Gloucester County Amateur Radio Club |
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2020 | Rank | Total # | ||
Gloucester County Amateur Radio Club |
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Callsign | QSOs | Class | Power | Participants | Total |
GCARC W2MMD | |||||
Darrell Neron AB2E | |||||
Dennis Sandole K2SE | |||||
Howard Marder WA2IBZ | |||||
Bart Kleczynski AC2PT | |||||
Totals |
Information Resources :
https://contests.arrl.org/ContestResults/2020/Field-Day-2020-FinalQSTResults.pdf
https://contests.arrl.org/ContestResults/2020/Field-Day-2020-FinalLineScores.pdf
https://contests.arrl.org/ContestResults/2020/Field-Day-2020-FinalQSTResults.pdf
https://contests.arrl.org/ContestResults/2020/Field-Day-2020-FinalLineScores.pdf
2020 Field Day Highlights
Tony Starr, K3TS, and crew helping to raise a Field Day antenna
Al Arrison, KB2AYU, with his homemade crank-up tower trailer,
raising it up and installing a 6M antenna
raising it up and installing a 6M antenna
Social Distancing A Digital Station Over Local Wi-Fi For Field Day
By Jim Wright, N2GXJ
It was a practical problem to solve. Radio field day would not be like field days of the past, where shifts of operators would take turns sitting at a table, sharing a microphone for voice contacts, and touching the same keyboards for making digital contacts and for logging of all contacts into a logging program during the 24 hour event. Leading up to field day we pondered, what options did we have? We would be out in a field, on emergency power, with no internet. We would want to share a radio without having to have people touch the radio or ever be in close proximity to each other. Would that even be possible?
A few options were considered. For example, we could use disposable plastic covers (but could we type through them? And what about the tuning knob, and the band and mode select buttons on the radio itself?) We then suggested we could spray and wipe everything down between operators (but would that wipe off the letters on the keyboard, and on the radio faceplate? Nobody wanted that.). Maybe we could we have everyone bring their own microphones and keyboards (Most everyone had their own laptop for logging, sure, but would everyone have the right microphone to bring to use with the radio?). Nothing seemed ideal. What were we going to do?
Then a thought occurred. Maybe we could do something different than what we’d done for field day in the past. Maybe we could consider using some new technology to help solve this.
It started with switching from using an “old tried and true” radio, with its familiar touch dials, and touch buttons, to using one of the new software defined radio (SDR) that has an Ethernet port instead for all of this. Conceptually, this would allow us to use a long Ethernet cable to pass audio and radio control back and forth between the radio and a laptop at the other end of the cable, without risk of having anyone have to physically touch the radio after it would be set up by the owner.
We’d run software provided by the SDR manufacturer on the laptop to control the radio TX/RX, frequency, and mode over the Ethernet connection. The same software would open audio connections between the laptop and the radio, allowing bi-directional audio to be transferred over the Ethernet cable. We’d each bring our own laptop.
If we wanted to make a voice contact, we’d plug our own USB headset into our laptop. To make a digital contact, we’d run WSJT-X, or another digital program on the laptop. RX audio from the radio would come over the Ethernet to software on the laptop, where it could then either be listened to on the USB headset (if operating voice), or be used as an input audio source to WSJT-X. In the TX direction, the microphone on the USB headset could be used as the source of the audio to transfer to the radio over the Ethernet cable (if operating voice), or the software could be configured to take digital TX audio from WSJT-X and send that to the radio over the Ethernet instead.
With this basic setup on Ethernet cable working, we then decided to try and go one step further, which was to ditch the Ethernet cable, and try and go wireless instead. So that’s what we did. And it worked!
Here’s a simple diagram of the setup, along with a picture to illustrate the simplicity of the configuration. Wi-Fi, Antenna, and power plug into the radio box. Then laptop is used to access the radio wirelessly over the Wi-Fi. That’s it!
By Jim Wright, N2GXJ
It was a practical problem to solve. Radio field day would not be like field days of the past, where shifts of operators would take turns sitting at a table, sharing a microphone for voice contacts, and touching the same keyboards for making digital contacts and for logging of all contacts into a logging program during the 24 hour event. Leading up to field day we pondered, what options did we have? We would be out in a field, on emergency power, with no internet. We would want to share a radio without having to have people touch the radio or ever be in close proximity to each other. Would that even be possible?
