1. W6HA Field Day 2017 Plan, Propagation Predictions, and Operating Guidelines April 18, 2017
Mike Vahey
N6MDV
April 18, 2017

2. W6HA Field Day 2017 Goals: Approach:
To have fun - keep it light and enjoyable for all
To make many, many radio contacts - more each year
To test new equipment, antennas, and methods
To engage with the public and explain how we are preparing for emergency communication operations
Approach:
Wilderness Park
Family camping weekend
Setup on Friday
Around the clock operation
3 HF stations
1 GOTA station
1 VHF station
Rules changes
Presume same as last year
Should be checked

3. 2017 Changes to Consider
Coordinate NTS message passing time to avoid satellite passing periods!
Sun spots are down again this year, even more so
15M may not have much phone
Consider using 15M for CW and digital modes primarily
Except late afternoon some phone should work
Consider whether should be 2A vs 3A with lower sun spots
Coverage across the country looks less this year
Might just want to focus time on the right bands at the right time
Conversely, if could staff CW or digital modes much of the weekend…
Stay at 3A and share the bands
Use low power digital/CW on a yagi
Use phone on same band on a different yagi
With antenna nulls pointed properly

4. Field Day Stations
20 Meter Station with 3 element yagi on 55’ crank up tower
10/15 /80 Meter Station with 3 element yagi on 25’ pushup pole and 80M inverted V from tower or NVIS
40 Meter Station with North South Dipole
(East West works well too, just gets more WA and OR vs states East)
GOTA HF/VHF station with 3 element yagi on 20’ pushup & VHF/UHF vertical
Plus
2 Honda power generators
Solar
Information table
Logging computers
VHF station with 5 element 6M yagi, TBD other antennas on 20’ pushup poles
Suggest that if possible just run 15M on CW and or digital – likely skip phone or do it just a little.

5. Field Day Preparation

6. Band Pass filters minimize Inter station interference 40M dipole
15’ lower than pad
40M dipole A
amphitheater
308d
100’
HF3
22d
185’
TH3JR N
TH3MK4
+ inverted V
VHF cluster
64d
175’ A R A
HF1
25d
150’
40d
175’
326d
65’
TH3JR
GOTA
TH3JR
230d
130’
pine R A
HF2
A – Antenna
R – Radio
g - generator
Info – Public Information Table
GOTA – Get on the Air Station
info
30’
pond
Antenna Placement
Magnetic Headings
Distances between stations
70 degrees beam orientation
Optimum for East Coast and midwest
Northern states & midwest 30 deg
East coast late afternoon 15M 50 deg
Hawaii 260 deg
Alaska 330 deg
Park Entrance

7. Radio Stations 3A LAX 20 M Phone station 1 – Kenwood 930S transceiver
M Yagi on 55 feet tower (North Pad)
10M/15M/80M Phone/CW/Digital station 2 – Yaesu 1000 transceiver
M Yagi on pushup pole (West pad)
Plus 80M dipole in trees
40M Phone station 3 – KX3 transceiver (NE field)
40M NVIS dipole
GOTA phone station (Near info station)
Icom 706 transceiver
M Yagi on pushup pole
Plus VHF/UHF vertical
VHF Station – TBD transceiver (East pad)
6M 5 element yagi
2M yagi
Vertical/yagi
All equipment is TBD until owner concurs
Separate 6M receiver to monitor for Es openings, possibly prefer omni directional antenna for monitoring

8. 2017 Propagation Models Field Day
Looking at times of day for each band

9. Modeling Background Using VOAAREA modeling tool
Smoothed sunspot numbers for June 2017 with 25 SSN (less than last year-36)
Model our antennas on EZNEC
Model receiving antenna at 8dBi
Consistent with dipole at other end (2db higher than last year modeling to reflect observations)
Modeling presumes 100W out
Suitable for SSB and CW, but high for digital
90 percent reliability based on SNR
45 dB for SSB (pink on following charts)
27 dB for CW/digital (orange on following charts plus near by green)
Plots at 6am, 9am, 11AM (18Z), 1PM, 3PM, 5PM, 7PM, 9PM, and 11PM pacific
Antenna models
20M and 15M tri element yagi at ¾ lambda above ground
70 deg orientation from North
40M NVIS North South dipole
80M NVIS not updated from last year, pattern is about the same

