Posted: 6/16/2026 11:34:19 AM EDT
[Last Edit: Mach][Edited]
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I didn't see a thread on field day this year so I started this one. If I missed it then lock this. For the first time in a few years or more I am planning on going camping for field day to play radio. I hope I am up to it at the time. I will be camping by myself as my ham son is not available. It is just in a wooded car camping state park, nothing special. But hopefully I will be back on the radio for field day. What plans do any of you have/ |
Mach
Nobody is coming to save us.
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Nobody is coming to save us.
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We'll be setting up at a local gun club again this year (3rd year in a row). We usually move it around a bit, but I think we've gotten a bit lazy lately. It's a pretty good spot, plenty of room for our 40' military mast and other antennas. We generally are super casual with operating, and end up BS'ing just as much as making contacts. 
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I plan to work both those days, but one of those will be overtime, so cool! I'll probably try to get on the air from base station both nights. And as always I'll have my HT with me in the day, so will be monitoring 2m & 70cm calling freqs. I have in years past made contacts on both. |
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I'm in two Radio clubs. Providing I don't get stuck working, My one club will be hitting a park in town and nit far from me in Fredericktown Mo about 9am and getting all setup. I'll operate and hang with them till about 5 or 6pm, then when they tucker out, I'll head about 45 mins North to a 2nd Park in Farmington and meeting my other club. I'll be with them till somewhere between 2 and 4 am, then roll home to crash... |
LARUEMINATI
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Originally Posted By Boom_Stick:
""AKs are for villagers you have to tell not to shit in their water supply.""
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Originally Posted By SnowMule: Headed out wednesday afternoon, hauling the tower trailer +water and diesel to the mountains. We'll be 4A again this year. https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-VbwqTf8/0/X2/i-VbwqTf8-X2.jpg Attached File Attached File |
“Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways, men can be immortal. “ - Ernest Hemingway
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Originally Posted By smullen: I'm in two Radio clubs. Providing I don't get stuck working, My one club will be hitting a park in town and nit far from me in Fredericktown Mo about 9am and getting all setup. I'll operate and hang with them till about 5 or 6pm, then when they tucker out, I'll head about 45 mins North to a 2nd Park in Farmington and meeting my other club. I'll be with them till somewhere between 2 and 4 am, then roll home to crash... |
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| My cousin and I will be hitting it in a cabin on a lake in rural central Illinois. Looking forward to it this year because last year I didn't do much because of shingles. Gonna try more digital modes this year also (Olivia/Thor/etc..) We will be on battery and solar hopefully we get some sun. |
THIS IS THE WAY
| We are all setup and ready. 80m horizontal delta loop, 40m 3el vertical array pointed straight down the center of the US, tri band hex beam, 6m dipole and dual band U/VHF vertical. 40m was great last night to the US between 0600 and 0900 UTC. Stay up late and find us on 40m. KL7ADV club this year. |
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I was part of the setup team for the Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS) yesterday. We setup at the middle school in Hudson NH each Summer. I'll be back there today and tomorrow for the teardown team. I also belong to PART of Westford (MA), but their Field Day is in the Concord, MA area, so I only attend the one local to me in Hudson, NH. |
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Moved to NH!
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I set up the FT-891 on battery power at a local park to see what I could do. I hate to admit that I've been licensed since 2012 and this was the first time I've dabbled with contests. I just wanted to make contacts and didn't really care about with whom or how. I stayed on 20m and made contacts with AR, RI, NY, SC, OH, NM, ND, and CA. Attached File Attached File |
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Originally Posted By SnowMule: Main SSB station https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-knQnRtV/0/L/i-knQnRtV-L.jpg CW stations in the van https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-vRBjmWL/0/L/i-vRBjmWL-L.jpg Digital/FT8 station https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-CPcTJB6/0/L/i-CPcTJB6-L.jpg https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-4PnFhKb/0/L/i-4PnFhKb-L.jpg I see the dog got stuck with doing FT8.
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World ain't what it seems, is it Gunny?
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Originally Posted By tyrex13: We are all setup and ready. 80m horizontal delta loop, 40m 3el vertical array pointed straight down the center of the US, tri band hex beam, 6m dipole and dual band U/VHF vertical. 40m was great last night to the US between 0600 and 0900 UTC. Stay up late and find us on 40m. KL7ADV club this year. Or 15m ft8. 
