BARC / W1BOS Field Day 2001

Claiming 4388 points!

Total QSO points claimed, 2798 pts.

Total bonuses claimed, 1590pts

A PICTURE is worth a 1000 words ...
or at least 100 points each documenting extras for FD entry

Public Location § Info Booth § Emergency Power § Demo:APRS § Demo:Microwave § SM-Msg § NTS § Official Visit § PR § Solar

Public Location (100 pts)

Lars Andersen Park in Brookline is a public park on a hill, a former mansion's grounds deeded to the town. The mansion's site itself is now a parking lot surrounded by the patios and lawns. Although the park normally closes at sundown, we annually get permission to camp overnight for Field Day. The walls and arcades of the former gardens are quite pretty, as is the view of the city.

We have a couple of self-supporting tarps right at the edge of the parking lot; these are the logistics and public information "tents" (see below), with club banner and "command post" banner. The driveway was festooned with orange-on-black "FIELD DAY ->" arrows. [Anyone get a picture?]

< The Logistics tarp, with club banner, and three HF Operating tents, 4+ operating positions, in rear of left picture Satellite tent in rear. Better angle above, showing 3-band beam and R7 vertical. One of the self-supporting tarps and one of the HF tents are club property. ^

 Logistics tarp viewed from field towareds terrace and parking lot, and a gaggle of visitors during setup. >

< The all-important food station; our President's wife supervising, Thanks Geri!

More visitors: a Wedding Rehearsal (wedding was on same site Sunday after we'd de-camped). The Best-man was a former crystal-radio buff, and was quite interested in our operation, and that home-brew gear was alive and well. >

< VHF+ station, 2m/440 beam and 2m/6m halos on improvised mounts. For the second year in a row, no 6m beam arrived. We attempted 222 FM with a magmount, no joy. Not much heard on 2m FM this year.

For pictures of more architectural interest on the park, see last year's pictures or the club FD2001 pix page, which also has more operating and antenna pictures.

Information Booth (100 pts)

We use one of the "easy-up" tarps and a banner to make an attractive information booth, which also has the 2m FM "talk in" station -- not a contest station, but handling the "logistics net" on the club repeater, and SKYWARN coordination (thankfully jot needed this year at our site, but a near miss). We used a small dry-erase white-marker-board > and an easel to display what bands were operating in what tents at the information booth. The information booth had a good assortment of ARRL pamphlets, home-brew projects, give-away old manuals, and the sign-in log.

(Even when the park was closed to the public overnight, there was a ham at the table ... our overnight security guarded the repeater talk-in frequency and the parking lot simultaneously, a real busman's holiday. In a lull when the VHF tent wasn't using 2m Phone (SSB or FM), the talk-in station used an HT to guard the repeater and took a transmitter-control token to work simplex FM and let the club president get a FD QSO on his radio, on the wooden "go-rack" (featured in last year's pictures) containing the primary talk-in radio and public-safety radios.)

<This Banner reads "Command Post", facing the operational area; the other > banners facing the public entrace have club name & logo, and "Communications by Amateur Radio"

Emergency power 100% (700pts for 7A)

In the past, we've kept our generators in the corner of the parking lot (sited on the far-side from the exposure to the nearest neighbors). Our #1 generator was bigger this year, and although fairly quiet, we rolled it into the < arcade out of sight below the retaining wall -- further reducing the noise for us as well as for the (still not very near) nearest neighbors. Paul N1ZKR made a new distribution panel > with GFI protections and breakers to let us use the generator's massive 2-phase output. With simple change of connectors, it will support any 2-phase supply.
Our thanks to Hingham FD for the loan of the fine generator and the "Command Post" Easy-Up(tm?).
Other power arrangements: Our public location is well removed from the nearest commercial mains, so that's not even an option. We had a spare generator (slightly smaller, louder; it was only run for test); we had a copious supply of 12v gel cells, but only used them on 10G Demo; and two solar panel setups. We also had three fire extinguishers, two rated for fuel by the two generators and a pressurized water one by the cooking area.

Demo#1 APRS (100 pts)

< APRS Demo ... Laptop, transmitter, TNC provided by Peter KB1CVH (right), attractively presented on the parking-lot side of the Information Booth with a bright-red table-cloth and a globe. Right > , young operator Tom tries it out (framed by his father, left, and Peter KB1CVH, right).