10. How to Read Chart S9+ SSB Time Band SKIP ZONE
CW/Digital in Orange and adjacent green
S9+
SKIP ZONE
Antenna Direction
One Hop and Two Hop Signals

11. 6AM
20M 3 Element Yagi on 55’ tower, 15M 3 Element Yagi on 25 ft pole, 40M NS NVIS, 80M NVIS
15 Meter
20 Meter
Be active by 5AM
80 Meter
40 Meter

12. 9AM
20M 3 Element Yagi on 55’ tower, 15M 3 Element Yagi on 25 ft pole, 40MNS NVIS, 80M NVIS
Use digital or CW
Possible into midwest
15 Meter
20 Meter
80 Meter
40 Meter

13. 11AM
20M 3 Element Yagi on 55’ tower, 15M 3 Element Yagi on 25 ft pole, 40M NS NVIS, 80M NVIS
Use digital or CW
Appalachians
15 Meter
20 Meter
80 Meter
40 Meter

14. 1PM
20M 3 Element Yagi on 55’ tower, 15M 3 Element Yagi on 25 ft pole, 40M NS NVIS, 80M NVIS
Use digital or CW
Maybe Phone
15 Meter
20 Meter
80 Meter
40 Meter

15. 3PM
20M 3 Element Yagi on 55’ tower, 15M 3 Element Yagi on 25 ft pole, 40M NS NVIS, 80M NVIS
Use digital or CW
Maybe Phone
15 Meter
20 Meter
80 Meter
40 Meter

16. 5PM
20M 3 Element Yagi on 55’ tower, 15M 3 Element Yagi on 25 ft pole, 40M NS NVIS, 80M NVIS
As good as it is going to be
Try phone at 5PM!
Be active at 5PM!
East coast open
15 Meter
20 Meter
80 Meter
40 Meter

17. 7PM
20M 3 Element Yagi on 55’ tower, 15M 3 Element Yagi on 25 ft pole, 40M NS NVIS, 80M NVIS
Be active at 7PM!
Be active at 5PM!
East coast open
Strong everywhere
15 Meter
20 Meter
Be active at 7PM!
80 Meter
40 Meter

18. 9PM
20M 3 Element Yagi on 55’ tower, 15M 3 Element Yagi on 25 ft pole, 40M NS NVIS, 80M NVIS
15 Meter
20 Meter
Be active at 9PM!
Be active at 9PM!
80 Meter
40 Meter

19. 11PM
20M 3 Element Yagi on 55’ tower, 15M 3 Element Yagi on 25 ft pole, 40M NS NVIS, 80M NVIS
Still good for mid west
15 Meter
20 Meter
Be active at 11PM!
80 Meter
40 Meter

20. 15M Band Observations from 2016
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

21. 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
2016 Results
80 Meter

22. More Observations from 2016
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

23. Even More Observations from 2016
Tour guides and people manning the info booth were very useful, friendly and we even have an 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 bands 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.

24. Field Day Operating Guides

25. Why this Presentation Field day is
part contest
part experience building
and intended to be Fun!
The contest is measured by number of contacts made – called QSOs
We can contact every radio station once
Per band (160m, 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m, 2m, 1.25m, 70cm)
Per mode (Phone, CW, digital)
If we try working the same station more than once on a band and a mode, that is called a duplicate or “dup” (doesn’t count, but no penalty either – have fun be courteous)
Contacting on all modes and bands we have 27 contacts with that station
Which part of the country reached varies with time of day and type of antenna
Sun ionizes the atmosphere – enables higher frequencies
Antennas have angles that they put out most energy
Guidance to frequencies and modes to use during which parts of the day

26. Operating Methods – Club Guidance
the Exchange determines that we had a contact
Call sign – Class of station – ARRL section
We are: W6HA – Whiskey 6 Hotel Alpha
3A LAX
Keep it fun and polite - keep the day friendly
Add a phrase, like:
QSL, Thanks
Have a great field day 73
Two methods:
Search and Pounce
Easier to do, but has slower QSO rate
Running
Needs strong signal e.g., S9 to hold onto a frequency

