Solar Eclipse QSO Party Ford Amateur Radio League K8UTT David Treharne, N8HKU September 14, 2017

ForD club participation in the Solar eclipse qso party Monday, August 21, 2017 A “contest” sponsored by the HamSCI group http://hamsci.org/seqp and the ARRL. Goal: Put as many signals on the air as possible to determine the changes to the ionosphere during the solar eclipse. There were receivers attempting to automatically capture CW and PSK 31 signals on the bands. Contacts on CW, PSK, and Voice are also being studied and analyzed. This presentation represents how the Ford Club participated in the event with the support of Ford Motor Company Electrified Propulsion Engineering

The Plan Operate a portable station from the grounds of the Ford Engineering Lab, FEL. Use the club G5RV antenna, pointed as much north-south as possible to attempt to cross the Eclipse line. Use the FARL Radio: Yaesu FT- 991 Fitted for PSK 31, CW and Voice CW ended up not being used, PSK was only used before the actual eclipse Voice was a better demo for the audiences.

Antenna Raising Fiberglass pole center, ends to the two trees on either side. Ladder line would have touched the ground, so it was draped back toward the station, using a telescoping pole for support. This also kept people from getting too near to it.

Antenna orientation The antenna was not quite North-South, but about 20-30 degrees, pointing Southeast to Northwest. This will make it very interesting when evaluating the contact locations. The orientation affect the 40M reception zone? What did it do to 20M?

The station Set-up Set up in the parking lot of FEL- Ford Land blocked off part of the first row of parking Used a picnic table and two canopies Used a Fusion Energi plug-in Hybrid for all of the power Invited the whole building via email on Monday morning to visit the station and eclipse.

Radio and Power Power for the radio from the 12V battery Computer and fan power from the 150W 120V inverter built into the car Car is On, but the engine is off, using stored plug-in power

Operating format Operations started at 10am, to get a baseline of propagation before the eclipse Close at 4pm (we shut down at 3:30pm) 80-10m, no WARC Bands Could work the same station every 10 minutes. (goal was to get a lot of signals on-the-air) Bonus points for public location, being outside to see the event, and detailed antenna analysis (Did not provide detailed antenna site analysis, including ground reflection analysis)

Pre-registration for the event Map of Pre-Registered stations in the US as of 08/20/17 (1,140 entries)

The radio station, up and running

crowds formed as the eclipe began.

Educating the crowds Bill Boyke, N8OZV, saw the crowds forming, and took some graphics I had and made posters of them!

N1MM Logging Program As this event was in contest format, a program was needed to handle this event. The event was tricky, because it wanted real signal reports and the 6 digit location. This is not a usual contest exchange The event also allowed for duplicate contacts every 10 minutes. N1MM authors created a program that would function and give the Cabrillo format for entry. The program is complex enough to be the subject of a program all by itself, but it: Is designed for major contesting Can do RTTY or PSK, CW, and Voice. Connects easily to radios. One problem noted: it would lose communication with the radio, and the program needed to be restarted. Recommend a commercial USB cable be purchased with built-in ferrite.

Eclipse path and Full eclipse times 1:20pm 1:30pm All times are in EDT 1:40pm 1:50pm 2:00pm 2:10pm 2:20pm 2:30pm 2:40pm 2:50pm

10am -11am Contacts: 40m 40M 20M PSK Antenna

11am -1Pm Contacts 40m/20m PSK/Phone Antenna

1Pm -2Pm Contacts 40m/20m PSK/Phone Antenna Last 20m contact, band went quiet 1:46pm, Eclipse was centered over Montana/Nebraska border 40m contacts: 1 Florida contact, then all this side of the eclipse line: 1:50pm to 1:59pm

2pm-3pm Contacts 40M 20M PSK Antenna We tried 80M, but no amateur radio stations were heard, but we did hear what sounded like a foreign (Spanish) radio station!

3pm-3:30pm Contacts 40M 20M PSK Antenna Conclusion: 40m did not expand during the eclipse, nor did it expand through the exclipse zone, based on the station data.

