The Event⌗

The Holiday season has past us but the cold has not. That must mean it’s time for Winter Field Day!

Winter Field Day is all about sharpening your emergency communication abilities, but it’s also about fun. Winter throws curveballs that summer never does—short days, freezing temperatures, icy winds, and sudden weather surprises. It’s the perfect chance to challenge yourself, push your station to new limits, and prove that you can stay on the air no matter what Mother Nature sends your way. -WFDA

This will be my second year participating and I hope to improve upon past outings. Thankfully, living in the desert gives me a slight weather advantage as daytime temps were not forcast to be below 50F.

The Rules⌗

There are a few changes to the rules this year and some added objectives. In an effort to increase our score we’re going for as many multipliers as we can manage.

  • QRP (5w digital / 10w ssb)
  • Multiple modes.
  • Deploy multiple antennas.
  • Operate 100% on alternative power. (Battery / Solar / Generator)
  • Operate for at least 6 continuous hours.
  • Operate at least 1/2 mile away from home.

Alternative Power⌗

The rules state that to meet the alternative power objective:

“All batteries, whether in use or charging, should only be recharged using alternative power. WFD stations should run all station equipment, including all laptops and other accessories, from an alternative power source.”

To prepare for this I charged all batteries I intended to use via solar using a Renogy 100w solar panel and my trusty Buddipole PowerMini2. Easy win.

Deploy Multiple Antennas⌗

My POTA kit alreadt contains multiple antennas to allow for deployment in whatever space I may end up in. Verticals, Dipoles, Endfeds and Delta loops are all in the kit. I decided on a 10m dipole to start the day and move to a 35.5’ endfed “random” wire (9:1) to enable band hopping.

Multiple Modes⌗

All of these objectives were standard operating proceedure for my pota outings with the exception of multiple modes. Time to learn something new, fast. Thankfully running linux made this easier than I expected.

I had heard the name fldigi previously but had never even attempted to use it. Up until this point in my ham career I knew other modes existed but had not ventured outside those offered in the WSJT-X suite.

PSK31 is a valid digital mode for the contest and was supported by fldigi. It seemed the easist to pick up while also offering utility in an emergency sitation by allowing for arbitrary text to be transmit. It’s essentially IRC for the airwaves. Googled up a “PSK31 Frequency list”, snapped a pic with my phone and in the spirit of guess and go fast this was all the prep I had completed before heading out in the field. After all, in an emergency, who’s to say I would have any more time to prepare?

The operation⌗

The day started with a trip to the Lee Canyon side of Mt. Charleston. Located a trail to lead off into the wilderness and setup the station. 10meters was first and luckily band conditions were favorable for QRP. W9K in Michigan was the first in the log. Off to a great start! After setting up on 28.313 I logged about 10 more contacts before another station who couldn’t hear me moved in on the frequency. It’s QRP, these things happen. Found another clear frequency 28.343 and logged a few more.

Midday was rolling around and it was either time for lunch or time for digital modes. I chose PSK31.

Booting up the laptop and connecting the USB cable to my IC-705 I was instantly reminded of an unfortunately common problem with the Icom, noise. I had forgotten to use a USB opto isolater. A few turns of the USB cable through a clip-on ferrite core tamed most of it.

Digital sounds coming from the radio. fldigi showing ledgible text scrolling across the screen. I was on the right track…now how do I make a contact? Observing a few active conversations I was able to piece it together. Send important information multiple times to account for drop outs or incorrect character decodes and compose messages as if they were written in CW.

I’d like to appologize to my the operator on the other end of my first PSK31 contact W8MAI as I was likely the slowest contact of your morning but we made it work and got through the WFD exchange. As someone who is used to FT8 this mode is awesome. It actually allows for some operator expression rather than a set exchange of signal levels and grid squares.

Swapping to my second antenna it was time to start band hopping. 10m / 15m / 20m / 40m are all alive with signals. Thankfully the AH-705 can tune up a wet noodle so it was no problem knocking out contacts on each of the bands.

As night fell on the mountain I was quickly reminded of the temperature. It was already below freezing. After a last ditch attempt to make a contact on 80m it was time to pack up. Quickly.

Some stats.⌗

Here’s the final count:

Band ssb psk31
10m 31 5
15m 17 0
20m 10 6
40m 5 1

Lessons Learned⌗

  • More multipliers!
    Additional points could have been created by simply attempting as many multipliers as possible. I should have at least attempted to copy the offical Winter Field Day bulletins, work a few contacts on VHF/UHF or to send a Winlink email.

  • There’s more to Digital than FT8.
    My experience with Digital modes on HF has been limited to FT8 and FT4 but these modes only facilitate the bare minimum of what’s possible with an amateur contact.
    PSK31 and other Keyboard-to-keyboard modes offer the ability to send aribitrary text over the air which could be invaluable in a true emergency situation but these modes will be limited by their userbase.
    How many ops exist that only know how to use wsjt-x?
    Do they have fldigi installed and know how to use it?
    I intend to develop skills to use these mode effectively and to advocate for their use where I can.