A few options were considered. For example, we could use disposable plastic covers (but could we type through them? And what about the tuning knob, and the band and mode select buttons on the radio itself?) We then suggested we could spray and wipe everything down between operators (but would that wipe off the letters on the keyboard, and on the radio faceplate? Nobody wanted that.). Maybe we could we have everyone bring their own microphones and keyboards (Most everyone had their own laptop for logging, sure, but would everyone have the right microphone to bring to use with the radio?). Nothing seemed ideal. What were we going to do?
Then a thought occurred. Maybe we could do something different than what we’d done for field day in the past. Maybe we could consider using some new technology to help solve this.
It started with switching from using an “old tried and true” radio, with its familiar touch dials, and touch buttons, to using one of the new software defined radio (SDR) that has an Ethernet port instead for all of this. Conceptually, this would allow us to use a long Ethernet cable to pass audio and radio control back and forth between the radio and a laptop at the other end of the cable, without risk of having anyone have to physically touch the radio after it would be set up by the owner.
We’d run software provided by the SDR manufacturer on the laptop to control the radio TX/RX, frequency, and mode over the Ethernet connection. The same software would open audio connections between the laptop and the radio, allowing bi-directional audio to be transferred over the Ethernet cable. We’d each bring our own laptop.
If we wanted to make a voice contact, we’d plug our own USB headset into our laptop. To make a digital contact, we’d run WSJT-X, or another digital program on the laptop. RX audio from the radio would come over the Ethernet to software on the laptop, where it could then either be listened to on the USB headset (if operating voice), or be used as an input audio source to WSJT-X. In the TX direction, the microphone on the USB headset could be used as the source of the audio to transfer to the radio over the Ethernet cable (if operating voice), or the software could be configured to take digital TX audio from WSJT-X and send that to the radio over the Ethernet instead.
With this basic setup on Ethernet cable working, we then decided to try and go one step further, which was to ditch the Ethernet cable, and try and go wireless instead. So that’s what we did. And it worked!
Here’s a simple diagram of the setup, along with a picture to illustrate the simplicity of the configuration. Wi-Fi, Antenna, and power plug into the radio box. Then laptop is used to access the radio wirelessly over the Wi-Fi. That’s it!
Social distancing a digital station over local Wi-Fi for Field Day
There was one “trick”. And that was figuring out how to get the Wi-Fi router we’d brought from home to work in the field to bridge between the Ethernet cable plugged into the radio, and the laptop over Wi-Fi. Things worked fine with the Ethernet cable direct between the radio and the laptop, but plug the Ethernet cable from radio into the Wi-Fi router, and then connect the laptop over Wi-Fi to the router, and the laptop could not see the radio to connect to it.
A Google search on cell phone quickly identified the problem, and solution. Problem was the home Wi-Fi router expects an Internet connection, and there is none in the field. Fix is to use the admin menu to configure the router as a Wi-Fi hub, to allow communications to pass freely between the Ethernet ports on the device, and Wi-FI, which we did, and then it worked just fine.
It was great to be able to find a way to do field day out in the field this year. Would love to hear from others about creative solutions you may have tried, to compare.
There was one “trick”. And that was figuring out how to get the Wi-Fi router we’d brought from home to work in the field to bridge between the Ethernet cable plugged into the radio, and the laptop over Wi-Fi. Things worked fine with the Ethernet cable direct between the radio and the laptop, but plug the Ethernet cable from radio into the Wi-Fi router, and then connect the laptop over Wi-Fi to the router, and the laptop could not see the radio to connect to it.
A Google search on cell phone quickly identified the problem, and solution. Problem was the home Wi-Fi router expects an Internet connection, and there is none in the field. Fix is to use the admin menu to configure the router as a Wi-Fi hub, to allow communications to pass freely between the Ethernet ports on the device, and Wi-FI, which we did, and then it worked just fine.
It was great to be able to find a way to do field day out in the field this year. Would love to hear from others about creative solutions you may have tried, to compare.
Dear Fellow Members;
The Board of Directors along with the Field Day Committee in agreement have decided to go ahead with holding Field Day at the Club site, but not without several restrictions :
Be Healthy, Be Strong, Be Safe.
73 es God Bless Us All,
JIM CLARK, USN (Ret.)
KA2OSV
Old Salty Veteran
President GCARC
The Board of Directors along with the Field Day Committee in agreement have decided to go ahead with holding Field Day at the Club site, but not without several restrictions :
- Field Day will be CLOSED to the public.
