1. W6HA Field Day 2018 Results Summary
N6VZF, N6MDV
July 17, 2018

2. Field Day 2018 – How Many Points?
QSO Points
10 CW +22 Digital Phone = 1418 QSOs
Power Multiplier: 2 * 1418 = 2836 QSO Points
Bonus Points: 1770
We got points in EVERY bonus category!
We missed maximum points in 2 categories:
Youth operators=2
Youth participants=2 40
GOTA Bonus 80
Total Field Day Points = 4606

3. Field Day 2018 – People We Had Lots of People Helping Out
Friday Setup: 17
Field Day: 24
Visitors – We Need Improvement Here
We had 14 visitors sign the log
Several important visitors didn’t sign in
City Attorney
One ARRL Representative
A Score-Reporting Issue:
We need to document ALL bonus points so we should try to get a picture or document for all categories.

4. Field Day 2018 – Pictures

5. Field Day 2018 – More Pictures

6. W6HA Summary 2018 W6HA Contacts 15 Meters 196 20 Meters 674
70 cm 21
1.25 Meters 1
Total 1304
GOTA Contacts
15 Meters 0
20 Meters 96
40 Meters na
80 Meters na
6 Meters na
2 Meters 2
70 cm 0
1.25 Meters na
Total 98
GOTA did not have antennas for 40, 80, 6, 1.25 meters
Mobile VHF radio and antenna were set up late

7. W6HA WSO by Band 2018 GOTA Not shown here, all 20M except 2 on 2M
1304 QSO’s W6HA
100 more than last year
Plus 98 GOTA
>2x more than last year
(20M benefit?)
(n) Last year’s qso count
20M still the highest band
15, 40, and 80 still add a lot
674 (760)
Green italic ink more than last year
226 (153)
196 (45)
109 (167)
1 (0)
41 (64)
36 (11)
21 (2)

8. Total QSO’s by Band 2017
1202 QSO’s W6HA
Plus 39 GOTA

9. W6HA QSO per Hour per Band Total QSO 1304 (5 CW 11 Digital)
Contest Start
40, 20, 15, 6, and 2M right from the start
40M being the highest rate first hour
80M start near 8PM until 1 AM
Odd-> much 15M active in morning, possibly a sporadic E
CW on 40M
PSK31
On 20M
5 PM
5 AM
11 AM

10. GOTA Contacts by Hour to Section All on 20M except 1 LAX and 1 ORG on 2M
98 contacts! Well done!!
3PM OH
11 AM Contest Start SD
No ops between Midnight and 7AM
NTX CO

11. GOTA 20M Contacts by Section – 98 QSOs!
Colorado good single hop HF distance
One SD may have been SDG with a w6 call, none the less quite a few South Dakota!

12. 20M QSO Correlation W6HA vs GOTA Is there a pattern and why?
Shape of curve looks like fair correlation with peaks and valleys about same time
Peaks both at 3PM (22) and 8PM (03)
Both dip at 6PM (01) Pizza??
Both dip around 9 AM – other activities? Propagation? Digital use?

13. Digital and CW Ops Stations were not set up for digital
Digital was QRP with Yaesu 817
Slow going 11 contacts in hour
May have been more if… more power and run vs search and pounce
CW was done at QRP levels with KX-2
Consider next year a 4A with the 4th station being
All bands
All digital and CW only
Rotate through the modes on a schedule
Train and practice operators before field day
(rag chew and some contests)
Build new skills for those who desire
Build skills with the mode, hardware, and software

14. Why Contact Rate Differences?
Antenna
Operator in the seat – on the air
Operator fatigue
Operator skill
Time of day
Frequency / band conditions
Running (calling CQ) vs. Search and Pounce

15. 15M Antenna at 20 and 60 feet 15M results much better than modeling suggested Possibly higher antenna gain and takeoff angle helped
20 feet would be our normal pushup pole height
12.6 dbi gain at 26 degrees elevation
60 feet is on the tower with triplexer
15 dbi gain at 11 degrees elevation
Nearly twice the gain and much lower take off angle
15M at 20 feet
0.4 lambda
15M at 60 feet
1.3 lambda

