasn’t isolated as I saw other stations from other groups calling CQ PACC. I had to keep an eye on it the whole time I was operating.

How did we do? I think we did okay. Our group is a little more casual than others but, by the time I left by mid-morning Sunday, we were north of 500 contacts. Here is a club QSO map.

I had a good run. I mainly ran FT8 on 20 meters. I ended up with 200 contacts from 38 states and 4 DX entities. The most fun came in the wee hours of the morning when there are DX openings to the west. I was able to make two contacts with Alaska and one with Hawaii. also about the same time I managed a contact to Italy. I didn’t hit the sack until 0400 hrs Eastern.

I was up at 0700 hrs to make the last few contacts. I wanted to pack up a little early before the heat of the day. I had a breakfast of eggs, bacon, OJ, and a pancake in a cup before heading home.

It was a lot of fun. I enjoy field operating and seeing how well my equipment does. What better way to spend a weekend than with friends and fellow amateur radio operators. Below is a short video about the event. 73 – Scott