- Field Day will be limited to MEMBERS, their family members and licensed guest operators.
- There will be NO GOTA Station.
- Only five (5) MEMBERS will be permitted in the Clubhouse at a time.
- The wearing of masks in the Clubhouse and in the immediate area around the trailer is recommended, but not mandatory.
- Social Distancing, whenever possible, is strongly recommended.
- NO FOOD will be provided by the Club. All Field Day participants will be required to provide their own food. However, the Club will be providing bottled water and soft drinks.
- Each Band Chairman will be responsible in ensuring a safe environment for all operators at their station. The use of disinfectant and hand sanitizer is strongly recommended.
- It is strongly recommended that all Field Day participants take their temperature, if at all possible, prior to leaving their homes, the morning of Field Day.
Be Healthy, Be Strong, Be Safe.
73 es God Bless Us All,
JIM CLARK, USN (Ret.)
KA2OSV
Old Salty Veteran
President GCARC
Click the link below to download N2GXJ's FT8 Digital Field Day PDF
N2GXJ FT8 Digital Field Day.PDF
2020 ARRL Field Day Public Service Announcement
Come one, come all, to the largest annual on-air event in the country, Field Day!
By Al Arrison, KB2AYU
On June 27-28, Hams nationwide will take to the great outdoors, setup portable stations, and try to contact as many other stations as possible. This is done as an emergency preparedness exercise to simulate operating with minimal equipment under less than ideal conditions. The GCARC participates from our Club Site at the Gloucester County 4-H Fairgrounds in Mullica Hill.
You DO NOT have to be a veteran contest operator to have fun. Newer Hams are encouraged to come out. Saturday morning help is needed erecting antennas and setting up stations. Everyone goes on the air at 2PM. You can observe different operating techniques or give someone a break and make some contacts yourself. At 2PM Sunday, the event is over and help is needed breaking down and cleaning up.
Please plan to come out, even if just for a little while, and take part in this worthwhile event.
By Al Arrison, KB2AYU
On June 27-28, Hams nationwide will take to the great outdoors, setup portable stations, and try to contact as many other stations as possible. This is done as an emergency preparedness exercise to simulate operating with minimal equipment under less than ideal conditions. The GCARC participates from our Club Site at the Gloucester County 4-H Fairgrounds in Mullica Hill.
You DO NOT have to be a veteran contest operator to have fun. Newer Hams are encouraged to come out. Saturday morning help is needed erecting antennas and setting up stations. Everyone goes on the air at 2PM. You can observe different operating techniques or give someone a break and make some contacts yourself. At 2PM Sunday, the event is over and help is needed breaking down and cleaning up.
Please plan to come out, even if just for a little while, and take part in this worthwhile event.
Field Day 2020 ???
By Jim Wright, N2GXJ
Will there be an ARRL Field Day this year?
Yes! But given the virus, things will not be the same as they have been in years past. Some clubs will not be able to set up in public places, so many hams are making plans to operate individually from their homes as either 1D, or 1E home stations. There may actually be more stations than ever before on the air this year because of this!
Will GCARC be participating in Field Day at the Clubhouse site this year?
Maybe. This will be a decision made by the Club President and the Board of Directors a couple of weeks before field day weekend. If the decision is yes, there will be conditions. If the decision is no, there are still ways you can participate, and name our Club with your individual submission this year.
If we do decide to set up at our field day site, to operate under the Club’s W2MMD callsign for a club score, there might be need to be some additional restrictions put in place to stay safe. “Safety first”, which is always important on field day, may have to take on a whole new additional dimension this year with the virus. Social distancing guidelines, and other restriction details might have to be worked out in order to have a field day out at our Clubhouse site this year.
Even if the answer is yes, you still might choose to operate from home this year. And that’s ok! Whatever you do, do try to participate. The key this year is to be adaptive. Field day has always been about operating in less than ideal conditions. You do have choices!
As stated in recent article at ARRL : http://www.arrl.org/planning-your-arrl-field-day-2020-operation “This might be the year to leave your Field Day comfort zone and try something new!”
What are my options this year?
There is an attempt below to draw up a picture of my options for this year. Your options may be similar. Whatever you choose, stay safe, enjoy the challenge, and have fun!
What kind of antenna works best for us here in NJ for field day?
If you are considering operating portable, at our field day site, or out in your own back yard, the question will come up about what antenna might work best for us here in NJ? There are a few tips that can be offered from those who have been through it before.