16. 3D Plot of 15 M antenna 20 ft and 60 ft Higher antenna reduces takeoff angle better for propagation distance

17. Ionosphere and Sporadic E (Es)
Highly ionized patches of the E layer can reflect HF and VHF signals – best on 10, 6, and 2 meters.
Possibly this year also 15M
Sporadic Es just comes and goes
Explain that sporadic E “clouds” form in the E layer and if they are dense enough act to reflect signals back to Earth. Sporadic E propagation can occur at any time of the sunspot cycle.
Aurora is caused by charged particles flowing to the Earth’s surface. This creates a conductive vertical sheet that can reflect radio waves. The sheet’s surface is constantly moving, causing distortion to the signals it reflects.
Sun ionizes upper atmosphere (splits electrons from atom)
More sunspots create higher ionization
2018 and 2019 are near the low of 11 year sunspot cycle 17

18. The Ionosphere – An RF Mirror
Reflection depends on frequency and angle of incidence
Too high a frequency or angle and the waves are lost to space.
If the angle is too steep, the waves go right through.
If the frequencies are too high, the refraction is insufficient to return the wave to Earth, creating a reflection or skip.
For low frequencies, signals can be absorbed by ionization in the lower layers (D and E), blocking propagation.
The varying amount of ionization through the day creates maximum and minimum usable frequencies for sky-wave propagation. (Explain MUF and LUF.) Hams interested in DX (you might have to explain DX) adjust their operating bands to take advantage of those frequencies that can be reflected by the ionosphere.
2014 Technician License Course 18

19. Unexpected 15M Results
Modeling of sunspots and ionization said 15M should only be viable in late afternoon and evening
Even then only to the Southeast USA
Orange is late afternoon and evening not terribly far from model, but more than expected
Green is mid day mostly near by ground wave effects, but not entirely
Blue is morning 7-10AM, these should not have occurred, possibly sporadic E

20. 15M was Especially Hot on Sunday Morning

21. Observations GOTA tent seemed busy most of the day VHF station
People waiting to get a turn to operate
Possibly feeling rushed to let next person have a chance
VHF station
Empty seat time allowed people to drop by and use it, make a few QSO’s – this is good
Did use both SSB and FM on 2 meters
Having multimode radio good idea – consider both antenna polarizations
220 limited ops, station was late setting up 220
Difficult to find a time to use the other HF stations
Good news is that there were operators and activity much of the time
Likely should consider a new way to schedule operators
Avoid too many at one time and too few at other times
Ensure all that want to operate know when they can get on the air
Satellite coverage worked well
Digital Winlink messages seemed to go very well
Many visitors from ARRL, FCC, and city. Things to follow up with
Many new people from our classes attended, but many more did not

22. Other thoughts?? Overall a very good Field Day!!
More Observations
Make sure guests sign log –
ESPECIALLY those that get us points
(e.g. the City Atty and WA6MEM didn't sign)
Take pictures of things that get us bonus points
Wwe did pretty well here , but could use a couple more.
Other thoughts?? Overall a very good Field Day!!

23. Proper Spacing and Orientation two 3 Element Yagi
Antenna nulls at 90 degrees
Roughly -34 to -24dBi
We did install the two tri band antennas as shown
Using the Kenwood TS930S on the 20M tower beam
Using a KX3 with amplifier on 20M pushup pole at 20 feet GOTA
At 10W on the KX3 or 100W on the Kenwood
Friday night, no visible S meter change or able to hear within 20KHz of each other
At 100W on both radios
Saturday no visible S meter change or able to hear within 20KHz
Later in the day as both stations search and pounced reportedly both could hear each other.
14dBi
3 element 55 ft
-24 dBi
-10 –> 0 dBi
3 element 20 ft
12dBi
This worked very well.
Do it again
Antennas were 200 feet apart

24. Distances between stations
Antenna Placement
Magnetic Headings
Distances between stations
amphitheater
40M A
VHF cluster N
TH3MK4
+ inverted V A A
20M
GOTA
TH3jr A
pine
info
A – Antenna
g - generator
Info – Public Information Table
GOTA – Get on the Air Station g
pond
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