27. Search and Pounce Guidance
Exchange is:
Call sign – class of station – ARRL section
We are:
W6HA – Whiskey 6 Hotel Alpha
3 Alpha
LAX (Lima Alpha Xray)
Search and Pounce
Dial slowly up and down the band, listening for stations calling CQ
Listen to their call – if we have it on that band and mode, move on
Helps to keep a scratch sheet of paper with call signs/frequencies as that station may be on that frequency for a while
Respond with “Whiskey 6 Hotel Alpha”
If it is a busy station (pile up)
Best respond immediately after their call – anticipate or
Wait a moment until all the others have called, then be the last one in
Speak up for more energy
If they hear you, they will say something like
W6HA please copy 5A South Texas
You respond with:
QSL, please copy 3 Alpha LAX or
QSL, please copy 3 Alpha LAX have a great field day

28. Running Guidance
Exchange is: Call sign – class of station – ARRL section
We are: W6HA – 3 Alpha LAX
Running – You call CQ and control the pace
Find a spot on the band that does not have someone on it
(stay within the band plan, band edges, and class of license)
If you can find 3KHz open, that is likely good, 5KHz would be better
Listen for a minute or more – then ask: “Is this frequency in use, W6HA”
Wait 20 – 30 seconds and ask again: “Is this frequency in use, W6HA”
If no response, consider this portion of frequency yours
Call CQ like this
“CQ CQ CQ Field Day Whiskey 6 Hotel Alpha” or
“CQ CQ CQ Field Day, this is Whiskey 6 Hotel Alpha calling any station”
If someone responds, they will just give their call sign
Be alert and ready to copy their call sign
You respond with:
<their call sign>, please copy 3 Alpha LAX
Listen for their answer which should be something like:
“5 alpha lax”
Respond with
QSL, thanks have a great field day, Q R Zed
Or just go back to calling CQ as above
See next page for more guidance

29. Running Guidance – Special conditions
Assuming you have your frequency staked out, the following conditions may happen
Some other station asks if frequency is in use
Answer Yes, this is W6HA, then immediately go back to calling CQ
Or some other station encroaches on your frequency without asking or is so close that there it disrupts your communication
Option A Keep calling CQ and persevere, they may just move away (about half the time this is true)
Option B See if you can move up or down 1 KHz and avoid the other person a bit without over riding someone else
Option C Look for another part of the band – there will be some very high power stations and we will not be able to hold a frequency all the time. In fact, if you hold it for 30 minutes that could be very good.
(Note as the sun moves, stations we couldn’t hear before may come into range. It could be that you both had the same frequency and now you are interfering. Be polite – this is for fun and experience. Move to new frequency)
Your CQ is answered by a bunch of calls
If you can pick out one call sign clearly, respond to them
If you hear only a portion of a call, say something like:
“Station ending in Foxtrot, go ahead, others stand by”
In these cases, after completing the QSO say “thanks, Q R Zed”
Which means who is calling me – like CQ but you have someone who wants to talk with you.

30. Simplified High Frequency Propagation Why Antennas, Frequency and Time of Day Matter
During day use higher frequencies
Use Near Vertical Incident Skywave (NVIS) for close access
Vertical antennas have lower take off angles – but may be have more noise
High yagi’s have even lower take off angle
55’ tower with 20 meter frequency antenna is 0.8 of a wavelength high
Same tower at 10 meter frequency is 1.6 wavelengths high and will have lower takeoff angle
Ionosphere ionized layers
D, E, F1, F2 – stronger and lower during day
Mid angle e.g. yagi closer to ground
High take off angle
e.g. NVIS dipole close to ground
Lower take off angle
e.g. yagi higher above ground
CA during day
Western US at night
Texas for yagi .75 wavelength high
Atlantic states for yagi 1 wavelength high

31. Constraints All operators are welcome
Control operators must work within the constraints of their license
OK to have a control operator with more privileges and operator with less or none
Stay within the band plan frequencies for phone, CW, or digital
Keep it fun and polite!
Each station has 1 or 2 band pass filters – stay within your band to keep transceivers happy and to avoid self interference
GOTA station has same bands as 10/15M station, coordinate which band is in use to avoid interference

32. Best QSO Periods By Band
o o o o o X
5PM o o o o
midnight o o
o o o