If setting up by yourself, the first tip is select an antenna that is easy to put up. A heavy, complex antenna system with lots of parts can be difficult for one person to assemble and put up without being totally exhausted before starting to try and make contacts on field day.
The second tip is to select an antenna that can get your signal to where the stations are on the frequencies they are using. Generally, this means having an antenna with some directivity on 40 meters and 20 meters, which are the most popular bands for field day.
So where are the stations that participate in field day? It turns out most are out here where we are, on the East Coast, or within single hop radio distances out into PA and Ohio.
Below is a picture to illustrate this, using actual data from GCARC from field day 2019.
With so many stations you want to make contact with being relatively close, this is not a distance contest. A contact you make with a station in OH will count just as much as a contact you make with a station in Colorado, and may be easier to break through all the noise to get to.
You’ll want an antenna that can take advantage of this, to let you work up and down the coast, and out to the west about 300-700 miles. Given this data, a vertical antenna, though it may be easy to set up, is not going to be your best choice for field day here in New Jersey.
Instead, consider something that can give you skywave out to a couple hundred miles, such as a simple horizontal wire antenna, like a dipole.
For a slightly better pattern, consider taking the dipole, and turn it into a sloped dipole, with the higher end pointing towards the South-East (in the general direction of Wildwood, at the Jersey shore) so that most of the signal favors up and down the coast and out to the West, with less going out into the ocean where there are no stations.
The radiation pattern for a sloped dipole is illustrated in the picture to the right. It is easy these days to simulate wire antennas before you build them, like this, using the free 4nec2 software available from https://www.qsl.net/4nec2/. Go crazy. Try your own designs if you want. But really, any antenna will do. The idea here is just get on the air. Try something, and get some experience making contacts in less than ideal conditions. The on-air mayhem begins 2pm local time on Saturday June 27. Are you ready? The date is almost here! |
Looking Back At Field Day 2019 - And Looking Ahead To The Future
By Tony Starr WA2FZB
Author's Note : The original version of this article was written immediately after FD 2019. I later updated it to better reflect on looking forward, but before this whole coronavirus thing turned our whole world on end. Hopefully, we will be able to do Field Day as planned, or at least close to our plan. Read on :
When I first got my Novice ticket in 1976, it was primarily so I could participate in Field Day. It quickly became my favorite event. In the years that followed, I have been an operator, band chairman, FD Chairman and Co-Chairman for the Club, and also operated 1B single-op solo efforts a couple of times. The past couple of years have been at W2MMD, where I started out over four decades ago, and I have tried to follow a plan that improves upon what I learned in the late 70's and early 80's from some of GCARC's very large and very successful FD operations of that era. Our most recent Field Day in 2019 was excellent, in that we had picture perfect weather, no equipment failures, and no serious mishaps. There was only one small problem : A significant majority of the Club's membership did not show up and participate!
This past year we ran with 6 stations, down from 8 in 2018, and we really did not have enough operators to cover those six. What's worse, we were only able to keep two stations on the air through the overnight. Also, we really did not have enough people on hand to safely raise and lower our antennas. We got it done, but we were really shorthanded. Someone told me that we had about 42 people come out, but I seriously doubt that they were all there at one time, or we would have had enough for six people at each station, plus six more to work in the excellent chow hall that we all enjoyed so much. Actually, that is exactly how it should be done. And with 165 members, we should be able to put 8 stations on the air and keep at least 4 of them on the air through the overnight. I realize that we are all getting older, but with enough participation, we should be able to do this in shifts, and cover all the bases.
In the distant past, we had issues such as not enough members showing up to help with set-up or tear-down, but many showing up during prime operating time. Later, we had an issue with not enough people showing up for set-up, tear-down, and operating, but plenty showing up for dinner. Now, we just have a problem with getting people to show up, period. And we also have trouble getting people to stay when they do show up. My first Field Day with the Club, I had no choice but to stay for the whole event because I did not yet own a car! I got dropped off on Saturday morning and bummed a ride home on Sunday afternoon. Now, more than 40 years later, I try to make my commitment to staying the duration by towing my camping trailer out to the site with my truck, but not un-hitching the truck from the trailer, because as long as the station is set up and hooked to the antennas, I simply cannot leave as long as the truck and trailer are still hitched up. I think it would help if more members made the commitment to stay for the duration of the event.