Demo#2 Microwave 10GHz Link (100 pts)

< Joe KC4IWO (standing proudly to the left) brought a couple of TVRO LNB's that he'd doctored to have 10GHz Local Oscillators, one of which upconverted from 440 and one of which down-converted, as one might use on links for a voting-remote-receiver system. The system was built with recycled components from fleamarket junk TVRO LNBs, as a demonstration of what could be done in a hurry with "junkbox" microwave. While 10GHz phone (FM) is a valid mode for FD QSOs, this was a one-way link demonstration, thus not a QSO mode.
Transmit. The up-converter (>), using a pipe-cape filter as seen in QEX, was placed, with a small gel-cell and 440HT, on a tripod and walked down a 100 ft tape measure (<) . Tweaking the transmit (upconvert) local oscillator greatly improved stability, S/N, receive signal strength, and reduced manual tracking on the receive end. After repeated demos at 52 ft, Joe carried the tripod along the tape and beam while transmitting, with his echoing voice and hand signals for feedback ... he got past the end of the tape to 109', where good copy was still had, all with just the upconverter mixer output directly feeding the horn, no Power amp and no more transmit gain that the horn itself. Our distance trial was limited only by rising ground past 109' (going up just a few feet to the parking lot) would lift the transmit horn up out of the receive dish's beam, and would have walked the microphone into the generator.

Receive. All the gain in the system was provided by the receive dish and preamp (and conversion gain). The receive horn, preamp, and down-converter (using a mixing diode) was on a medium-sized (>) dish on a field-expedient mount (< jam the mounting tube in the ground fixed). The fixed dish had the offset feed flipped to the TOP of the dish to allow for a ground-level beam (after a few tries to depress it below bottom(V) using a socket-set on the elevation screw. The output of the down-converter was fed first to a spectrum analyzer (> >) to get our aim calibrated, both to lay the tape(V) and find the altitude of the beam (necessitating the flip). Once a good signal was locked in, the IF was fed to an all-mode rig with an external speaker (V). Since we were transmitting FM, the only reason for using an all-mode 440 rig for receive IF was the ease of tracking a slowly drifting LO on the more agile tuning knob.

Interactive Demonstration: Field Day operators and members of the public were invited to hear their own voice echoing from the far VHF tent ... the external speaker was loud! ... and to block the transmit horn with their hand to prove it was the modulation on the microwave beam that was being heard and not the UHF IF. (Although to most of us the fact that the HT was at 440.125 and the receive IF was 446.something was pretty convincing on its own.)

The teenagers and pre-teens on site, some licensed, some not-yet, were quite taken by this demonstration and experimented for quite a while, listening to their "echo" and providing running commentary. Yes, there is a control operator in all the pictures; the young operator > is Tech+, thus a qualified 10GHz control op. Framed against the trees in the rear above white van is the satelite array.

Demo #3 (0 pts)

Did we have a third Demo?

I don't suppose our Satellite Station counts as a demo since it was supposed to get QSOs ... it was never able to get a QSO due to a transmit problem, so was Effectively an unintended Demo, alas; we could track and hear, but not be heard.

Satellite (0 pts)

No 2-way QSO achieved this year. Does not count as a Demo since eligible for QSO points.

"We didn't work any sat's on Field Day due to computer and antenna problems."

The south lawn is home to the satellite operation, provided by N1HID and KD1NX, captained on-site by Rick N1HID with help from many. Their fully automated data-mode station has fully automated tracking with dual-band circularly polarized yagis on az-el rotator. see last year's pictures or the club FD2001 pix page for more pix of Sat station.

Other extras claimed

1) Message Origination to SM (100 pts)

1 R W1BOS 18 Brookline MA 6/23                          Sent 6/23E WA1VRB
Phil Temples, K9HI
BT
Boston ARC Field Day active
at Larz Anderson Park Brookline
with 20 hams and 26
visitors X 73
BT
Mark KB1EKN
BARC President

According to the 01fdpack.pdf, the SM Message explicitly does not count towards the NTS bonus. Near as I can tell, the only things that count in two places are (1) Solar/Natural power contacts, which are still QSOs, (2) The first 100pt Satellite contact, which is a 1pt/2pt QSO; and if the whole FD is Solar/Natural/QRP, 5xMultiplier + 100pts@AlphaTx for Emergency Power.

2) Other NTS Traffic handled. -- 9 @ 10 = 90pts

Additional messages handled during Field Day. This webpage contains preambles & serviceing only, full serviced copies on file.

(QTC 2) We picked up some of the other clubs' SM messages on 8pm local net for him at his request so he could get them on arrival next morning:

11 R HXG W1MV 25 East Bridgewater MA 6/23               Rxvd 6/23E W1GMF
Phil Temples, K9HI                                      Del  6/24
1 R N1NC 13 Pepperill MA 6/23                           Rxvd 6/23H W1GMF
Phil Temples, K9HI                                      Del 6/24

(QTC 3) Some net reports due to one of our FD operators were received by W1BOS for his records.

106 R NC1X 17 Framingham MA 6/21                        Rxvd 6/23H KY1B
N1IST                                                   Del -- instant
8 R KY1B 20 Chelmsford MA 6/22                          Rxvd 6/23H KY1B
N1IST                                                   Del -- instant
80 R N1TAT 17 Salem MA 6/23                             Rxvd 6/23H N1TAT
N1IST                                                   Del -- instant

(QTC 4) W1PEX book traffic from net for delivery.

