W6HA Field Day 2016 Wilderness Park, RB Assessment July 19, 2016 Mike Vahey N6MDV July 19, 2016

Field Day 2016 for W6HA – Many Aspects Field day is part contest part experience building and intended to be Fun! The contest is measured by Number of contacts made – called QSOs and Bonus points Emergency power Alternate energy Information table Public interaction Bulletin reception Publicity NTS Youth Social media Safety officer We did all of this!!

Many Participants N6MDV Mike K6VHY Karen N6HEG Eric KK6TAC Paul AB6VO Al W6RFI Dick AD6RW Bob AC6RW Ron W1MII Dick W9GQI Bill K6UUU Norm AB6YS Scott KK6ZDP Vince AB6UI Brian WB6MMQ Dale N6VZF Betty KI6GUY Steve AI6HJ Pete KI6TKT Judi KM6COH Marilyn KM6FP Richard AI6GP Ralph N4II Ed

Another Successful Field Day in Wilderness Park Participants 21+ Visitors 50+! Campers, walk-ins, ARRL locator, newspaper… Around the clock operation Numerous people camping over night 3A LAX station HF 1 20M Phone HF 2 10/15/80M Phone HF3 40M Phone, CW, Digital VHF 6M, 2M, 1.25M, 70CM GOTA 10M, 15M and 40M QSO’s 1570 (last year 1977) Bonus points 1490 (1430 last year) Total score 4734 (last year 5484) New operators & people on the air/logging/setting up, doing More! This is success: New experiences, New skills, Having fun!!

Bonus Points 100% Emergency power 300 - Generators Media Publicity 100 – Easy Reader, Daily Breeze Social Media 100 Set-up in Public Place 100 –Wilderness Park Information Booth 100 – Table, sign-in list and brochures NTS message to ARRL SM/SEC 100 Yes! Formal NTS messages handled 100 Natural Power QSOs Completed 100 – Solar panels/batteries VHF station W1AW Field Day Message 100 – Captured Friday night Safety officer 100 Site Visit by invited elected official 0 Not this year Site visit by invited served agency official 100 – Red cross visitor GOTA Bonus 20 points GOTA Coach 20 points Web submission 50 Youth Element achieved – 100 points per youth Total bonus points 1490

2016 Total QSO W6HA + GOTA

Same Location Same Antennas, But… Contact count was down by 21% (407 QSO’s) vs. 2015 Variables Solar weather – Sun spots were down this year Reported 0 sunspots on Field Day Saturday Affects higher frequency propagation Atmospheric weather Lightening / atmospheric noise Stations shutting down early due to thunderstorm safety Fires/smoke/strong winds Different operators Different transceiver (all but 20M stations) Visitors Tours and welcoming Operating time on non-GOTA station Power – generator interruptions

2016 QSO By Hour and Band 1519 Phone 0 Digital 51 CW Field Day Start

2016 QSO by Hour and Mode CW: 40M 16, 20M 16, 15M 19 (guest N4II from Florida) 10X more CW than last year, but no digital this year

2016 Contacts By Band 20M by far most QSO’s Rate 48 sec until 9PM then 2.3 minutes until 10PM Then 6 minutes until 10:30 Then nothing from 10:30 until 6AM As expected higher HF frequencies were limited 40M and 80M next most QSO’s 2M most active VHF 6M better than 440 220 limited use CW contacts limited by amount of time used

2015 Contacts by Band 1927 phone 45 digital 5 CW 20M had the majority of contacts Strong crew kept the frequency while running Active running 19 hours 40M had next largest contacts Running went well also Active running about 9-10 hours Rest of 22 hours was search and pounce plus some CW and digital as well 15 and 80M shared transceiver Likely had more search and pounce time VHF station had long periods with no operator Did well when it was operational

W6HA Field Day 2016 QSO’s 1570 QSO’s BC YK NT AB 20 NL 11 MB SK 8 ON 4 2 MAR 18 77 QC 18 6 3 5 29 45 27 22 5 VT 9 27 5 CT 20 35 15 MDC 17 9 29 4 NH 21 40 38 10 MA 41 77 16 DE 28 3 5 412 16 21 15 NJ 12 21 7 22 RI 52 24 15 19 12 20 19 6 8 PR 88 16 2 DX 8 2 No contact 1 Total number of QSO Red numbers mean more than 20% fewer QSO than 2015 Blue numbers mean more than 20% more QSO than 2015 Black numbers about the same 12