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Originally Posted By SnowMule: Or 15m ft8. https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-RtCxLPn/0/L/i-RtCxLPn-L.jpg Nice! Glad to get you in the log. I spent most of my time on 40 and 80m as those were my antennas and transceivers. We wound up with over 600 QSO’s, WAS and every US section except NNY. Had a great time. Tearing down in the rain now. Pics when I get some data. |
| Set up a 25' Rybakov fishing pole in the back yard and spent a few hours with the G90 cranked down to 1 watt SSB. Plenty of Field Day contacts as a 1-B Battery, not all of them easy, but smugly satisfying - and reassuring me that the purchase of a LARCset and Pebble HF capable of 5W max will not be a total disappointment. |
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Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File My station Attached File 40m 3el vertical array Attached File |
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@SnowMule Would it be feasible/possible to run 2 tents ~500' apart and have one tent for phone and the other tent for CW/Digital? Wondering if that is enough physical separation to operate on 14.074 and 14.275 for instance at the same time with minimal interference. We left a lot on the table by only operating on one mode per band and would like to try to capitalize on that next year. Attached File |
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Originally Posted By phlat: Downfall of being in the middle of the country is that you can get signals from both coasts, and theyre half a kc apart, stacked on each other for as wide as 20m is. Hex beam just didnt have the f/b to kill it. Originally Posted By phlat: Downfall of being in the middle of the country is that you can get signals from both coasts, and theyre half a kc apart, stacked on each other for as wide as 20m is. Hex beam just didnt have the f/b to kill it. Twice as many people to work. Originally Posted By tyrex13: @SnowMule Would it be feasible/possible to run 2 tents ~500' apart and have one tent for phone and the other tent for CW/Digital? Wondering if that is enough physical separation to operate on 14.074 and 14.275 for instance at the same time with minimal interference. We left a lot on the table by only operating on one mode per band and would like to try to capitalize on that next year. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/83116/IMG_6221_jpeg-3787509.JPG I have heard of people doing that but never done it myself. Need antennas as far apart as possible, different polarizations might be good. If you did dipoles with the ends directly inline that might work. You'd need top contest receiver radios with high blocking numbers. I know it's hard enough to keep radios apart on different bands without a lot of filtering. Speaking of filtering, I've actually visualized a cavity filter for 40m, with 55gal drums welded together (or maybe just stovepipe...) for a center element installed in a 40 foot conex container  20m would just be a 20' conex.
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I'm not adequately aluminumized for this thread. - gonzo_beyondo
CO, MI, OR - Please lobby your legislators to end discrimination against non-resident CCW permit holders
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Originally Posted By Gamma762: Twice as many people to work. I have heard of people doing that but never done it myself. Need antennas as far apart as possible, different polarizations might be good. If you did dipoles with the ends directly inline that might work. You'd need top contest receiver radios with high blocking numbers. I know it's hard enough to keep radios apart on different bands without a lot of filtering. Speaking of filtering, I've actually visualized a cavity filter for 40m, with 55gal drums welded together (or maybe just stovepipe...) for a center element installed in a 40 foot conex container 20m would just be a 20' conex.I was wondering if polarization mattered on HF like it does VHF. I had my 40m 3el vertical array basically right under my 80m loop with bandpass filters on both and it worked fine. |
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Originally Posted By tyrex13: I was wondering if polarization mattered on HF like it does VHF. I had my 40m 3el vertical array basically right under my 80m loop with bandpass filters on both and it worked fine. The ionosphere does weird things to polarization, but polarization works the same for direct line-of-sight connections, and various aspects of antenna patterns and how signal interact with ground. |
This is...a clue - Pat_Rogers
I'm not adequately aluminumized for this thread. - gonzo_beyondo
CO, MI, OR - Please lobby your legislators to end discrimination against non-resident CCW permit holders
I'm not adequately aluminumized for this thread. - gonzo_beyondo
CO, MI, OR - Please lobby your legislators to end discrimination against non-resident CCW permit holders
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I did my FD at a POTA park. My external tuner crapped out on me but I was able to keep going with the internal one on my FT-710. It wouldn't tune 160m, despite having a EFLW that should have worked. (first ever attempt on 160) I was able to get contacts on 80-6m though. My overall experience was, 'meh'. Lets just say that tent camping in FL, in June, sucks!   I wouldn't have done it, but I wanted to do FD from a POTA site, where I didn't have to tear down my station and go home, missing out on Late and Early QSO's. Heat was a big issue and the "no-see-ums" were not that bad at the start of FD, but rolling into Saturday night and particularly Sunday morning, they were terrible. Bad enough to prompt me to tear down and leave early. Logs already uploaded to POTA, QRZ and LoTW. FD entry already posted to the ARRL. |
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Originally Posted By Mach: I didn't see a thread on field day this year so I started this one. If I missed it then lock this. For the first time in a few years or more I am planning on going camping for field day to play radio. I hope I am up to it at the time. I will be camping by myself as my ham son is not available. It is just in a wooded car camping state park, nothing special. But hopefully I will be back on the radio for field day. What plans do any of you have/ @Mach Nickerson? |
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Vote "YES" on 'NO'!
For Captain Erick Foster, Wexford, PA KIA 29 Aug, 07.
Rangers lead the way.
Inspected by #26
I was checking out this midget porn website....
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Originally Posted By piccolo: @Mach Nickerson? Originally Posted By piccolo: Originally Posted By Mach: I didn't see a thread on field day this year so I started this one. If I missed it then lock this. For the first time in a few years or more I am planning on going camping for field day to play radio. I hope I am up to it at the time. I will be camping by myself as my ham son is not available. It is just in a wooded car camping state park, nothing special. But hopefully I will be back on the radio for field day. What plans do any of you have/ @Mach Nickerson? |
Mach
Nobody is coming to save us.
.
Nobody is coming to save us.
.
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Originally Posted By tyrex13: @SnowMule Would it be feasible/possible to run 2 tents ~500' apart and have one tent for phone and the other tent for CW/Digital? Wondering if that is enough physical separation to operate on 14.074 and 14.275 for instance at the same time with minimal interference. We left a lot on the table by only operating on one mode per band and would like to try to capitalize on that next year. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/83116/IMG_6221_jpeg-3787509.JPG Having directional antennas and arranging those so you null out the neighbors goes a long ways too. We arrange our stations on a north/south line on the property, and typically fire east/west. Keeps CW out of phone, keeps digital out of cw. GOTA on verticals blasts out to everything, if they start getting in the way we'll change freqs to get further apart. Another big help is good receivers - The Icoms we were running are great radios, but these K4's we ran this year are noticeably better. A lot more selective with adjacent channel power.  
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