Winter Field Day Notes – The “We Learned a Lot” Edition
Big picture:
This Winter Field Day was semi-serious on purpose. The goal was fellowship, learning, and having fun first, with operating second. We planned to mostly run SSB, throw up some antennas, hook up emergency power, and see what happened.
Only two operators were on the air:
KF0OUU and W0WC
KF0OUU had a disc put in his neck the day before and still showed up and operated like a champ. Temps dropped to about -9°F with roughly 5 inches of snow outside, so staying indoors was absolutely the right call. We ate good BBQ and chili, listened to music, enojyed a few beverages, and operated casually.
Even with the relaxed approach, we met about 67% of our objectives and are currently sitting in the Top 10 for 2-station indoor operations. We also successfully made two satellite contacts using the ISS repeater, which was a big win.
Setup:
- 2 stations
- Indoors, inside an outbuilding
- Running on emergency power
- Planned mode was SSB
- Actual operation was SSB plus attempted digital and satellite work
Equipment We Used:
Radios and computers:
- 2x Yaesu FT-710
- 3x 2m/70cm HTs
- 2x small laptops
- 1x external monitor
- 1x mouse
- 1x network switch
Power:
- 1x generator
- 6x LiFePO4 batteries of various sizes
Antennas:
- G5RV
- 80m EFHW
- 80m EFRW
- 40m EFHW
- Arrow II antenna for satellite work
Audio and RF:
- Heil PR-22 mic with Heil foot switch
- Yaesu M-90 desk mic
- Shure headphones
- OneOdio headphones
- 3x band pass filters (7 MHz, 14 MHz, 21 MHz)
- 2x RF chokes
Cabling and misc:
- Tons of coax jumpers
- About 400 ft of RG-8X coax
- A ridiculous number of RF connectors
- Label maker
- 2 tables
- 3 chairs
- Way too many duplicate tools for coax and Powerpole work
What Went Well:
- Operating indoors saved us from brutal weather
- Emergency power setup worked great
- Antenna variety gave us flexibility
- Satellite contacts through the ISS repeater were a highlight
- Fellowship was excellent
- Equipment redundancy prevented major failures
- Casual pace kept stress low and morale high
Lessons Learned:
Planning and gear:
We brought way too much stuff, especially tools and duplicate items. At the same time, we somehow missed a few basic quality-of-life items that would have made things smoother. Being overprepared is good, but targeted preparation is better. Our workstations needed more thought than our gear pile.
Logging:
Our mindset was “if it’s not 100% right, don’t log it.” In hindsight, that was probably too strict. Some contacts should have been logged anyway instead of skipped.
Digital modes:
We really shouldn’t have committed one way or the other. A lot of time was wasted installing software, hunting down license keys, and trying to learn digital workflows during the event. If digital is on the table, it needs to be fully set up and tested beforehand.
Things We Should Have Had:
Station and logging:
- USB hub
- Extra mouse and keyboard just for logging
- More CAT and network cables
RF and cabling:
- Band pass filters with BNC connectors for fast swaps
- More BNC coax jumpers
- Better organization of coax and adapters
Known Good Kit (this is a big one):
A prebuilt, tested kit that includes:
- Known-good jumpers
- Hand mics
- Only the connectors we actually need
- Tested CAT and audio cables
This alone would have saved time and frustration.
VHF/UHF:
We relied entirely on HTs for 2m and 70cm. Next time we really need a proper 2m/70cm base radio with an external antenna for better local and bonus contacts.
Bottom line:
We had fun, learned a ton, stayed warm, made ISS satellite contacts, and still placed well. We hit about 67% of our objectives, which is solid for a relaxed, two-person operation in brutal weather. Next year, a little less chaos and a little more planning will go a long way.