W6HA Field Day 2016 QSO’s 40M overlay 1570 QSO’s BC YK NT AB 20 MB NL 11 SK 8 ON 4 1 1 2 MAR 18 77 QC 1 18 6 3 5 29 45 3 1 9 1 27 22 2 5 VT 9 27 5 CT 1 4 20 35 1 15 MDC 1 17 1 9 NH 21 38 29 4 40 MA 41 3 10 77 16 3 1 28 3 DE 5 412 11 19 16 21 2 2 15 NJ 1 12 5 3 1 21 7 3 22 1 RI 1 65 52 24 2 15 19 1 12 33 4 20 19 6 8 2 PR 88 1 1 16 9 2 DX 8 2 No contact 1 Total number of QSO Red numbers mean more than 20% fewer QSO than 2015 Blue numbers mean more than 20% more QSO than 2015 Black numbers about the same 13

40M Band Observations Good contact flow for first hour averaging 1.2 minutes between contacts while running Rest of day was very slow with noisy band Time between contacts 10-12 minutes Reduced to 3 minutes in the evening Then 5-10 minutes overnight Very tiring and not rewarding Though… night time crew did pull in many east coast contacts! Well done! Much slower contacts all afternoon than last year

40M Band Observations cont’d Why?? Nominally same antenna, but possibly it is more sensitive to slight variables than expected Local NVIS like contacts were few, yet east coast stations were higher Possibly more directional this year as there were many fewer stations found in BC, WA, and OR Or was all the noise due to atmospherics? Possible solution for next year Dropping the reflector wire provides more local communications Also lowering the apex of the driver will make it more NVIS like

20M Band Observations Same equipment as last year, same location,… same Time between contacts averaged 48 seconds from 11 AM until 9PM, then slowed to minutes between contacts Great flow rate Results demonstrate the skip zone with few contacts in near by western states and most contacts further east Contacts were lower by only 11% (106 QSO’s) No operation from about 10:30PM until nearly 6 AM “Bands dead” Last year 81 contacts made during this period

15M Band Observations CW Southeast states As somewhat predicted long distance eastern stations only in the evening and only in the south CW visitor N4II took over station at 10 AM Again as predicted CW and digital should work across country Southeast states West coast and Hawaii stations CW

15M 3 Element Yagi on 25 ft pole Prediction and plotted contacts 7PM 15M 3 Element Yagi on 25 ft pole Prediction and plotted contacts Be active at 7PM! 15 Meter 80 Meter

9AM 20M 3 Element Yagi on 55’ tower, 15M 3 Element Yagi on 25 ft pole, 40M 2 element inverted V, 80M NVIS Use digital or CW 15 Meter 20 Meter 80 Meter 40 Meter

80M Band Observations Awesome addition to this year’s contacts 193 contacts up from 112 last year Night owl (WB6MMQ) started at 8:20PM and worked until 3AM Mostly western states Ranging to Montana, Idaho, and British Columbia As far east as Texas and Arkansas Then around midnight getting IA, TN Then a bit later all the way to Massachusetts And a few other mid western states Inverted V hung from the 55 foot tower and FT-1000 with amplifier putting out nearly 150 Watts

VHF Station Observations Great contacts – 67 more QSO (66%) more than 2015 222 band is not heavily used, only 11 contacts May not be worth the additional effort for 222 antenna and transceiver Had youth working on this vs. the GOTA station (Too many interested visitors at the same time?) NTS message passing overlapped the satellite pass Missed the satellite opportunity Next year determine pass times and set messaging at non overlapping time with good margin of time for setup/operation Primarily Southern California stations

6M Band Contacts by Hour Not highly energized ionosphere Sporadic E ? Probably not as most contacts are in Southern CA except few to Colorado and Kansas

GOTA Station Observations GOTA coach AC6RW guided several new hams and visitors through making their first HF contacts One new ham made more than 20 contacts giving us bonus points Dale provided 2 GOTA pins for those who made the most QSO’s They were highly valued by recipients 5 youth made contacts for more bonus points Ron created a certificate to hand out to them GOTA used a Icom 706 with tuner, a tri-band antenna, a dual band VHF/UHF vertical and on Sunday we set up a 40M dipole