529 R HXG W1PEX 19 Nashua NH 6/21                       Rxvd 6/23H W1GMF
Clair Bardfield K1YL                                    Relay/Delivered [by W1BOS op. N1IST after FD]
 
Book of 3:                                              Rxvd 6/23E W1GMF
  R W1PEX ARL 3 Nashua NH 6/23
531 Charlotte Tomkinson (K1THT)                         Relay/Delivered [by W1BOS op. N1IST after FD]
533 Mort Bardfield W1VQ                                 Relay/Delivered [by W1BOS op. N1IST after FD]
534 Tom Tompson K1BJZ                                   Relay/Delivered [by W1BOS op. N1IST after FD]

3) Visit by public official -- Acting Emergency Management Director (100pts)

< Brookline Fire Chief / Emergency Management Director was invited, but said he'd be out of town for the weekend. He must have told his Deputy, who came in his stead, to our pleasant surprise. Other officials in Brookline, Boston, and NGO served agencies were invited. (His sign-in on the visitors logged is at left.)

N1DHW reports: "We had three city officials. The Dep. Fire Chief from Brookline, only official available from Brookline. We also had both a Brookline and Boston Police Officer tour the tents."

I don't think the patrol officers count, although they were invited, but Acting EMD is leader of an agency, with which we have good relations.

4) PR -- Article published (100 pts)

Did we get a press-release this year issued this year? Doesn't matter, we had a reporter and photographer from a newspaper show up, and they filed a story that got printed in the Boston Globe!

N1NHZ summarizes: "Article entitled "Sharing the same frequency", 35 column inches with picture, describing the Boston Amateur Radio Club at Field Day. Dave WX1G >, Bob WA1IDA, Harold W1PFX , Bill KA1MOM, Jim N1FCR contributed to and are mentioned in the article." Dave WX1G, our star CW operator (earned approximately one third of our points, in white T-shirt) was featured prominently in the article.Harold W1PFX's "White Mercedes" > described in the article is pictured right; "the ultimate mobile station" has a halo in the back as well as a large number of whips. Many others on-site were interviewed but not quoted.

The article is misleadingly titled "Sharing the same Frequency / Brookline event draws 3,000 ham radio fans", but in the body clarifies that the full 3000 weren't all at our site! "Hunt, or WX1G as he is known on the air, was one of 40 licensed Boston Amateur Radio Club hams who set up a communication center atop a hill in Larz Anderson Park Saturday and yesterday for the American Radio Relay League's annual Field Day. ... Operators, who must be licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, transmit voice or code in a range of frequencies allocated to them. About 3,000 enthusiasts from 52 clubs in Eastern Massachusetts were part of the field day - ham radio's biggest national competition, which requires clubs to contact as many hams as possible in a 24-hour period. More than 30,000 participants across the country practiced their special brand of public safety and disaster relief using voice or code signals fueled by battery, wind, and solar power." The article stresses emergency service, and explains the connection between the contest and emergency perparedness.

Boston Globe, 2001-06-25, p.B3 (City / Metro). http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/176/metro/Sharing_the_same_frequency%2b.shtml was available online Monday & Tuesday after FD, but probably not later without payment. A clipping will be included in hard-copy score submission.

5) Natural Power -- Solar ( 5@20=100 pts)

The first five contacts in the QRP HF station log (KE1L's tent). This is the first year in some time that we've done our Solar Power contacts on QRP HF instead of 2m FM Phone. Having someone who wanted to work QRP HF helped - Mark KE1L built his own Elekraft K2 and want to put it to work. So he made his first 5 contacts on 20m CW with solar-charged batteries.

Mark KE1L reports: "Details of the solar power setup: I used a Sun Catcher Sport, a portable solar charger/battery pack rig. It's a small unit in an oversized Cordura wallet. The solar panels are claimed to have a peak output of about 4 watts by the manufacturer; the Seattle-area ham that sells them claims to have measured peak charge currents of 350ma. It also contains a battery pack of 10 1200maH NiMH cells. I brought it to Field Day with the battery discharged to under 10% of capacity (not all the way to zero to avoid the risk of battery damage). At 10am, as we were starting setup, I set it up in the sun to charge, repositioning it a couple of times as the sun moved. At 3pm, when we finally got on the air, I took the unit out of the sun (at which point the battery was up near full charge), hooked it up to my K2 (which was inside a tent in a shady area, and I didn't have a power cable long enough to allow me to leave the panel in the sun), and used it for the five contacts, plus additional contacts later on. And yes, batteries charged by solar panels count, even if they're not getting any sun at the time.