I sincerely feel that the ARRL should be promoting Field Day as an ALL HANDS OPERATING EVENT. There needs to be one event per year that all active hams should participate in, and there is no event better suited to this than Field Day. If you are an active ham, you have many choices on how and where you can operate Field Day. You can operate with a club, on your own, or with an informal group. You can operate from your home station, either with commercial power or emergency power, or you can hike to the top of some mountain if you are so inclined (and physically able), and operate with a wire and a battery pack. All of these options are provided for in the Field Day rules. During this one 24 hour period, once a year, there should be NO routine nets, group rag chews, or other un-necessary operations.
All active hams who are available to operate should be participating in Field Day. This kind of participation would go far to showcase our abilities to the outside world. There might be a couple of hundred thousand participants this way. It would be huge! I really think the ARRL has missed a great opportunity by not promoting Field Day in this way.
In the meantime, within our own Club, we have a small group of dedicated FD enthusiasts who are members of the "Field Day Committee", and we did have an informal "wrap-up meeting" after FD 2019, to mainly discuss how we can do this event better in the future. Not that it wasn't great, because it was. But we just want to find a way that we can spread the joy that we shared with a much larger portion of the Club's membership. If you are one of those who did not make it out to the site for Field Day 2019, please consider making plans to attend Field Day 2020. It is going to be bigger, better and even more fun! Until then, 73 to all.
Tony Starr, WA2FZB
80m CW Co-Chairman
W2MMD Field Day 2019
Field Day - June 27 - 28, 2020 |
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Band | Operator | Mode |
John O'Connell, K2QA Greg Ciraula, W5DO |
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Frank Romeo Jr, N3PUU Mike Pecorini, KD2RPE |
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Frank Romeo Jr, N3PUU Mike Pecorini, KD2RPE |
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Frank Romeo Jr, N3PUU Mike Pecorini, KD2RPE |
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Ken Denson, WB2P Herb Dyer, KT2Y |
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Sheldon Parker, K2MEN |
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Tom Collins, N2SR Ed DeFonzo, W2DE John Zaruba Jr, K2ZA |
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Sheldon Parker, K2MEN |
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Ken Denson, WB2P Herb Dyer, KT2Y |
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Sheldon Parker, K2MEN |
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Lee Marino, N2LAM Fred Lederer, KD2WPD |
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Tom Collins, N2SR Ed DeFonzo, W2DE John Zaruba Jr, K2ZA |
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(Get On The Air) Station |
100 Points Max |
Field Day Chairman - Al Arrison, KB2AYU kb2ayu(at)comcast(dot)net Chart updated as of July 27, 2020 |
Field Day - June 27 - 28, 2020 |
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Radio Number | Station & Owner | Primary + Other Bands/Modes | Crew Includes |
Lee Marino N2LAM Fred Lederer KD2WPD |
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15M Phone |
Ken Denson, WB2P Herb Dyer, KT2Y |
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Tom Collins, N2SR Ed DeFonzo, W2DE John Zaruba Jr, K2ZA |
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Tom Collins, N2SR Ed DeFonzo, W2DE John Zaruba Jr, K2ZA |
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6M, 10M Digital |
Frank Romeo Jr, N3PUU Mike Pecorini, KD2RPE |
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Sheldon Parker, K2MEN |
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160M Digital |
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John O'Connell, K2QA Greg Ciraula, W5DO |
This station list was compiled by Jim Wright, N2GXJ referencing stations by their owners with each station possibly being able to cover multiple bands and multiple modes Chart updated as of July 27, 2020 |
Field Day - June 27 - 28, 2020 |
||
---|---|---|
4-H Fairgrounds |
Points |
|
Checklist |
Points |
|
Table |
Points |
|
Staff |
Herb Dyer, KT2Y |
|
Electronic Logs |
Points |
|
Magical Electric Truck |
/Transmitter |
|
Generator |
/Transmitter |
|
Power |
Points |
|
Activity |
Points |
|
Participation |
100 Points Max |
|
Points |
||
Points |
||
To Section Manager |
Points |
|
Day Message |
Points |
|
Message Handling |
100 Points Max |
|
Elected Official |
Points |
|
Served Agency Official |
Points |
|
Points |
Field Day Chairman - Al Arrison, KB2AYU kb2ayu(at)comcast(dot)net Chart updated as of July 26, 2020 |
W2MMD Clubhouse
|