General Observations Bonus point leaders did very well NTS messaging very smooth with pre-coordinated time KI6GUY made up messages and addresses for 10+1 messages Safety officer (AD6RW) hit all the points, no injuries (Nor a city inspection this year – new management and established trusting relationship) Public place, information table, solar, … all very well done! Logging display at info table worked well! And handouts were well liked Two people camped on Friday night Made first HF QSO to Portugal for KM6COH!! Generators and power distribution A bit smoother last year, some power drop outs as cables moved or generators had issues (Smaller fuel tank?) Need to check power wave form as the one generator (noisier one) caused UPS to complain about its power Food options worked well – tasty Great logging system no issues – thanks N6VZF

More Observations Mosquito netting would have been good at VHF station Chairs provided by many individuals worked well – Thanks! By special request the city opened the park at 9AM on Friday, that worked well However, they locked the generator area when they went home at 4PM and it did not open early enough on Saturday We need to keep that area unlocked while we are there Caution tape worked well. Used about 1.5 full rolls Many interested visitors on Friday and again Sunday afternoon. Suggest flyers and info booth be set up earlier and left up until the end Frequency band plan charts in each station worked well Ditto the charts as to what to say… CQ CQ FD Bandpass filters worked well to mitigate QRM, but 15M filter needs to be checked – it seems to have an issue

Even More Observations Tour guides and people manning the info booth were very useful, friendly and we even have an email from a guest who was very complimentary of how welcome we made him For CW operations we need a pig tail adaptor from ¼” jacks to 3.5mm jacks as some radios need the smaller fitting. Likely need an adaptor back the other way too. Need to get more digital options for stations in 2017 – if bads are poor digital and CW will be important Thursday trailer load went well City pathway to the concrete pad was awesome and made moving the trailer in easy Great hanging of cables high in the trees this year. Note 200 foot Ethernet cable was barely long enough to get to the 40M tent All tents worked well and were not smelly this year Social media and newspaper media worked well Good to start with the city as early as January (like we did this year) to ensure we have a place at the park. They worked well with us.

Historical FD Data

40M Section Contacts 2015 Some sections provided the bulk of the contacts

QSO Summary FD 2015 W6HA plus GOTA Band CW Dig Phone Total % Points 80 130 7 260 6% 40 5 45 551 601 30 1304 32% 20 1007 51 2014 50% 15 112 6 224 34 2 68 2% 16 1 32 1% 1.25 11 22 70 14 0% GOTA 59 3 118 3% 46 1926 1977 100 4056  

W6HA Field Day QSO History Increasing count – high variance on how stations operate Trend

W6HA Phone Contact FD includes GOTA

W6HA Phone Contact FD includes GOTA 2014 tower started on 15, then switched to 20M 2015 tower was on 20M all weekend 2015 new 40M antenna and 9 hours of run time Less use of VHF 2015 2015 less 15M run time 2015 Less use of VHF

2015 Contacts by Hour of Day by Band 1927 phone 45 digital 5 CW FD START Midnight 11 AM UTC TIME

2015 Contacts by Hour of Day by Band 1927 phone 45 digital 5 CW 20M continues until midnight FD START Some 40M digital and then sleep Resumes at 3AM! 1PM: 2 active bands and less on 15M Active Start on 3 bands 80M starts 8PM goes until 4AM Some VHF starts Earlier ops would be good Or may be logging artifact Running resumes on 40M 5AM Day starts with 80 and 20M, 40 continues Reduced rate vs Saturday 5PM Saturday Midnight 11 AM UTC TIME

Contacts by Hour of Day by Band 2014 Start of FD Peak rates lower than 2015 More operation overnight Midnight Noon Local TIME

2015 Contacts by Mode by Hour Mostly phone contacts A bit of digital near midnight and again in the morning Very little time on CW Sunday morning FD START Midnight 11 AM UTC TIME