"I actually made additional solar contacts later in the contest, as I switched back to the solar-charged batteries during the generator refueling shutdowns, but those are not marked in any way." [Times are EDT.]

00001 06-23 15:10 K8ES         7A  OH   20 M= 2 P= 0
00002 06-23 15:12 W4VA         2A  VA   20 M= 2 P= 0
00003 06-23 15:16 W8PIF        3E  WI   20 M= 2 P= 0
00004 06-23 15:19 W4QQ         3A  GA   20 M= 2 P= 0
00005 06-23 15:22 K4BT         3A  NFL  20 M= 2 P= 0

6) ARRL Bulletin??? (0 pts)

Did anyone copy the bulletin this year? I don't think so. Nobody turned in copy.

---

QSO Statistics

Classes with most QSOs

Class	Number worked
2A	231
3A	138
1D	84
4A	69
1A	52
5A	49
1B	40
1E	40
6A	27
7A	18
9A	11

QSOs by Section

OH	48
VA	44
EMA	43
IL	39
NC	34
EPA	33
MI	33
CO	24
MD	24
NNJ	24
TN	23
WNY	23

Operating Classes worked ... 32 different operating classes worked, including 599/5NN for several DX stations! Most popular was 2A (the minimum to get the bonuses and free stations). 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 2A 2B 2D 2E 3A 3D 3E 4A 4E 5A 6A 6E 7A 7D 8A 8B 8D 9A 10A 12A 16A 18A 19A 21A 24A 26A & 599 (dx). We worked 18 other 7A's compared with 27 6A's, and only 9 8A's and 11 9A's.Also notable are 2 12A's, 5 21A's and 2 24A's. Looks here like 7A, 11A are break points, and 21A is most popular "big" station..

94 Sections worked: We worked more QSO's in OH (48) and VA (44) than in our own section (EMA 43)!
AB AK AL APA AR AZ BC CA CN CO CT CZ DE DX EB EMA ENY EPA ETX EWA GA IA ID IL IN IR KS KY LA LAX MA MAR MD MDC ME MI MN MNJ MO MPX MS MT MX MY NB NC ND NF NFL NH NJ NL NLI NM NMJ NNJ NNY NS NTX NY OH OK ON OR ORG PAC PQ PR RI SC SCV SD SDG SF SFL SJV SNJ STE STX TN UT VA VT WCF WFL WI WMA WNY WPA WTX WV WVA WWA WY

DX: 6 DX Stations in 5 Countries9A1CMA G3NYY GI3PDN IZ1AZA OK1CF XE1/AA6LX plus Canada (which of course count as RAC sections): VA6s-1, VE1s-3 VE2s-8 VE3s-12 VE6s-3 VE7s-1, VO1s-2, and VY2PEI (nice call!).

---

QSO Summary Sheet

--- Summary for the W1BOS Field Day Operation ---

Mailing Information:
ARS: W1BOS
Boston Amateur Radio Club
PO Box 15585
Boston , MA
02215-0011


Operating Class: 7_A

Check if set-up prior to 1800 UTC x_ Number of participants _20?

 Summary for CW mode of operation 
 BAND        QSO-Pts   X     MULT  =  TOTAL

   80         43               2      86
   40        397               2      794
   20         59               2      118
   15         77               2      154
___________________________________________
             576   X 2 pts X   2   =  2304 


 Summary for DIGITAL mode of operation 
 BAND        QSO-Pts   X     MULT  =  TOTAL

___________________________________________
               0   X 2 pts X   2   =  0 


 Summary for PHONE mode of operation 
 BAND        QSO-Pts   X     MULT  =  TOTAL

   80         26               2      52
   40         14               2      28
   20        136               2      272
   15         35               2      70
   10         13               2      26
    6         19               2      38
    2          4               2      8
___________________________________________
             247   X 1 pts X   2      494  

___________________________________________
Total Score (Less Bonuses):           2798

BONUS POINTS (Check all that apply and make appropriate attachments):

Emergency Power     x7     Media Publicity     x_   Public Location  x_
Information Booth   x_     Message Origination x_   Messages Handled x_
Natural Power       x_     W1AW Message        __                No._9_
Satellite QSO       __     Non-TraditionalMode x2   Other:public official

This certifies that the station whose call appears above was operated
in accordance with the current Field Day rules and that, to the best
of my knowledge, the points and scores set forth in the above summary are
correct and true. This station was operated in accordance with FCC rules and
regulations. I agree to be bound by any decision of the ARRL Awards Committee.

Signature____________________________ Call____________Date_________

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Photos Copyright 2001 by Bill N1VUX, Bill KA1MOM, Mike KB1EZL and Geri (KB1EKN's XYL)
This page produced by Bill N1VUX, Copyright 2001 by BARC, 2018,2020 by EMA ARRL.