2013 Field Day Update

Beach Boys ARC update as one of our participants sponsored an additional 3 element tri-bander expanding our high band capability. Additionally, another participant has sponsored two 10 foot sections of Rohn tower, for our second antenna system at 20 feet. Each tri-bander will point toward the East coast given their respective beamwidth. Lastly, our off center fed dipole to be positioned broadside toward the same location.

We are going to concentrate on the high bands before moving one station to the low bands sometime near sunset. I'm sure many of us are now watching the numbers hoping for one of those epic weekends? The Beach Boys ARC will gather for systems integration on Friday morning.

73 from the shackadelic near the beach.

P.S. You are invited to join us this weekend and you can find our location at the ARRL Field Day locator.

2013 Field Day

Beach Boys ARC celebrates their fourth annual Field Day effort from SL's antenna ranch. We are planning a two transceiver effort using emergency generators. Our antenna systems are one tower mounted tri-bander at 35 feet and a mast supported, off center fed dipole, at 35 feet. Our software interface is N1MM Contest Logger with local area network to monitor activity between each station.

Deploying stubs at each transceiver to mitigate inter-station modulation and protect receiver front ends. Additionally, installing a band pass filter on 40m to reduce broad band transmit interference at third order harmonic, at 21 Megahertz. Respective transceivers are equipped with 500 hertz filters for CW operation.

Anticipating post second peak conditions with bulk of contacts made on 20 and 40m wavelengths.

Participants providing snacks to include one other person with donuts and coffee on tap throughout the exercise. Dinner is hamburgers and hot dogs. Breakfast is scrambled eggs and hash browns.

Look for the Beach Boys ARC under the callsign W6SL as we propagate shortwave signals from our land island near the beach.

73 from the shackadelic near the beach.

Slide 15 Future This Side Of The Atlantic

Slide 15

EU Youth Movement

Continental Shift

What can be expected on this side of Atlantic as the numbers begin shifting like a continental shelve? I'm not surprised by the evidence on slide 15 that EU RadioSport participants are younger and greater in numbers. The results are sobering especially as our elder statesmen look between the ages of 20 through forty nine.

North American RadioSport is in trouble if the current trend is allowed to continue because it speaks to decline instead of resurgence.

Potentially, slide 15 also draws attention to the disconnect between what is really going on at the level of clubhouses while pointing toward an ever growing population of licensed operators on this side of the Atlantic. There is, at least from my perspective, a significant difference between having a license and actually participating in activities like RadioSport.

The sobering reality is there is no more time as evidenced in the categories spanning between 15 and 29 years of age. There is not even a blip on this side of the Atlantic.

What influence will slide 15 have on events like Sweepstakes, North American QSO Parties, National Contest Journal Sprints, or state QSO parties? Ten years is lighting quick as we age and I'm one of those wondering where is all the time going?

It might be said, "Oh, there goes another #hamr blogger crying wolve, again."

No, not this time, slide 15 at face value is sobering, because it really highlights what many of us between 30 and 49 years of age already understood. The future of RadioSport on this side of the Atlantic is in trouble.

Contest on!   

2013 ARRL June VHF/UHF Contest | First List+

Grid Square Mapping

First List

Logged Grid Squares

Enter grid square mapping as my think about because it is the closest to gaming without radically altering the wheel. I believe there is enormous potential from adding sound effects when a grid square is logged to piping information off of the reverse beacon network or even Twitter. There is Tetris quality as squares are logged possibly collapsing the entire field of connected squares when geometric patterns are formed.

I found myself looking for connecting squares during last weekend's RadioSport event. The hunt added urgency to the game.

Our slide 15 future on this side of the Atlantic is not far away.

73 from the shackadelic near the beach.  

Recap 2013 ARRL June VHF/UHF Contest

Fred, KI6QDH At The Controls

The Controls

Two element Buddipole configured for 6m operation pointing Southeast to Southwest with second operator inside the Eureka four person tent. Sufficient room for three with adequate ventilation.

Unexpected Es throughout Saturday afternoon with big gun (BG) signals radiating out of Texas and Arizona. Tracked Es using DX Maps ES MUF map throughout event using Motorola Android OS mobile device connected to local Verizon 3G wireless network.

Highly recommend DX Maps as a difference maker when locating E-clouds.

BG signals stable through afternoon utilized as beacons when beaming either Southeast or Southwest. Noted K5TR and N5RZ as BG loud on the central coast of California on Saturday afternoon. Significantly diminished signal strength on Sunday afternoon as station scanned nearly 300 KHz of bandwidth.