Contacts by Mode by Hour 2014 Start of FD Midnight Noon

W6HA Field Day 2015 QSO’s 1977 QSO’s with 0 Satellite contacts– digital and phone modes – some dups in this chart BC YK 1 NT AB 63 NL 20 MB SK 5 ON 2 13 MAR 18 93 QC 23 4 7 7 25 77 34 29 5 VT 18 21 10 CT 13 45 MDC 13 25 14 NH 33 32 6 53 49 MA 45 14 68 18 DE 33 1 8 517 24 20 14 NJ 13 24 2 20 RI 80 17 28 11 16 8 16 4 13 2 PR 82 86 2 DX 7 2 No contact 1 Total number of QSO Red numbers mean more than 20% fewer QSO than 2014 Blue numbers mean more than 20% more QSO than 2014 Black numbers about the same 38

W6HA Field Day 2015 QSO’s – 40M Overlay 1977 QSO’s with 0 Satellite contacts– digital and phone modes – some dups in this chart BC YK 1 NT AB 63 MB NL 20 12 SK 5 ON 2 13 MAR 3 18 93 2 QC 20 23 4 7 7 25 77 2 18 34 29 VT 18 3 5 1 21 CT 13 6 10 1 45 10 MDC 13 25 4 14 33 49 32 6 NH 3 53 1 14 MA 45 68 18 8 1 DE 33 517 29 8 24 10 2 20 14 NJ 21 13 13 2 2 1 4 24 2 20 2 RI 323 80 17 28 11 4 16 67 5 8 16 4 13 2 PR 82 1 2 86 2 DX 7 2 11 1 Total number of QSO 2 ## number of 40M QSO Phone 40M eastern No contact Digital 40M eastern 39

Run Rate Thoughts 2015 20M station first 3 hours Saturday 1 minute each -- FAST 20M station 10AM Sunday 2.14 minutes each– Slowing 40M station first 3 hours Saturday 40M station Saturday 9PM 1.06 minutes each -- FAST 40M station 10 AM Sunday 1.36 minutes each Slowing Digital station better case 2.6 minutes per QSO Observations When there are plenty of stations And with good antenna Band Transceiver Operators A run rate on phone can be 1 QSO per minute for extended periods of time With digital PSK31, run rates appear to be close to the slower run rate on phone Possibly could be faster with more stations??? Or possibly just use to collect additional contacts

Possible Improvements for 2016 Fun factor… Have some assured food available for all three days Keep the number of stations high enough that everyone gets a chance to play and enjoy their way of operating – we did well this year Contest QSO factor… Staff the VHF station with operators We (Pete) did an excellent job setting up a great station Used very little – we can do more Keep the run rate high on 15, 20, and 40M from 11 AM until 8 PM Need focused operators and loggers to hold a frequency After 8 PM switch 15M to 80M, but keep the 20 and 40M phone stations running If operators want some search and pounce time On 40M station from 3 to 5 PM On 80M station until 7 PM On 15M after 8 PM More staffing in the wee hours Add a digital / CW station able to move around on 15, 20, and 40M bands Will need good phase noise and roofing filters transceiver Enhance GOTA with additional bands VHF or ???

Operational Changes for 2016 Steve suggests for messaging Send the section manager message first Change content on other messages Possibly shorter and congratulations on license or upgrade Ensuring that the VHF FM 2M station is set properly before message send time Having a formal radio gram sheet at each station for any radio grams received Keep the 40M station just on 40M; we don’t need the 10M antenna. 40M is so active day and night, that there isn’t time for switching bands Faster logging server computer and/or careful placement of it on the network Separate computer for the info booth to display the map of results If we keep our run rate high on 15, 20, and 40M the server may just need to focus on updates – max rate exceeding 9 per minute Start trailer loading on Thursday at 2:30 if we have 8 people and a park arrival time close to 4PM Be sure that all the connections are tight on the yagi, tuners, …

Things that went well (please add more) People to give tours – great! Class on antennas GOTA station operators and coaching New 40 meter 2 element antenna Lots of help setting things up Plenty of stations for people to learn and do and/or just go full speed ahead Gave everyone a chance to build skills and contribute Tents and shelters Power distribution, filtering and UPS’s Logging once the server was moved Arranging for a special message submission time (though we had technical issues) Beans! Publicity went well, bulletings at park, newspaper, … ARRL flyers on info table

