What is WFD?
Winter Field Day is an exciting annual event for amateur radio enthusiasts, taking place on the last full weekend of January. It offers a unique opportunity for radio operators to set up field operations in remote locations, enabling them to connect with other participants worldwide. You may choose to participate solo or get your friends, family, or whole club involved. Winter Field Day is organized by the Winter Field Day Association
(Source: https://winterfieldday.org)
When: Set up January 24th
Operation period January 25th, 9AM
until January 26, 3PM
Where: Ken Boyd’s (N7NBV) Corral
855 N Camino Cordon, Tucson
From Bill Bennett:
We are planning a fun, but hopefully not too strenuous or stressful, setup for Winter Field Day. The operation period is Saturday, January 25, 9AM local time, continuing until Sunday, January 26, 3PM. We will arrive on site Friday mid-day to set up.
All members are invited for any small or large part of the weekend.
Our participation plan is still evolving but here’s what we’re thinking at the moment.
The venue is the OK Corral at Ken Boyd’s property, located at 855 N Camino Cordon, Tucson. We have used this for a couple recent events, and it works out very well. The guest house just east of the corral is available for bathrooms and a coffee station, or a place to sit on the sofa and visit. Thank you, Ken & Vicky, for your generosity and hospitality.
We’ll run on commercial power sourced at the barn adjacent to the north side of the corral.
We’ll have three stations with no overlapping bands, so minimal need to coordinate among stations about mode or band change. The stations will be:
160 & 10
80 & 20
40 & 15
These pairings are chosen because those bands have not much overlap on the clock as to when the band is likely to be useful. Mode choice is up to the op of the moment.
All stations will have Windows PCs running N3FJP logging software that is licensed to the K7RST call.
We’d like to have three trailers (or other RV type thing) to put the three stations in but right now we only have commitment for two. Looking for a third, anybody?
10/160 station, NE corner of corral
Helen KE2BPY earned her contest wings in the 10m contest a few weeks ago. She will captain the 10m station. During the day when 10m is working well (and it was VERY good for the 10m contest earlier this month), we will run that station within frequency and power limits of the Technician License, so Technicians can operate legally without an additional control op present. This is a GREAT opportunity for Techs to come out and be a significant force of their own in the event. If we get on the 160m with this station at night, we’ll need a General Class or higher control op.
We have a 3 element yagi for 10m, and an intention to figure out a wire and supports for 160m, TBD. We have two options for the radio, either a Yaesu FT991a loaned by Lloyd, K7NX, or a Elecraft K2 loaned by Ken N7NBV.
Note: we don’t yet have a committed shelter for the 10/160 station. An offer from someone for this would be welcomed. The fallback plan will be to put this station in the “barn” right next to the corral.
80/20 station, NW corner of corral
This station will be set up in the small Airstream trailer of Bill N7DZ. The radio will probably be a KX3/KXPA100 loaned by Ken N7NBV. The antenna plan at the moment is a 133 foot EFHW that should be reasonable on those two bands. We’ll set it up as and inverted sloping L with the driven end near the ground, the corner about 45 feet up, and the far end sloping to a fence post or tree.
40/15 station, SE corner of corral
Richard K7NSW has volunteered his travel trailer and its station for 40/15, using a G5RV wire antenna with external tuner. The radio is a Kenwood TS590SG.
Note: This plan could evolve a bit more if we get some new ideas or find flaws in it, but that’s the plan for now. Details about power cords, coax lengths, etc are TBD but in general we have a lot of that stuff so I don’t expect a challenge.
What do we still need?
- Another trailer or RV would be helpful.
- Some help setting up on Friday.
- Operators – please think about when, how much, and how you’d like to participate and reply by email with your intention. We won’t try for a rigid op schedule, but rather go with the flow on that. But it will help to have an idea what the headcount will be.
- Transmit bandpass filters (Avery do you have them?). We’ll only be running 100 watts.
That’s it for now. Questions or suggestions? Please send to me at bill@wizardofaz.net
And/or we can discuss at the January club meeting on January 14th.
Click here more details on Winter Field Day
winterfieldday.org
Reported by Bill, N7DZ
Uploaded by Ana, WV3RSE