DMRAA &

ARTSField Day

Made Easy

Why?• Food• Camaraderie and friendship• Chance to try different radios• Knowledge building and learning new skills• Recruiting new hams and new club

members• Challenge of operating in abnormal

situations and in less than ideal conditions• Contest/competition• Media exposure• FUN!

When?June 27-28, 2009

(Always the 4th full weekend of June)Setup Starts Saturday at 9:00am

Potluck Saturday at 5:00pmDonuts and Coffee Sunday starting 7-8am

Tear Down Sunday at 1:00pm

Where?Jolly Boat Shelter

Big Creek State ParkGPS: 41.80887, -93.74403

Talk-in: 147.075 tone 114.8

We have had Field Day events for years, why take up a club meeting?

Many profess no interest in operating radio on Field Day, but in reality they’re reluctant to participate because of:

• “Mike fright”• Unfamiliarity with contesting

procedures• Unfamiliarity with the logging

software• No experience on HF

Field Day Objectives

• Contact as many other stations as possible– All amateur bands (excluding 60, 30, 17, and 12 meter

bands)

• Learn to operate in abnormal situations in less than optimal conditions. • Demonstrate amateur

radio to the general public that visits the Field Day site.

• Media exposure

GOTA (“Get On The Air”) Station

• More opportunities to operate.• Doesn’t change our entry class.• Must use a different call sign.

– W0SCI

• Open to newly licensed, inactive hams and the non-licensed public (with control operator).

• Control operator must be present if operating beyond license class privileges of the operator.

Rules/Limitations

• Work each station once per band/mode (CW, SSB, and Digital).

• No repeater contacts.• No 146.520 contacts.• One transmitter per band/mode.

– To avoid interference: One transmitter per band.

• Contacts between the Field Day station and an individual participant of that station are not valid.

FCC Rules• Unlicensed persons may participate, but a

control operator is required at the control point.• If you are participating on a frequency where

your license class does not have privileges, there must be a control operator with those privileges at the control point.

• Third Party communications– Without a list of Countries that have a third

party agreements with the US, it may be best to limit third party contacts to US and Canadian stations.

• Loud DX is not a common Field Day problem. Just be aware of the issue.

The Field Day “Exchange”

• In order to make a valid contact, the information to be exchanged and logged consists of:– The number of transmitters at your site: 2

• Does not include the GOTA station

– Class of operation: A– ARRL Section: Iowa

• Examples– On CW/Digital: “2A IA”– On phone: “Two Alpha, Iowa”

Classes

• Class A – Portable, a group of 3 or more, 100% Emergency Power

• Class B – Portable, 1 or 2 persons, 100% Emergency Power

• Class C – Mobile stations• Class D – Home Stations, Commercial

Power• Class E – Home Stations, Emergency

Power• Class F – Emergency Operations Centers

ARRL Section? You Mean State, Right?

• 71 ARRL Sections + 9 CRRL Sections• Most states/provinces are their own

section.• Some are into two or more sections:

NJ: 2TX: 3NY: 4CA: 9

• Use the logging software to showyou the correct abbreviation. (More on this later)

Two Basic Strategiesfor making contacts:

• Search and Pounce– Tune the band looking for stations who

are calling CQ and answering them.

• Staying on a frequency calling CQ and waiting for stations to answer you.

Structure for the Contact• CQ Station: CQ Field Day, CQ Field Day,

W1AW Whiskey One Alpha Whiskey• S&P Station: Whiskey Zero Alpha Kilo• CQ Station: W0AK Three Foxtrot

Connecticut• S&P Station: QSL Two Alpha Iowa• CQ Station: Thanks. Whiskey One Alpha

Whiskey

• The CQ Station always gives his/her exchange first and the S&P Station doesn’t give his/her exchange until he/she has copied the CQ Station’s complete exchange and received any needed fills.

Other Do’s and Don’ts• DO ask for repeats/fills of the exchange,

if needed.– DON’T repeat what you think you copied

and ask if it is correct.• DON’T clutter the exchange with

unneeded words– “Please Copy”– Operator name– Weather

• DO use standard ITU Phonetics

ITU Phonetics

Alpha Hotel Oscar Victor

Bravo India Papa Whisky

Charlie Juliet Quebec

X-ray

Delta Kilo Romeo Yankee

Echo Lima Sierra Zulu

Foxtrot Mike Tango

Golf November

Uniform

Logging Software

• We will be using N1MM Logger– http://www.n1mm.com

• Its Free!• Interfaces to most ham rigs.• Easy to use. Conforms to

most Windows User Interface practices.

• Supports CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK!

Type Callsign then <Space bar>

Good for a contact!

Exchange: One Echo Eastern Massachessetts

Type: 1E <Space Bar> EMA

Click the Log It button or press the Enter key to log/save.

K1TTT now shows in the Log Window

Example: A station worked previously on a different band or mode.

The Exchange is already filled in from the previous contact

Previous Contacts are shown

Good for a contact!

Example: A station worked previously.

Callsign in grey indicates invalid contact.

Dupe! Indicates the call would not be a valid contact.

Previous Contacts are shown

Example: Correcting a mistake

Double Click the callsign in the log window. The information can then be corrected in the entry window. Hit enter to save the changes.

After the correction…

Questions?

Bullet “The Field Day Dog”

Audience Participation

Alpha Hotel Oscar Victor

Bravo India Papa Whisky

Charlie Juliet Quebec X-ray

Delta Kilo Romeo Yankee

Echo Lima Sierra Zulu

Foxtrot Mike Tango

Golf November

Uniform

When?June 27-28, 2009

(Always the 4th full weekend of June)Setup Starts Saturday at 9:00am

Potluck Saturday at 5:00pmDonuts and Coffee Sunday starting 7-8am

Tear Down Sunday at 1:00pm

Where?Jolly Boat Shelter

Big Creek State ParkGPS: 41.80887, -93.74403

Talk-in: 147.075 tone 114.8

Credits

• Thanks to – Steven Katz, N8WL

• Author of NARA/COOKEN FD Made Easy workshop

– DMRAA/ARTS Field Day Committee