cyan's Journal: Field Day 2007

Field Day is perhaps the biggest day of the year for amateur radio operators. Amateur radio operators all around the world dig out their radio gear in what is essentially a global test of emergency preparedness. Field Day lasts for 24 hours from Noon this Saturday until Noon on Sunday. In that 24 hour period, amateur radio operators around the world compete to see who can get the most contacts with other participating stations.

The last time I operated a Field Day station was a few years ago in New Westminster under the callsign VE7RBY. I managed to make contacts with 25 out of the 50 United States in the span of a couple of hours. Ever since then, I've wanted to use my own callsign to participate in Field Day. Fortunately, now I have the chance.

Bill from Burnaby Radio has sent up a nice, virtually brand new ICOM 706mkIIg HF radio. This thing is a beautiful piece of equipment. It operates on all bands from 160 meters (known as the "AM Band" in lay terms), all the way up to 450mhz (the frequencies that those prolific FRS radios use.) It supports all modes: FM, AM, LSB, USB, and CW. The power output is a nice, juicy 100 watts in SSB mode.

Bill is also throwing in some cable, a beautiful MFJ-949E antenna tuner, and a 67 foot long Windom 40 antenna. He assures me that it should perform beautifully in the unique conditions of Grande Cache. The antenna will be going up on the roof of this building, elevated between two masts.

I can't stress enough how helpful Bill has been for the past couple of months. He readily took in my salvo of Motorola Maxtrac radios in return for a store credit, and has been exceptionally accommodating throughout this entire process. Seriously, if you need anything involving radios, Bill over at Burnaby Radio is your man.

The conditions for amateur radio in Grande Cache couldn't be better, really. Since the town is so new (founded in 1969), all electrical cable is buried under ground. This eliminates the #1 problem I had doing amateur radio work out of my apartment in Vancouver: interference from overhead power lines. Grande Cache is over 100km away from the nearest settlement, further reducing any RF interference. Lastly, the town is built up on a plateau of a mountain, giving an altitude boost that most other transmitters (i.e. those working Field Day in Florida, for example) don't have. I'm quite excited to have my first HF QSO here.

The only thing that might stand in the way is the fact that we're in the middle of thunderstorm season right now. Every forecast for the past two weeks or so has predicted periods of rain or thunder. Obviously, I can't operate a radio with the risk of lightning involved, so I'll have to shut down until the storm passes. Fortunately for me, there's an old saying that says, "If you don't like the weather in Alberta, just wait a minute!"

My primary goal this year is to work all 50 of the United States. Secondary goals include staying up for the full 24 hours straight, working all ten provinces plus the territories, and lastly, working all 80 ARRL "zones." Some areas are so populated (California, for example), that they get their state broken up into separate sections: Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, etc. In contrast, the Canadian territories are so sparsely populated that they're all lumped into one zone ("NWT.") While I'm content to just get one contact per state or province, working all of the zones would be a sweet bonus.

As I said before, Field Day is a test of emergency preparedness. Most amateur radio clubs haul their gear to a remote location and set up shop with a generator to simulate a situation wherein grid power is unavailable. Other clubs set up shop in their local Emergency Operations Center. Some lone amateur radio operators hike it up to the top of a mountain and set up a tiny 5 watt radio with batteries recharged from solar power.

Depending on your setup, you get bonus points. For example, an operator working by himself, in low power mode, with solar charged batteries will get a huge bonus over someone working out of their house off of grid power at 100 watts. Unfortunately, I fit in the lowest possible category: no bonuses, and severe restrictions. For example, I can't count anyone else working off of grid power (like myself) as a contact.

However, my setup is not an unreasonable scenario in an emergency situation. Grande Cache has its own coal-fired power plant a couple of kilometers out of town, so it's likely that the plant would continue to provide power to the town even in the absence of other power plants on the grid. The town has virtually zero risk from earthquakes, no risk from flooding (being up on a plateau,) and receives no bad weather outside of the odd severe thunderstorm. The town's isolated, self-sufficient nature makes it an excellent candidate to serve as a radio "waypoint" in a worldwide catastrophe; I should be able to relay messages from one station to another with relative ease.

Next year, however, I'll aim to be off the grid in one form or another during Field Day. But for now, I'm more than content to break in my new HF radio in this fashion :)

I will be reprogramming RoadRunner, my IRC bot, to log all of my contacts as they come in. This means you'll be able to watch which contacts I'm receiving, and from where, in realtime. RoadRunner will also keep track of how many states I have left to go to reach my primary goal. Trying to stay awake for the full 24 hours this Saturday will be tough, so if you want to stop in at #rrx on irc.rrx.ca, please do so! I'll be able to chat between contacts, and will also have my usual armada of IM protocols open.

If you want to listen for me on HF radio, I'll be VA6RRX, 1DAB. I'll likely be in SSB mode for the entire 24 hour duration. Your best bet for reaching me will be 7.05mhz-7.30mhz, 14.10mhz-14.35mhz, or 28.20mhz-29.70mhz depending on conditions. Wish me luck!