Well, the ARRL Field Day 2021 is just a few days away, and Carla and I will be spending the weekend at Falling Waters State Park in Chipley, FL. I am not a big planner. I tend to kind of "wing it" when it comes to my radio adventures. That's not to say I don't have some sort of idea as to what I will use and setup. I'm just saying some people put much more planning into it than I do. That being said, here are our basic plans.
Carla and I will be heading up to the park on Friday and spend the night there camping in the back of the truck. I have a pretty decent camping setup I built in there about a year ago. So far on our trips it has worked well. It keeps the rain off (especially nice since we had a rain incident a while back while tent camping where the rain fly did NOT do its job), and has a comfortable sleeping platform built in. Saturday, we will set up the radio and antenna. It will be a simple QRP setup with the Icom IC-705, a SOTAbeams bandhopper 20/30/40 linked dipole, my 40ah bioenno battery in its box (box from Powerwerx), and solar setup. I will be bringing my Windows 10 laptop to work PSK31 mostly. I really enjoy this mode on Field Day/Winter Field Day. This is the same setup I used for Winter Field Day in January and it worked well.
Carla and I look forward to spending the weekend camping with good camp food and good radio conditions. We just hope the weather isn't too hot and the rain will stay away.
73 and hope to catch a bunch of people on the air.
I have been running a packet radio node for a few years now, but I am far from an expert. Actually every day, learn something I didn't know the day before. When I got started, I did quite a bit of research on packet radio, but unfortunately I had a hard time finding much. I guess it is simply too old a mode, and furthermore there were no nodes around for me to try. Now that I run a node, I think it is beneficial to get some information out there so others may get inspired to try out packet.
I am going to run through some basic commands to get you connected and exploring your local node.
First, to connect to a local packet node, you need to know a few things. First, you need to know the callsign and ssid of the local node. For example, my local node in Bay County, FL is KK4DIV-7. Next, you need to know the frequency. Again, in the case of my node, I am on 145.05 MHz. You will also need some hardware and/or software. You will need a radio and most mobile radios work very well. You can also use a handheld, but you are limited on power output. Next, you will need either a hardware TNC or a software TNC with a soundcard interface. And last, you will need a computer running some sort of terminal program. For local access to my node, I often use my Win10 laptop with Putty terminal software into my Kenwood TH-D72. I like this little handheld radio due to it's built-in TNC. It keeps things small, portable and simple.
So, what commands do you need to know for the node and what do they do? Here is a list and a brief description of the commands for my BPQ32 Packet Radio Node, KK4DIV-7.
? ... This will list the commands
BBS ... This command will allow the user access into the Bulletin Board System. With the Bulletin Board System, you can send and receive messages, read bulletins from around the world, pass NTS traffic, etc.
CHAT ... This command will allow the user access to the chat server. Often these are linked with other nodes so you can chat with people outside the local area.
RMS ... This will allow the user command line access to the winlink server. It is tricky to access, and will get it's own write-up.
SYSOP ... This will "ring" the sysops computer, open up a chat window on their computer, and allow the user to chat directly with the sysop.
CONNECT ... Will allow the user to connect to other nodes on the "nodes" list or to other stations on the "mheard" list.
BYE ... Will disconnect the user from the node
INFO ... Will display information about the node.
NODES ... Lists the other nodes that the node the user is connected to has heard and has communications with.
PORTS ... List available ports on the node such as the VHF port, HF port, etc.
ROUTES ... Lists direct routes to other nodes usually directly connected via AXIP or VHF packet.
USERS ... lists people currently connected to the node.
MHEARD ... Lists the last seen stations on any given port. For example, MHEARD 3 lists the last seen stations on port 3 (in the case of the KK4DIV-7 node, port 3 is the VHF port).
That's the list of the most common commands for users connected to a node. To see these commands in use, watch the video I put together below.