Valuable Things to Do Again (Lessons learned from past) Logging captain present to solve issues in real time – this really helps! The band pass filters do a great job avoiding RFI/QRM Multiple generators and filters Assignments for each of the bonus point categories Spreads out the work and gets it done well! Large pushup / shelter for the info station – makes it welcoming! ARRL Handouts ARRL locator and newspaper notifications of field day Available tarps in case it rains 3+ chairs per station

W6HA Field Day 2014 QSO’s 1851 QSO’s with 0 Satellite contacts– digital and phone modes BC YK 1 NT AB 12 NL 5 MB SK 3 ON 1 4 MAR 22 52 QC 8 6 5 7 23 39 9 33 8 VT 13 50 10 CT 7 46 MDC 27 12 10 NH 16 48 63 44 9 20 MA 18 DE 49 20 27 9 6 430 13 38 27 NJ 17 45 4 29 RI 57 19 35 21 19 35 49 21 13 2 PR 113 86 4 DX 10 1 1 Number of contacts No contact 45

W6HA FD 2014 ARRL Submission Field Day Call Used: W6HA GOTA Station Call: WB6MMQ Number of Participants: 19 Number of transmitters in simultaneous operation: 3 Power sources used. Generator Battery Solar Total CW QSOs: 19 X 2 = Total CW QSO points: 38 Total Digital QSOs: 61 X 2 = Total Digital QSO points: 122 Total Phone QSOs: 1781 X 1 = Total Phone QSO points: 1781 Total QSO points: 1941 Power Multiplier:150 Watts or less = 2 Claimed Score: 3882 Bonus points claimed: 100% Emergency power Media Publicity Set-up in Public Place Information Booth NTS message to ARRL SM/SEC W1AW Field Day Message Formal NTS messages handled (# 13) Satellite QSO completed Natural Power QSOs Completed Site Visited by invited elected official Site visited by invited served agency official Educational Activity Bonus Youth Element achieved (# 4) GOTA Bonus (total bonus points: 0) Total Bonus Points Claimed: 1130

W6HA Field Day 2013 QSO’s 462 QSO’s with 5 Satellite contacts– digital and phone modes BC AB YK, NT 10 MB NL 3 SK 4 ON 1 MAR 2 34 QC 3 1 2 15 3 2 1 VT CT NH MA DE NJ 6 6 1 5 2 5 MDC 7 1 3 6 5 6 1 6 9 2 242 2 2 24 3 3 RI 1 5 2 3 2 2 1 11 4 3 5 1 Number of contacts No contact 47

How We Did – Field Day 2013 Contacts Score 980 Total Score 2230 Contacts Points GOTA contacts 22 W6HA contacts 958 Contacts Score 980 Bonus Points 7.3.1 Emergency Power 300 3 stations 7.3.2 Media Publicity 100 Hawthorne Cable 7.3.3 Public Location 100 Wilderness Park 7.3.4 Public Information Table 100 Yes 22 signed log 7.3.5 Message to Section Manager 100 Barry sent to Greenhut 7.3.6 Message handling 0 none 7.3.7 Satellite QSO 100 Ray capture of 1 SSB and 4 FM sats 7.3.8 Alternate Power 100 Ray and Mike/Karen solar for all contacts 7.3.9 W1AW 100 Mike capture of bulletin on RTTY/PSK31 7.3.10 Educational activity 100 Crystal radio for emergency use 7.3.11 Site by elected gov official 7.3.12 Visit by agency rep 7.3.13 GOTA bonus 0 None made the req’d 20 QSOs 7.3.14 Web submission 50 7.3.15 Field Day Youth Participation 100 5 youth, 1 BSA, 4 campers Total Score 2230

Comparison to Last Year FD 2012 – Score Phone QSOs 40M 94 – mostly solar 20M 47 15M 12 6M 4 solar power 2M 3 solar power 70CM 2 ============= QSOs 162 Power Multiplier x2 = 324 points (for 150 watts or less) Bonus Points 100% Emergency Power 200 W1AW Field Day Message 100 Formal NTS Messages Handled 10 Natural Power QSOs completed 100 Submitted via the Web 50 ===================== Total Bonus Points 460 Total QSO Points 324 Total Score submitted 784