Winter Field Day is a fun and challenging event for amateur radio operators to practice portable emergency communications in winter conditions.  This year, it ran from 1100 PST Jan. 27th thru 1100 PST Jan. 28th. A hardy group of amateurs from MIRA took up the challenge once again!

A bit worried about the weather forecast, we decided to begin the set-up on Friday (Jan 26) at around noon. Al VA7MP and I (Don VE7AX) had packed up the night before and brought radios, antennas and survival gear.  We arrived at the Fanny Bay estate of our dear friend Rodney VA7FB shortly after 1200 noon (after an early lunch at the Sandbar in Qualicum Bay) and began to set up the 40/20M fan dipole I had thrown together hoping it would be an improvement on the OCF (off center fed) dipole we had used last year and for several years at Summer Field Day.  (This was a technical violation of the WFD rules which allow set up to begin on Friday but not before 1400.  We allowed ourselves a “weather and degrees of latitude exemption” assuming that those rules were really directed toward the very unlucky guys who live in awful places like Arizona and Florida.

After more than an hour trying to get the fan dipole up in a tree at about 50 feet free of branches we finally succeeded – only to discover that our antenna analyzer was showing it to have a dead short circuit (suspected to be in the balun) – so back to the OCF.  Lessons learned: 1. what can go wrong will go wrong (for sure); 2. always test beforehand (didn’t happen – no excuse); 3. always have a back up plan (sadly, the OCF).  

The OCF dipole went up quite easily but took some time and we were starting to worry about rain which had started and was getting heavier.  The OCF checked out on the analyzer.  We set up the pop-up tent (borrowed from the OECT Trailer) but didn’t put the side panels on and left it at half height. There wasn’t much wind so we didn’t think to stake it down.  (Spoiler alert – this will come back to haunt us.)

The Off-Centre-Fed (OCF) dipole, supported by a 20ft mast. It’s oriented (broadside) roughly North-South.

Now to get the radios going.  Unfortunately, Rodney’s small canvas garage that we used last year was starting to leak and we didn’t want to leave the radio gear overnight so we packed up again and headed home with the radio gear ready to give it another try in the morning.  Al, had not planned to come up on Saturday as he is still recovering from his winter bug but would come up Sunday to help with take-down.

On Saturday morning Don VE7ATJ and I arrived at about 0800 with a targeted start time of 1100 (WFD operations are from 1100 Saturday to 1100 Sunday).  We added the side panels to the pop-up where Don VE7ATJ was going to operate.  Rodney had found an additional tarp to cover the leaking canvas garage so Don and I managed to get it up and over the main part of the “garage” providing a safe operating space for me – no drips from the roof – at least not yet.

Bob VA7RFD came with coffee and Twinkies at 1000 as promised – thanks Bob!  We were on the air at 1100 – VE7MIR (3O BC).  Don VE7ATJ worked in the OECT tent, I in the canvas garage and Rodney in his own tent.  Rodney had trouble with his antenna – very high SWR and he also had trouble getting his radio to connect to the wifi network for the N1MM logging program which was one of his goals for the weekend. 

Don (ATJ)’s buddipole vertical antenna, tuned for 15m ops The wire to the tree is a counterpoise ground.

VE7ATJ  –  Yaesu FT991 on battery power with his Buddypole vertical running at first 20W and up to 50W on 15 M mostly USB but some CW (he’s working on it and making great progress).

Don (ATJ)’s operating position (Sorry, couldn’t get a shot of him actually operating 🙂

VA7FB – Icom IC205 on generator power 10 W mostly USB on 20M.

VE7AX – Icom IC-7200 on CW mostly 20M with some 10M (100W) on generator power.

We had a few brave visitors during the day on Saturday: Larry VE7VJ, Peter VA7XSK and Syd VE7PI.  Thanks for coming out guys!

L-R: Syd (VE7PI), Larry (VE7VJ) and Peter (VE7XSK)

We had a few breaks in the weather (short periods without rain) and some pleasant conversation.  Bob was ready to go with hotdogs for 1400 but with the rain there was no place to build a fire and Rosemary (Rodney’s spouse) had made a chili which she served in the canvas garage to the several of us who were there.  We have put the hot dogs in the freezer and Bob is planning a “MIRA free hot dog day” when the weather is better.

We continued to make contacts on the air off and on throughout the day.  The “pop-up tent incident” occurred near the end of our day on Saturday.  I think Don VE7ATJ had finished operating in the tent for the day and had taken his radio stuff to his car (neither of us were intending to operate through the night).  As he walked toward me in the canvas garage I noticed over his shoulder that his tent was “missing”.  He turned around in shock as he had just left the tent – it had indeed disappeared.  A gust of wind had blown it away – back to the edge of the property against the trees.   We had not thought to secure it and it had survived overnight and through most of the day.  Another lesson learned – the tent comes with tie down lines and pegs for a reason!  The tent was only slightly damaged and after being secured served well for our operations on Sunday.  There is some repair work to do before returning the tent to the OECT trailer.  Al VA7MP has experience with this type of tent and feels we can handle the repair. Thanks again, Al!

So back Sunday morning for a couple of hours of operating and then “take-down time”.  The canvas garage had started to leak again so I managed to operate from the back of my car with the tail gate up – not very ergonomic but worked fine for the short time we needed. All went smoothly – home for a hot shower and some NFL playoff football by 1330.

The summary looks like this:

Total QSOs:  106

CW – 58, USB – 48

20M – 56

15M – 45

10M – 5

Total time actually on the air as designated by N1MM+: 4.5 hours

Lessons learned:  see above.

Accomplishments: 

  1. Not a bad QSO total under challenging conditions; QSOs were continent-wide with good signal reports.  Near Solar Max propagation helped, no doubt.
  • We were able to establish the WIFI N1MM logger+ connection with Al’s router and submit our combined VE7MIR log in the required Cabrillo format.  Don VE7ATJ figured out a way of entering his hand logged QSOs into N1MM+ after we got home – a bit painful but it worked. Thanks, Don T.!  I didn’t think it could be done.
  • Don VE7ATJ’s Buddypole vertical worked very well.  My OCF dipole also worked better than I remember from Summer FD.  I am going to try to reconfigure my own Buddypole (which has never seemed to work very well) as a vertical like Don’s.
  • Rodney VA7FB has been working very hard to get into computer logging with N1MM+ and has finally achieved his goal thanks in no small part to Don VE7ATJ’s computer savvy and coaching.
  • WFD was a nice respite from the winter doldrums – fresh air, lots of exercise, great companions.  We defied the dismal weather forecasts. 

THANKS, AGAIN, TO ALL WHO HELPED AND ESPECIALLY TO RODNEY AND ROSEMARY FOR HOSTING US!  Thanks to Dave VE7TE (MIRA President) and the MIRA Board for their support.

Don Mullis VE7AX