Spiked rates late Saturday afternoon while Es move across New Mexico and Arizona. Noted giant BG signal quality as one station used a 5 element yagi at 10 feet with 100 watts pumping the aluminum. Fluttery signals prior to sunset including two hop skip reaching 4-land operators with heavy metal in the sky.

Signature fluttery signal suggested unstable path into New Mexico shortly after sunset as Dave, WD5COV located in New Mexico went into the log. He was our last Q until Sunday afternoon when we finally broke 100 contacts.

Slammed conditions on Sunday took a significant turn toward enduring severe boredom in the chair.

Beacon BG signals from Saturday blipped inside the cans before falling into terminal silence. Continued monitoring DX Maps ES MUF with lots of classic armstrong rotor trips before logging two stations in the Pacific Northwest.

Adrenaline driven anticipation for an opening toward Spokane, Washington never materialized. Continued scanning 300 KHz of bandwidth resulting in two additional contacts potentially located near San Diego, California.

Fatigue gnawed on my positive attitude like a mad dog and severe boredom calling mindless CQs resulted in hitting the FT100 off button around 3 o'clock local.

Overall, I'll be back next year!

73 from the shackadelic near the beach.   

Post Script 2013 ARRL June VHF/UHF Contest

Arrived Saturday morning on our sponsored island of land at the antenna ranch. Weather conditions, affectionately known as June gloom on the central coast of California, didn't disappoint. The clime felt muggy indeed the unusually thick air disturbed my acclimatized biological settings. The morning had a tinge of tropical.

Started unpacking my suburban utility vehicle for the very high and ultra high frequency wireless extravaganza sponsored by the League.

Unpacked according to systems as best as possible with everything containerized for ease of re-packing and inventory after the event. First, shelter, and tent assembly was easy enough for one person, other than a pesky slight breeze moving things around. Followed up with my Buddipole configured for 6m with its two elements at 18 feet. I finished up with tent furniture (eg. chair and table) and deployed my Yaesu FT100 then connected to my Acer Aspirer 5532 notebook.

Assembled Buddipole two element 6m yagi according to manufacturer specifications then measured each element before analyzing for standing wave ratio (SWR). My MFJ-269 HF/VHF/UHF SWR Analyzer screamed flat across the 50 MHz spectrum! Mega stoked.

Failed to mention that it was classic armstrong rotor for the entire event. Fred and I would walk 10 feet then turn the mast toward the Es resulting in a pretty good workout.

Turned on my high frequency xcvr and programmed its one memory function for CQing contest in Morse code. Wetware memory and vocal chords flawlessly drove single sideband operations without rebooting the operating system.

Systems were 'green' and 'go' across the board for launching VHF radio frequency from grid square Charlie Mike 95 from our sponsored island of land at the ranch. Five, four, three, two, one...

73 from the shackadelic near the beach.

  

Going Portable In The 2013 ARRL June VHF Contest

Wanted to let you know that I'm going portable for my first ever very high frequency RadioSport event. My mentor is sponsoring our location with his near hilltop vantage point.

Our antenna system is a Buddipole two element configuration for 6m with the possibility of re-configuring the system for 2m operation? I'm taking my Yaesu FT100 mobile transceiver including Heil boom microphone, Bencher paddles, and Acer notebook as related accessories. My Honda EU2000i is outside warming up in preparation for this weekend.

I'm settled on operating inside a tent as current weather conditions are cloudy to partly cloudy with a temperature in the mid-sixties. It's cool climes near the beach at this time of the year. A North Face sleeping bag will provide warmth after sunset to include layering clothes.

I'm looking forward to assembling each system in the field then launching our CM95 signal from my mentor's antenna ranch during the 2013 ARRL June VHF Contest.

Contest on!

From ARRL | Public Outreach with NTS Messaging

As one who hasn't connected with our National Traffic System since forever I'd encourage Field Day planners to consider carving out a few hours this year and connect via point-to-point communications using the ionosphere as the medium. 

I'm going to encourage Beach Boys ARC participants to be prepared to practice traffic handling during our national emergency communication's exercise scheduled for later this month. We can well afford to take a few hours for training because Field Day is all about emergency preparedness.

Public Outreach with NTS Messaging: The ARRL National Traffic System (NTS) routinely passes practice messages to help operators build and maintain their traffic-handling skills. One way to create such messages is to solicit them from the public at preparedness fairs, exhibit booths and, of course, Field Day. 

Disaster preparedness for individuals and families includes having out-of-state contacts that can be notified in case of an emergency. When curious visitors approach the table, explain the importance of having such information. Be sure to emphasize the fact that in a real incident Amateur radio may be the best way to reach their designated contacts. 

