Tag: winter

Winter Field Day 2025

It was another fun Winter Field Day. Our club, we like to do 3 things: 1) we like to talk, 2) we like to eat, and 3) every once in a while we like to talk on the radio. This year was no different. We had a lot of fun, ate good food, and played on the radios. I think it’s the non-competitive spirit that helps us brave the cold weather. And it was cold this year with temps in the 20’s and 30’s. Not only does this tax our physical comfort, it also taxes our equipment.

Coax cables and extension cords were stiff and fingers went numb but we managed to get 4 stations on the air. I operated separate from the group to try to Get multipliers on JS8Call. I also copied the WFD bulletin and used Winlink to send and receive email. We had one member attempt to make a satellite contact and while he could hear other stations, it appeared no one was connecting. This year we ran QRP. Which was fun. Let me run through the gear and tell you how things worked.

The antenna this year was a 73’ inverted L with the vertical leg at 20 feet. This had a 60’ counterpoise connected to 1.5 KW Palomar Engineering 9:1 UnUn. I use the bigger UnUn because times when I run higher power (up to 40 watts) using digital, smaller UnUns get warm and saturated. This antenna works well down to 160 meters. I made contacts on different bands out to the west coast. A fail I had was I used a Chameleon RF choke next to the UnUn. It blocked all of the signal to the radio. Once I removed it, things were fine.

The radio was my new Yaesu FT-710. The radio worked well with no real issues. A quirk of the radio is the AF cuts the volume off louder than other radios. Sometimes when I am operating digital, I like to turn the audio volume real low so I can just barely hear it to keep tabs on what is going on. With the FT-710, it cuts off the volume while it is still louder than I like. Not a deal breaker. One of the benefits of operating a big radio QRP is the controls are easier to get to. While I prefer the ergonomics of Icom radios, the FT-710 is still pretty good. Another quirk with the FT-710 is the waterfall. It is not averaging like other radios, you have to adjust it manually. Overall, the radio performed well and compares favorably with the IC-7300. Either radio will equally get the job done. This radio feels more refined than my first one. It will be going on several more trips I have planned.

FT-710 accessories. I got the tuner issue worked out and my LDG tuner is playing well with the 710. I added Portable Zero rails which not only protects the sticky-outy things, but gives extra finger holds. I consider the rails a must have for portable big radios. Heil Proset Elite. I had to buy another headset for the FT-710 and the Elite was on sale at HRO. My Icoms use an electret mic which requires power. I already had an adapter from when I owned an FTDX10. I’ve been using Heil products for 25+ years and they are my goto. Mouse. I bought a Logitech M310 mouse to go the FT-710 thinking it might be easier to navigate through the menus. However, once I got the radio setup I was only changing a few things and found I didn’t use the mouse at all. I will probably not use a mouse with the 710 and I already found another use for it.

Maestro Evolve III laptop. I think I paid $122 for it. It works okay. It’s not zippy fast but all the software I used worked. It does appear to be RF sensitive though. During transmit, the mouse would freeze and sometimes the app window would close and open. What do you expect for a hundred bucks! One thing I did find annoying was the track pad. It was overly sensitive and would often treat a light touch as an “execute” function doing something I didn’t want it to do. My solution is to take the Logitech M310 mouse and use it with the Evolve III. A cool feature is I can run the Evolve off of my radio power supply or battery. Less “stuff” to deal with. The power plug for the Evolve also fits older Icom and Kenwood HT’s. The Evolve worked with my GPS receiver and I was able to easily sync the time for JS8Call. I will be taking this little laptop out again.

JS8Call. I think this will be the last time I use JS8Call. I was never fond of it and running a contest with it is almost a nightmare. For WFD, it doesn’t sync well with ACLog. People would send their Class and section info out without attaching a call sign to it so you would get something like 1O OH… and nothing else. That would be okay if only one person does it but when 2 or 3 others do it at the same time, you don’t know who is who. That and there wasn’t really enough JS8Call stations on the air to make it worthwhile. CW was the same for WFD. There were other contests going on. It appears the money maker for WFD is SSB. Which is interesting because the EmComm community relies heavily on digital modes.