Rate of Contacts per hour (smoothed average) Peak of the eclipse, 2:24pm, heavy noise on 40m David, N8HKU, doing interview Operators had trouble with the station

Preliminary SEQP Results (Reverse beacon network data and Contact data) 20m spots decreased during the eclipse (same as our station experienced) 40m spots were fairly constant (We had a lot of noise, but did make contacts) 80m spots rose, as did 160m spots (D layer absorption ended, as we heard the broadcast stations on 3.8MHz) Source: 20171106 TAPR Eclipse W2NAF-reduced_size.pdf, http://hamsci.org/publications/hamsci-and-2017-total-solar-eclipse-first-results

Statistics 108 Contacts made 104 voice, 4 PSK 83 on 40m 21 on 20m Station and the vehicle itself consumed approximately 2.2kWh while supplying power for 5 hours, 37 minutes. The engine never started, so no fuel was used, and 999.9 MPG was recorded.

Media coverage Ford Public Affairs announced this effort at FEL (there was also a large viewing event at World Headquarters) Arranged radio and TV interviews for David, N8HKU Radio: Florida News Net (Friday) WJR Detroit: (Monday) WWJ : Detroit (Monday) WBZ: Boston (Monday) Video Interviews: Ford Public Affairs (Monday) Fox 2 Detroit (Monday) Audio file of the WJR Interview, 10:10am, with Frank Beckmann https://audioboom.com/posts/62 24882-dave-treharne-ford-motor- company-technical-leader- electrification-systems-controls- explains-ford-s-science-project- during-the-eclipse-how-the- eclipse-offers-a-unique- opportunity-for-scientists-to-study- sun-s-effect-on-radio- propagation-aug-21-2017

Participants It takes a team to pull off an event like this. All of these people had a direct hand in set-up, operation, tear down, and educating the guests we had at the event. Bill Boyke, N8OZV Bill Brezina, WA8HEA Bob Stead, K8ETE Dan Parks, WT8F David Treharne, N8HKU Mike Kirkhart, KD8QBA Tom Bray, W8TJB Ford Motor Corporate: Sean Ye: Summer intern Andy Regan: Auto Technician Ashley Hoyle: Admin assistant Renee Wangler: Ford Land Building Representative Brett Hinds: Chief Engineer, EPE Jessyka Faison, Michaela Johndrow, Ford Public Affairs John Delle Monache: Consumer/Social Broadcast

What went good, and what could be improved Antenna set-up with fiberglass pole good, trees worked well for end supports Club radio was an easy set-up Audio isolator eliminated feedback, and external speakers provided good sound Power from the car was good, and lasted the whole event Canopies were a blessing during the hot morning and early afternoon. (Eclipse did cool the air down, and clouds moved in post- eclipse to keep the temperatures down) Posters and support of extra hams to answer questions was great. Nice to have media support of our hobby. Improvements Do not throw sharp objects into a tree as a weight for the tie lines. They hurt when they fall. Remember to turn off the automatic engine shutdown feature in the car every time you restart it. (It shut off the 120V and lowered the radio voltage a lot) More training on the program. There was an instruction book, but the breeze forced it to be closed, and was not noticed by some of the operators. Be ready to record audio: 80m seemed to be allowing foreign radio stations to be heard, but we did not record it, as we were looking for contacts. Have more amateur radio material handy, as a lot of people were interested.

Final comments This was a great exercise to participate in. Doing citizen science and showing off amateur radio and plug-in hybrid as a portable power source was a great combination, especially with the huge participation of the engineering community during this solar eclipse. The radio propagation really changed dramatically, and it will be very interesting to see the results when everything is said and done. A special Thanks to Ford Motor and my management. They were very supportive of the event, provided anything I asked for, and helped promote the crowds. The media interviews Ford Public Affairs set up were great support for Ford and for Amateur Radio. I am very grateful for all of the support of the event. It was fun, but exhausting.