It’s a terrific way to engage the public and it will heighten their appreciation for our disaster-communication capabilities.

2013 CQ World Wide WPX CW | The First List

The First List

Good morning from inside #hamr shackadelic after wrapping up the tasks that follow after every RadioSport event. My log was uploaded in its dot adif version at Club Log and eQSL followed up with dot tq8 conversion for LoTW finishing with dot log cabrillo emailed to the sponsor. I imported my N1MM generated dot adif into my master log for a total of 20k mixed contacts as of this posting.

The stand out moment was logging JW/DK8FD on 20m at a heading of 15 degrees plus or minus on Saturday night when conditions where exceedingly quiet. I'd like to include logging ED1R on 40m shortly after sunset with a dipole at 45 feet on the same day.

I entered low power, single operator, all band, assisted with tri-bander, wire overlay.

Contest on!

The Future Meteoric Rise Of EMCOMM

I'm watching the nightly national news while Oklahoma City is ground zero for yet another tornado without respite insight after a recent F5 devastated Moore, Oklahoma. Additionally, a string of cities remain within the path of potential tornadoes as far north as Chicago, according to Weather Channel radar projections. Furthermore, our National Hurricane Center projects a troublesome hurricane season while California is beginning to experience the influence of prolonged drought manifesting as potential fire storms.

I know that our emergency communication (EMCOMM) niche has taken big hits in the past. Perhaps, we hoped against hope, that a predicted future of severely disturbed weather patterns remained in that place of pseudo-science. Our future seemed far away, over the horizon and out of reach yet; evidence of climate change from my perspective is at hand especially as certain locations on the East Coast are still struggling after Super Storm Sandy.

The importance of EMCOMM is not going to diminish instead EMCOMM is going to grow exponentially in my lifetime. Our niche of dedicated storm watchers or net operators are going to earn rock star status within the unwritten hall of fame that is shared by word of month.

It is the complexity of modern communication systems specifically cellular networks connected to the Internet which presents ham radio as the most resilient communication system in times of severe disruption to complete failure.

EMCOMM success is ad hoc flexible capable of regenerating itself in many different hardware configurations and communication modes. People will see this despite the best efforts of commercial communication interests. EMCOMM is potentially more capable of moving 140 character driven traffic in a post storm environment than cellular systems remotely controlled by an algorithm at a distant operation's center prioritizing traffic.

Field Day is fast approaching, I've said it once and will say it again, Field Day is not a contest. I'd encourage all of us to really dig into the purpose and mission of our national communication exercise that is emergency preparedness. Likewise, without disturbing the natural order of things, maybe it is high time to begin moving traffic instead of cloned exchanges, that simulates a contest. Instead, we need to begin advocating for traffic handling training where simulated morale and welfare messages are communicated from coast to coast.

73 from the shackadelic near the beach.

2013 CQ WPX CW Aftermath

It seems this is the season for storms and Cycle 24 delivered successive geomagnetic disturbances at the G1 level including S1 radiation through the weekend. The K- and A-indexes seriously spiked reaching as high as 30 plus and an average of 5 during the storm peak. The overall effect diminished my 30 degree path into Europe on 20 and 15m both Saturday and Sunday morning. The path was especially important because I was pumping about 100 watts into a five element tri-bander while searching and logging.

My 315 degree path into Asia took a pounding because of space weather on Saturday afternoon when Japan is several hours into daylight. I didn't log any JA-stations as the second wave of energized protons pummeled the ionosphere. The same held true for 20m later into the evening. However, around 0400 universal time coordinated, our 5 to 20 degree polar path into European Russia on Saturday evening, was stand out fun.

The low bands with seasonal noise disturbances suffered as well with an extra load of space storm noise. Our club antenna is a multi-band dipole effective enough although not enough to overcome morale challenging conditions. The fatiguing early morning hours filled my log with a few 6 point rate strings deep into Asia.

Perhaps, I misjudged high band conditions this morning, as my 120 degree 10m path into South America was virtually closed. I was not hearing beacon big guns as I spun the dial. Likewise, 20 and 15m seemed to collapse, as European signals were lite copy and I'd logged about all the big guns in the game when beaming at 75 degrees to the East Coast.

Overall, I made an executive decision early this morning and hit the off switch about 0900 Pacific Standard Time after 24 hours of #hamr fun. I'll follow up with another post detailing my results in the chair using my Kenwood TS850S plugged into W6AB antenna systems at 100 watts.

Contest on!