As a group, we had a lot of fun. We always enjoy getting together. I had fun and I got to test my equipment. It is reassuring to have the knowledge that your equipment is ready. Even when I go on one of my FunComm trips, I load things up and go. I don’t have to check them because I already did. Final thoughts? Listening to the CW contests over the weekend reinvigorated my love for CW. I have been away from it while getting up to speed with MARS and SHARES, but there is still something to be said for the simplicity of me and the key. Hopefully, this will be a better year than last year, and I can get back into the swing of things. Stay safe, stay warm es 72 de Scott

Winter Wonderland

I woke up this morning to fresh snow on the ground. I had the same excitement as I did as a kid. I got dressed and went on my daily 4 mile walk—in the snow while it was snowing. It was glorious, I remembered playing in the snow as a child and backpacking in it as a young adult. I also remember the grueling Army Field Training Exercises (FTX) in German winters. I have seen cold winters, my coldest was somewhere between -20 to -30 degrees F. Winters can be fun, and they can be dangerous. The most dangerous winter is like what we are seeing today on NW Georgia. Snow with freezing rain and temps hovering around freezing. For driving, this means ice on the roads and sometimes ice covered with snow. Drivers unaware that they are driving on ice lose traction and control of the vehicle. Often they are unaware they have lost control until it’s too late. I have driven cars, trucks, military vehicles, and 18 wheelers on snow and ice covered roads. Only through training and experience did I survive those encounters.

These conditions are also conducive to personal physical injuries such as immersion foot, frost nip, frost bite and hypothermia. Being cold and wet by itself may not kill you, but cold and wet, coupled with inexperience will. This blog post is not necessarily about amateur radio, but about operating amateur radio outside in these conditions. Using my 4 mile walk today, I will lay out what I wore and why.

Let’s start with EDC. EDC is Every Day Carry which for me is every time I leave the house I have these items on my. Here is what I carry Every Day.

Knife – Benchmade Bugout. I love this knife. It is the perfect size and
weight. I resides in a pocket on my cell phone holster.

Bandanna

Pen


Lighter – Zippo with a butane insert. I used to carry a Bic Flic but because it is so light, it would fall out of my pocket when I retrieved other items. I do not have this issue with the Zippo

Cord – 10-12 feet of 1/16” 100 lb test cord.

Car keys with a bottle opener

Cell Phone

Necklace with:
P38 can opener (from my army days)
Olight i1Reos flashlight. This is an amazing little light.
Dog tag with emergency contact info and medical insurance info

Wallet with:
Cash, Credit Cards and ID
Signal Mirror
Fresnel lens – for reading and fire starting
A couple of bandaids
Victorinox Swiss Card.

Other items may be added as necessary such as self-defense items or electronics to support blogging/vlogging and radio gear.

Clothing. Starting from the inside out. My undergarments are a mesh top with a bottoms made from 60% cotton and 40% polyester. The next layer was a Carhartt Force Cotton Tee shirt 65% cotton/35% polyester, and Levi blue jeans. I wore Darn Tough wool socks (I wear these year round) and Solomon XA Goretex trail shoes.

My next layer was an Eddie Bauer fleece pullover I got cheap from Sam’s Wholesale. It is 100% polyester. On top of that I wore a cheap Amazon Basics lightweight fleece vest again 100% polyester.

My outer layer was a Carhartt stocking cap 100% acrylic. A TurtleFur neck tube (polyester). Cotton Jersey Gloves and a British SAS Windproof Smock (50-50% Cotton Polyester (unlined and uninsulated). Through the rain/Sleet/Snow I remained warm and dry. My Smock got quite damp but the hydrophobic nature of my under layers and the heat I generated kept the moisture to the outside. If I wore one of my Goretex jackets, I would have been soaked in sweat as Goretex is not as breathable as the smock is.

