Winter VHF/UHF Field Day - 24 / 25 June 2017.

[VK4ADC]

http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/vhfuhf/

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From the Winter 2016 rules (with dates as edited by me)
Event Dates: Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 June 
Duration, all call areas other than VK6: 0200 UTC Saturday to 0200 UTC Sunday 
Duration in VK6 only: 0400 UTC Saturday to 0400 UTC Sunday

An updated Winter FD rules for 2017 has not appeared on the WIA website or in AR so the dates have been changed to suit 2017. 

I suggest that the rules will be as for Summer 2017 except for the start/end times and dates.

2017 SFD Rules

2016 WFD Rules
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Contest Introduction

The VHF-UHF Field Days provide VHF-UHF operators with the opportunity to "head for the hills" and see how far and how many they can work.

The Field Days have separate sections for single and multiple operator stations. The duration of the Field Day is 24 hours, but there are also 8 hour sections for operators who may not be able to camp overnight. Most club stations prefer to operate for the full 24 hours.

The Field Days also generate plenty of activity from home stations, so there is also a separate Home Station section.

All contacts must be simplex: contacts through repeaters or satellites are not allowed. There is plenty of FM activity, but one feature of the Field Days is a high level of SSB activity.

It is possible to do very well with only modest antennas if you pick a good hilltop. Another option, if your station is easily transportable, is to operate from more than one location during the contest period.

Aim Of The Contest

The overriding aim is to get away for the weekend and have fun! But next after that, the aims are:
  to encourage more activity on VHF and microwave bands;
  to encourage people to work greater distances than usual by operating portable, and
  to provide opportunities for people to activate or work into new grid squares.

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Rules specific to this event have not yet been posted on the WIA website (URL above) so I can only assume that the 2016 Winter rules are basically applicable except for the actual dates: Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 June.

Note that there is a new version of the VKCL logging software to download... http://www.mnds.com.au/vkcl/, noting that there is a section on that page specifically relating to the Winter VHF-UHF Field Day.

It is only a few weeks away now so it is time to start the mental preparation, reserve the date on the calendar, and finally start to organise equipment and antennas. It will be upon us before we realise it.

[VK4ADC]

BUMP - just over two weeks away...

[VK4ADC]

The Winter FD is now only at the end of next week and my plan is to go to Kamerun Lookout, QG61NU, in the northern part of the (Qld/NSW) Border Ranges for the Saturday (24th) afternoon and early evening, reasonable weather permitting.  If heavy rain or storms are forecast for that area, I will operate from home in lieu with all bands listed below.

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From the Winter 2016 rules (with dates as edited by me)
Event Dates: Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 June 
Duration, all call areas other than VK6: 0200 UTC Saturday to 0200 UTC Sunday 
Duration in VK6 only: 0400 UTC Saturday to 0400 UTC Sunday

An updated Winter FD rules for 2017 has not appeared on the WIA website or in AR so the dates have been changed to suit 2017. 

I suggest that the rules will be as for Summer 2017 except for the start/end times and dates.

2017 SFD Rules

2016 WFD Rules

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SSB operation should be happening on 50, 52, 144, 432, 2403, 3398, 5760 and 10368 MHz respectively, mainly on .150, +10,+20 etc on each band. FM operation will be on 146.500 and 439.000 and maybe 52.525 MHz, all simplex.

Operation on 1296 is currently uncertain as the transverter has an interstage filter (Toko 5HW-125055F-1305 helical band pass filter)  fault in the transmit chain and the output is about 20dB down on normal. It may be fixed beforehand but not looking likely at this stage as replacements are not readily available.

The remainder of the microwave gear will be checked over later this week, hopefully without finding any issues.

Don't forget to read the rules and download the latest VKCL logging software beforehand, plus update your portable profile in the Op Info section of VKLogger and also on Contest Radar so we know where to point the antennas...

Where are YOU going ??

73 Doug VK4ADC

[VK2QJ]

Thanks for the info Doug, Pat VK2FAAD & I are heading out to Vista Lookout QF69FU weather permitting to give it a go this year.
I'll be on 6m, 2m 70cm & 23cm Both SSB & FM, Pat should have 2m & 70cm SSB & FM.
I have a few new antennas 2m & 70cm to try as well as a pre amp and power upgrade from 2w to 20w on 23cm.

Hope to hear you on the weekend.

Graeme VK2QJ

[VK4OE]

Greetings to all readers.

I am proposing to 'do' this event in the same manner as I have for many recent FD contests, weather permitting, of course.

That will have me on Mt Gravatt, QG62MK, in Brisbane from about 5:30 p.m. on the Saturday evening, and in the Border Ranges National Park in Northern VK2, QG61NP, on the Sunday morning, starting there about 7:00 a.m.  (It should be rather 'chilly' at 1+Km altitude at that time of day!)

As usual, I propose to have available all bands from 50 MHz to 24 GHz, and possibly 47 GHz depending on other protagonists.  For liaison/talk back I generally rely on SSB on one of the 'lower' bands, but for much of the time I keep 146.5 and/or 439 simplex channels open for other folk to make contact.

My mobile 'phone number is 0428 191066 but it'll only be possible to use it on the Saturday evening - the BRNP location 'sees' so many strong base signals that mobile phones don't work unless a directional antenna is used to select a base down near Kyogle.

Here's hoping for good weather and numbers of active stations!  

Cheers and 73,

[VK4ADC]

BUMP - it's this weekend !!!!!!!

Not sure if I will be out this weekend as I seem to have picked up some flu symptoms off the XYL.  As a result, I currently plan to operate from home provided the throat/voice holds out and the coughing is under control.  
(Maybe I should just operate digital modes so I can't pass it on to anyone else   )

The final QTH decision should happen on Friday (or maybe very early Saturday morning).

