NOARC (North Ottawa ARC) and the MI RATS (MI Radio Amateurs Technological Society) participated with great enthusiasm in this year’s Winter Field Day. The days leading up to the event were bitter cold, with a snap that made it’s way from the arctic down to New Orleans which saw multiple inches of snowfall. Michigan, especially the west coast areas were inundated with lake effect snow showers that made travel difficult, and temps dipped down into the negative degrees Fahrenheit. Field day was shaping up to be a grueling event, not just for travel, but also for deploying antennas and operating whilst keeping your fingertips from going numb. Fortunately, the weather broke right before it would become an issue. The sun was shining, and the snow began to melt on the morning of January 25th. Roads were sufficiently cleared for travel to the Ferrysburg City Hall to begin event radio operations.
Lacking the experience of operating at this venue, myself and others hadn’t realized the distance from the nearest pine tree to the pass-through window into our makeshift shack. Measuring right about 130 feet, this made deploying some antennas more difficult than others. Additionally, the snow banks made deploying easier antennas like the Wolf River Coil somewhat precarious. A “shooter” was used to get a lead weight into the trees at a perhaps unrecommended 85 PSI along with a few tree bags. On hand were a 40 meter doublet fed with 50 feet of ladder line, multiple 80 meter end-feds, a Wolf River Coil, a 10m folded dipole, and a 20 meter monoband dipole. Due to the distance, many compromises had to be made, and lots of coax was barreled together. The doublet ladder had to feed down to a cardboard box with an MFJ 939 powered by a 20Ah LiFePo4, then connected to 2x 50ft sections of RG-213. The end-feds were fed with either 50 or 100 feet of RG-8x or RG-58.
The voice station was an IC-7300 and an FT-100, CW was run by a TS-2000 and at times an X6100 or G90. The digital station was an FT-710 AESS.
The primary digital mode used was JS8 Call, a new one for many operators. Lots of folks sat down to learn how to make a QSO, which can be quite difficult as the timing needs to be precise. Operators included Jay NT0Y, Jeff W8RJC, Michael KD8VDF, and Rick WR8W. Other modes included were RTTY, PSK31, VarAC, and Winlink. SSB was of course used for voice contacts, primarily operated by Rich AE8RL, Kevin KE8ZVS, Michael KD8VDF, and others. The CW station operated by Eric N9RJR, Ben K8AR, and our youth entry Ian KI8AN were using an innovative setup with an SDR in order to spot other stations on the waterfall, as well as a CodeStar decoder for extra verification. Auxiliary FM contacts were made on 2 and 1.25 meters to complete the 6-band objective. We even attempted a satellite FM contact using multiple birds thanks to Glen KA8DUX, but it just wasn’t in the cards for that night.
We were able to compete entering as a 4I classification including emergency/alternative power fed by numerous LiFePo4 batteries and some quite unreasonable 210Ah lead acids.
The following objectives were completed:
Operate 100% on alternative power (x1)
Operate away from home (x3)
Deploy multiple antennas (x1)
Send and receive at least one Winlink email (x1)
Copy the Winter Field Day Special Bulletin (x1)
Operate on at least six different bands (x6)
Use multiple modes (x2)
Operate six continuous hours during the event (x2)
The following objectives were attempted:
Make an FM satellite contact (x2)
And the following were not attempted:
Make a SSB or CW Satellite Contact (x3)
Operate the event QRP (x4)
Total claimed score is 12,998, including 77 CW, 398 phone, and 106 digital contacts for a total of 764 points. Our objective multiplier was 17. This doesn’t have a comparison to last year’s score due to “bonus” points changing into multipliers for this year’s event. We’ll see how it comes out after the deadline.
At any rate, the event was a resounding success! Anyone who wished to operate was able to get ample transceiver time, folks were able to attempt new modes, obstacles were overcome, and rag chews were had in abondance. NOARC and RATS events have always been a great time, and the fun will continue well into 2025 with the MIQP, Field Day, and more. Special thanks to NOARC for sponsoring the event, Levi N8GMZ and Kevin KE8VZS for leading the charge, and the city of Ferrysburg for the wonderful venue.
73 to all, and we’ll see you down the log.
Jay NT0Y