Well folks, it's been a week since Winter Field Day. Carla and I camped at Three Rivers State park in Sneads, FL. We weren't alone; several members of the Panama City Amateur Radio club were there. Greg (N4KGL) and his wife, Daniel (K4MDA) and his family, George (W4GHG) and his family, and Ryan (K1OSE) and his family all participated from the campground this year. We also had a couple hams drop by to visit, Frank (KC8VKA) and Adam (KO4KOF).
Due to the ongoing pandemic, WFD 2021 allows for members of a club to combine scores and be grouped together as a club score. This allows us to stay social distanced while still being able to participate as a club. While we all were at the campground, we did maintain social distancing guidelines.
We arrived late Friday afternoon and got camp set up. The first night was quite cool and temperatures were in the 30's F. Saturday I got the IC-705, Solar, and antenna set up. I used a Sotabeams bandhopper 20/30/40 meter antenna and a 80-10 meter endfed antenna as a backup. The solar system I have is a 120 watt Bioenno solar panel, Bioenno solar charge controller for LiFePO4 batteries, and a Bioenno 40 AH LiFePO4 battery. I really can't say enough good things about the Bioenno equipment. Everything works flawlessly. The solar/battery combo kept the IC-705, my 15" Windows 10 Laptop, GoPro camera, and our phones charged and powered for the entire weekend, with no noticable drop in capacity.
Rain rolled in early Sunday morning, but didn't last too long. In the end, I had 33 PSK31 contacts. Not a super high number, but I was QRP, and I am okay with that result.
Scoring:
33 QSOs
33 x 2 (digital) = 66 QSO points x 4 Power multiplier (QRP) x 3 Mode and Band multiplier
10 meters is one of my favorite bands. I guess it reminds me of how I got started in radio, back in my CB days. CB/11 meters is very similar to 10 meters when it comes to propagation. When it is hopping, you can hear people from all around the world. What makes it so much fun is the uncertainty of the band.
I needed an antenna for 10 meters. I looked into purchasing a vertical 10 meter antenna, but that's no fun. I enjoy making my own antennas and it is satisfying to make contacts using an antenna built with my own hands. I have made several antennas over the years. From fan dipoles to tape measure yagis to my log periodic satellite antenna, I enjoy making them. What I enjoy as much as making them is bringing all of you along with me in the journey through the project.
My latest build is a 10 meter dipole. I fashioned a center mount to attach to a mast and I use two stainless steel 102 inch CB whips for the elements. I measured the swr of the final product using my nanoVNA analyzer and was pleasantly surprised how well it performed even at the top end of the 10 meter band.
I have the antenna up in the air and am anxiously waiting for the bands to come alive in the upcoming solar cycle. I hope I do not have to wait too long...
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3
Maybe this will give my viewers some ideas and get the creative juices flowing. Get out and build something.
For some of us, it has been difficult staying home during this pandemic. Many have the need to get out and do something and sitting around the house is not in our nature. Why not get out in the garage and work on an antenna? See the video below.
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As many know, Winter Field Day was last weekend Jan 25-26, 2020. I was invited by Greg, N4KGL to participate with his N4Y group. My wife and I joined Greg, Greg's wife, Dennis WA6QKN, Chris VA3ECO, George W4GHG. The weather was cool at night, but honestly, could not have asked for better weather.
The first night the rest of the group went to nearby Chipley, FL for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. My wife and I opted to stay at the campsite and cook steaks and vegetables.
We had a great evening eating and chatting by the propane campfire.
We were set up inside the popup canopy with a wall kit that provided overhead shelter as well as wind shelter. The wall kit provides a front zip-up door as well as a window. My station included the following:
Bioenno 120W solar panel with their 20amp MPPT solar charge controller
Greg and I also set up packet communications between the 2 campsites. I used a Kenwood TH-D72 with the laptop for packet communications.
My mode of choice (as it usually is for these kinds of events) was PSK31 using FLDigi. I was socializing more than operating and only logged 20 contacts. But, hey...its better than none. Overall, the group racked up over 9000 points.
Here is the video:
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