While walking, I was warm enough to have to unzip my smock and my vest. My gear would have kept me warm down into the teens. I tend to dress one layer warmer than I need. In this case I added the vest. There is a myth that “cotton kills” It’s not the cotton, it’s the operator. Most military uniforms are about 50% cotton. My days in the Army go back to the BDU which is made from Nyco or 50% cotton/50% nylon. I wore that uniform from very hot to very cold and I lived to tell about it. Know your gear, know how it works in different conditions. How does it perform when wet. What I wore today was perfect. My smock got damp, my gloves got damp, but inside I was warm and dry. I walk year round and I walk in most weather conditions. I know how my clothes work. I made myself a promise when I got out of the Army, and that was I would only be cold and wet when I wanted to be. To date, that has not happened. Get outside, try your gear, know what to wear for different conditions. Be safe. Be especially safe when your community needs you. 73 de Scott

Danger Will Robinson

We are under a Winter Storm Watch

…WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH

SATURDAY MORNING…

  • WHAT…Heavy mixed precipitation possible. Total snow
    accumulations between 1 and 7 inches with the higher amounts
    north. Ice accumulations around one tenth of an inch possible.
  • WHERE…Portions of north central, northeast, northwest, and west
    central Georgia.
  • WHEN…From Friday morning through Saturday morning.
  • IMPACTS…Travel could be very difficult. The hazardous conditions
    could impact the Friday morning and evening commutes.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

Monitor the latest forecasts for updates on this situation.

For those in the northern states, this may not be a big deal. For us in the southeast it is. Mainly because a) most counties do not have a lot of, if any snow removal/sanding equipment b) folks don’t know how to drive in winter conditions and c) many homes are not constructed for the colder temperatures.

I was raised in the northeast and traveled to many cold climates. I have lived in/worked in everything from arid desert and subtropical, to temperate and sub alpine zones. When the weather turns wintry, I stay home. Not because I can’t deal with it, but because others can’t. If you live in the southeast, are you prepared. Did you go out and buy the requisite milk, bread and eggs? For those that don’t know, these are the first item to go prior to an event like a winter storm. What happens if the power goes out? This happens during a storm and it may be a while before power is restored. Do you have alternate heating. We have a fireplace and a lot of wood to burn. Our house is fairly well insulated and the fireplace place will keep the house warm, not toasty, but warm enough. If a tree comes down on your property, can you cut it up? Do you have a chain saw? Gas? Two stroke oil? A file to sharpen the blade? Do you know how to sharpen a chainsaw blade? You may not be able to get to a store to buy a new one, if one is open at all.

Do you have study, warm clothes to work outside? Temperatures in the 20’s and 30’s can drop to near 0 degrees F with enough wind. Do you have enough warm blankets? Enough to sleep in a cold house. Which brings us to electronics.

Do you keep your cell phone charged? Do you have a way to keep it charged if there is no mains power? It may be your only link to the outside world and maybe the only entertainment center for the kiddos. How about your radios? What if you antennas come down? Do you have spares? Do you have alternate power for your radios? Do you have gasoline for your generators? Do you have heating propane? I heat with propane and one of my 2200 watt generators can run the furnace.

Do you know what hypothermia looks like? Frost nip? Frost bite? How about immersion (trench) foot. It’s these middle temperatures where these injuries are likely to occur. Once frost bitten, you will be painfully reminded of your error in judgement each time that part of your body gets cold. Trust me on this one.

Take the time to get ready. Go to the store now. Fill up your vehicle gas tanks, get gas and oil for your chainsaw. Make sure you have adequate food in the house and alternates ways to keep warm. Most of all be safe. Think through your actions before you commit. Someone will probably die as a result of poor decisions during this weather event. Don’t let it be you or yours. God Bless, my thoughts are with you. 73 — Scott