[VK2KRR]

Hope to be on air from home station.
2, 70, 1296 ....... still not operational 3cm sorry.

[VK2ZRH]

OK, OK, OK.

The Winter 2017 Rules have been posted to the WIA website. 

Yes. They're the same as for 2016 . . . EXCEPT THAT the deadline for submitting logs is midnight, Monday 10 July 2017.

Go for it!

[VK4ADC]

Winter FD Today & Tomorrow

Please give out a few numbers to the hardy participants...

[VK2QJ]

Hi All, Pat VK2FAAD & I (VK2QJ) have made it up to Vista Point Lookout, we are setup read to go.

I'll be working 50.150, 144.150, 432.150 & 1296.100 SSB, also 146.500 & 439.000 FM.

Pat will be working 144.150 & 432.150 SSB, also 146.500 & 439.000 FM.

Test so far have given good results on all bands.

Hope to hear some of you through out the contest .

Cheers VK2QJ

[VK4ADC]

Hi All, Pat VK2FAAD & I (VK2QJ) have made it up to Vista Point Lookout, we are setup read to go.

I'll be working 50.150, 144.150, 432.150 & 1296.100 SSB, also 146.500 & 439.000 FM.

Pat will be working 144.150 & 432.150 SSB, also 146.500 & 439.000 FM.

Test so far have given good results on all bands.

Hope to hear some of you through out the contest .

Cheers VK2QJ

Well the Winter FD for 2017 has come and gone and all that remains is for the logs to be submitted before the 10th July 2017.  

I worked both Graeme and Pat during my 8 hours of operation on Saturday - at some 278Km - with great signals from Graeme (VK2QJ) on 6M, 2M and just workable on 70CM. I wasn't able to work him on 23CM but maybe we will do it next time: during the Spring FD in November.

I did hear a couple of VK3 callsigns on 50.15 on Saturday afternoon (VK3KQ/P and VK3u??) but was unable to make a valid contact.  I was unable to make contacts of 3398, 5760 or 10368 during my 8 hour segment but did "gear confirmation contacts" with Doug VK4OE/P in the Border Ranges on Sunday morning thus proving that the gear was working. The VK4ADC log contains QSOs on 50, 52, 144, 146, 432, 439 and 1296.

Again there was a shortage of stations to be worked in SE Qld. I suspect I ended up with about equal numbers of VK2 and VK4 callsigns in my contest log where the VK4s should have been there in abundance. 

Come on guys, more stations participating - please 

[VK4ADC]

I received an email a few days ago with some provisional 2017 Winter FD results plus an additional attachment that contained the following information :

The 'features' introduced in the Summer field day for Division 2, a 10% penalty for logging Maidenhead locators incorrectly, and a 2 points penalty for claiming a station as portable when a log from that station indicated that it was a home station, have also been applied in this field day.

There was again a large number of incorrectly logged locators in this field day. VKCL fills in the locator for a repeat contact with a station from previous contact, which saves typing if the locator had not changed and was correctly logged the first time. If not correctly logged or became incorrect through editing, all or many following contacts with that station would have incorrect locators. This appears to have happened many times again in this field day.

Incorrectly copied exchanges which are 'off by one' are still most predominant, accounting for almost half of the number these of errors. There is some indication that it is not always the fault of the receiving station, it seems that sometimes an incorrect exchange is announced by the sending station, mis-reading the next number to send. In this field day, 'off by one' exchanges were therefore ignored, but in future they will be listed in each stations report. (Copying own sent number as received number also happened a number of times.)

Similarly, contact time stamps at the two stations are sometimes significantly different, although in this field day there has been some improvement. A five minute tolerance should be sufficient, and in future, it is proposed to penalise contacts where tolerance is exceeded and it is possible to identify the station at fault, which is in most cases. If using VKCL, the contact should be saved as soon as all information has been entered before doing anything else, such as, exchanging pleasantries or making a sked for another band.

73,
Mike,  VK3AVV,          16th July 2017
VHF-UHF Field Day Contest Management Software Developer

What all that means is that it is not sufficient to just log a contact. It must be accurately logged : time, band, callsigns (including a /P as applicable), numbers exchanged, grid square data...

I plead guilty of the breach : "A five minute tolerance should be sufficient, and in future, it is proposed to penalise contacts where tolerance is exceeded and it is possible to identify the station at fault, which is in most cases. If using VKCL, the contact should be saved as soon as all information has been entered before doing anything else, such as, exchanging pleasantries or making a sked for another band.", probably more times than I should admit to. I simply forget to press the Enter key a few times to ensure that the data is saved before paying attention to the next call or band change. That makes the logged time in error by a variable margin.

The "The 'features' introduced in the Summer field day for Division 2, a 10% penalty for logging Maidenhead locators incorrectly, and a 2 points penalty for claiming a station as portable when a log from that station indicated that it was a home station, have also been applied in this field day."  bit I am not sure about. Some stations do not announce whether portable or home at the beginning when you are at the stage of entering the callsign into VKCL, and, much to my detriment, found a bug in the software when I went back to edit QSOs to add a /P as was relevant. Wrong Grid Squares - well, sometimes you just hear or type them dyslexically !!


It is not my place to release those provisional results and I am not doing so here.  They will be posted here (WIA web site) in due course, once official.

The next 2017 VHF/UHF Field Day is November 25 & 26th - the Spring FD. 

73 Doug VK4ADC

[VK2KRR]

I think that is fair enough regarding, correct signal reports and grids, people should be able to correctly swap information to make a contact valid. If they cant then it shouldnt be logged.