Posted: 6/22/2015 4:04:50 PM EDT
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What' s in your Field Day kit? Anything unusual, out of the ordinary? Extra tool or supplies that most of us haven't thought about?
I think I am going to take the quad-copter this year. I always keep a compass and thermometer and the trusty ole Thermacel and bug spray in my comm bag. I'm also going to make sure to have plenty of beef jerky and trail mix. |
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That, sir, is bada$$!!!! Quoted:
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I'll have the power wagon and 400 watts of panels. The club is using it to run an old Atlas somethingorother. We'll be 1A with a couple of non-contesting stations for the public to try. ... pic deleted ... From BSA Jamboree on the air last year: ... pic deleted ... That, sir, is bada$$!!!! Thank you. The cart is intended to be completely self contained. There are MC-4 connectors for the panels, one Morningstar 60 amp PWM charge controller, one 1200/2400 watt modified sine wave inverter, one 600 watt pure sine wave inverter, 10 ga zip cord with Powerpoles connected to the batteries for 12v devices, one marine boost converter with 10ga zip cord and Powerpoles for 13.8v devices, and six 90 ah deep cycle trolling motor batteries in parallel. The crane needed to lift it into and out of the truck is an optional accessory. 
ETA: I forgot. There are meters to watch the panel, battery, and boost output voltages. I haven't installed ammeters, but I plan to. |
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whats on the white board?
I'll be participating with my local club, K4II. They usually run 1 CW and 1 SSB Station. I think I'll take my box and maybe try some digi-at least have it there to show those interested. I'll also have my Mobilinkd TNC2 pinging away. The Packtenna will be avail for use if the club would like to try it. Y'all have fun! Episode 28 |
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whats on the white board? I'll be participating with my local club, K4II. They usually run 1 CW and 1 SSB Station. I think I'll take my box and maybe try some digi-at least have it there to show those interested. I'll also have my Mobilinkd TNC2 pinging away. The Packtenna will be avail for use if the club would like to try it. Y'all have fun! Episode 28 I did a PowerPoint FAQ presentation about the ham hobby. There was another board with maps that the scouts could stick pins into for their contacts. |
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One of the great things about field day is that it means so many different things to different people. For me, it's an opportunity to test a sustainable, off-grid operation, and by sustainable I mean weeks or longer without any external power. To answer OP's original question, I take extra antenna wire, rope, tent stakes, coax, and miscellaneous adapters and connectors for both power and radios. I also like to make contacts on several bands and modes, just to prove to myself that I can do it. This year I'm taking a couple of desk lamps that I converted to 12v LED so I don't need the inverter for lights.
It's not about the contesting for me. I can do that from home. An interesting game to play is to have someone point at a piece of gear and say, "That just broke." then figure out what you're going to do. That's OK until some joker points at the coffee pot! |
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The last post nailed your question.
Every adapter you can think of to adapt anything to anything else. Rope. This is a sore subject with me. I show up to these events and I am the only one with rope. I am tired of paying for it and I am tired of nobody else taking this seriously enough to show up with equipment. FSA ham radio. Somebody else can pay for it and do all the work. As has been mentioned, bring paper and something to write with. Don't assume that anyone else is going to be supplying anything unless you have talked to them about it beforehand. And even then, expect them to forget it. Don't be THAT guy that shows up in the middle of the day, over-eats, then sits in a lawn chair before he leaves to do something else. Help plan the event. Help set up. Help tear down. Help cook. Help cleaning up. Operate the station. Everybody has a busy life. You arnt special. There are only a couple ham radio events a year. Totalling a couple days a year. These events dont happen by themselves. Somebody has to do the work and supply the gear, the food, thr drinks.... And if your local field day sucks, what are YOU doing to make it better ? Lead, don't follow. |
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Snip Don't assume that anyone else is going to be supplying anything unless you have talked to them about it beforehand. Last year was my first field day. Our club had discussed all of the big stuff but not much was said about the little things. I took everything I had related to ham radio and then some. The only thing I didn't take was my OFCD antenna, the other guys said they would supply me an antenna. There were 4 of us set up that day, we had triplicates of most everything imaginable. From connectors and crimp tools to rope and antenna making supplies, we studied our setup and realized the only thing we couldn't repair would be a radio. Nothing failed that day other than a coax end and it was quickly repaired. |
| I am going to be 2000 miles from my QTH so I am packing the KX3 and the HT. Not sure how much operating I can do but 2 of my coworkers are wanting to become hams so I will be demonstrating it some. We are looking into stopping at one of the field day sites in SLC if we have time. |
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Yes it is the best. I have the whole suite and having just what you need for a contest and not a general log makes life easy. Quoted:
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N3FJP is the tits. He has a field day specific log that runs on a network. Yes it is the best. I have the whole suite and having just what you need for a contest and not a general log makes life easy. Yep, that is what we use and have since I have been going to field day with this same club. Well...............now that I think about it, someone said something about using ham radio deluxe this year so we can do keyboard CW and digital modes and have the whole thing interfaced with the log. So, maybe I spoke too soon. Let me say that we HAVE used N3FJP in the three field days I have been with this club. We have a network set up with a map on the server so everyone can see how many states we have worked. Nobody in this club seriously operates this event as a contest (I wish they would) but they make a big deal out of trying to work all states. We usually come close but I don't think we have done it since I have been here. Last year I know we were short only one of two and I remember that at least one of the ones we never worked was a very common state (don't remember which one). FWIW: I am almost certainly the only one that will be operating CW and I have been bitching since I got here about having to send CW with a paddle and then enter the information into the logging program. So, part of this switch is due to my bitching. Really, in the 21st century, there is no reason why you wouldn't use a logging program that supports keyboard CW with macros. Something that was kind of funny: the last field day I attended in Nevada, I was operating CW and a guy in his 90s showed up to also work CW. He was irate that they were still doing manually sent CW and paper logging. If you have a 90+ year old guy tell you, you are behind the times......................you are really behind the times. |
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According to spaceweather.com, another CME from a solar flare is due to hit earth Saturday afternoon. Hopefully it doesn't wipe out HF propagation like the one a few days ago did. But on the bright side, 6m might be wide open again. Is that why 10m was awesome a few days ago? Let it hit and I will rule 10m and 6m FM. That shit is awesome. |
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We had a work day this afternoon to make sure we had everything and nothing was missing or forgotten. THEN we got talking and of course the weather came up. Rain chances 30% this afternoon, 60% tonight, 30% again tomorrow during the day and again 60% tomorrow night, 30% Sunday. I fact we have been under a Flash Flood watch since early this morning. SO being a club where the youngest member is 50+ and most >65 we decided to err on the side of safety and move about 150 feet and set-up in the clubhouse. Will still run emergency power but now it can rain all it wants and we really won't care! We don't do this for any type of award we just do it for the ECOMM aspect and just plain old fun! Besides the only difference it will make us 2E instead of 2A.
HAVE FUN ALL!! Sarge |