Outing:VHF Field Day 2016

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Outing (to be) held from 00:00 on 2016/07/02 - 23:59 on 2016/07/03 in/on Walbury Hill near Newbury

 

VHF National Field Day 2016

Doodle Attendance Poll: http://doodle.com/poll/pqs369ytfxebu24q

Anyone is welcome to join us, whether to spectate, operate the contest stations, or just to chat!

The contest is from 1400 (UTC) on Saturday 2nd to 1400 (UTC) on Sunday 3rd. We will be operating G3KMI/P on all bands

• 2m will be operated full-time from a tent and guyed mast.

• 70cm & 23cm will be operated during daylight hours from Noel's Land Rover, with the attached mast. The land rover will not be on site overnight.

Keep an eye on MET Office Forecast

See the contest rules.

See Lessons Learnt from last year.

Location

Walbury Trig Point: Google Maps

We will be in the field up near the trig point thanks to generous permission from the landowner. The site peaks at 297m ASL, a dramatic upgrade from the previously good site near Basingstoke at 170m ASL.

More Site info: BATC Wiki Portable Sites - Walbury Hill

Bands

144 MHz (2m)

• Operating under the "Restricted" section as G3KMI/P both days, all the time.
• Using a guyed mast (and rotator?)

Kit

• IC-7000 (SUWS)
• Power Supply (Tyler)
• Mast (Noel - to be confirmed)
• Antenna (Noel - to be confirmed) (alternatively use the club 2m yagi)
• Coax (to be confirmed)

432 MHz (70cm)

• Operating under the "Low Power" section as G3KMI/P both days, with a break over-night.

Kit to be brought by Noel G8GTZ

1296 MHz (23cm)

• Operating under the "Restricted" section as G3KMI/P both days, with a break over-night.

Kit to be brought by Noel G8GTZ

Who's bringing what

• Phil

• • Minifridge + PSU
  • cooking stove (if he can find it)
  • 1 table
  • 1 chair
  • 1 tent
  • thinkpad
  • desk lamp
  • portable worklamp
  • headtorch
  • 3G Router
  • cameras
  • Mains current meter
  • car (with jumpstarter?)

• Tyler

• • Power Supply
  • 1 chair
  • Camera gear + slider and steadycam if required
  • Laptop
  • Thesis
  • Car (if needed)

• Cori
  • 1 Table
  • 1 Chair (maybe more)
  • 1 Tent (quite large)
  • SLR Camera
  • Portable Gas Stove + Fuel
  • 25Ltr Water (tap)
  • Electric Cooler Box
  • Ford Focus

• Christian
  • 1 kg of pasta shells
  • 400 g (2 jars) of pesto - regular and grilled pepper
  • 1 pack of parmesan cheese and grater
  • 2 packets of bacon
  • Enough baps to go around
  • 2 boxes of chocolate flakes/honeycomb mini-bites
  • 1 digital video camera & backup SD card
  • 1 tripod for the camera
  • 1 torch
  • 1 two-person tent
  • 1 air mattress

.....

Club Equipment to be collected

• IC-7000
• Banners
• Operating toolbox
• Graeme's Generator

Additional kit to be sourced

• Power cabling
• Laminated Cheatsheets + bandplans
• pens + paper
• lighting
• Coax?

Last Year's Notes

Preparation

• Masts to be set up from 1pm on Friday afternoon. Radios and tents to be set up on Saturday morning.
• Familiarise new-comers with the SDV contest logger.
• Investigate SDV under Wine (Phil) - Works but clunky, suggest native/vm
• 3G Wifi + IRC
• Production of CQs for Voice Keyer.

Kit

Radio Kit

• FT920 (Phil)
• PC speakers for FT920 (Phil)
• Power supply for the FT920 (Tyler)
• Mains Extension leads (morse, Phil)
• RCD + Current meter (morse)

Group Kit

• Tables - more are better (morse has one, Phil has one)
• Chairs - more are better (morse has three, Tyler has one, Phil has one, Christian has one)
• 2 Operating tents (need to be able to stand up, morse has one)
• Sleeping Tent (Phil, Christian)
• Mosquito repellent (morse anti-mozzi candles)
• Laptops (EVERYONE)
• Logging software (sdv)
• Cameras (Phil, Tyler)
• Video camera, charger and tripod (Christian)
• GoPro (Phil) & mounts(?)
• Batteries and chargers for Cameras
• Steady Cam mount (built by Tyler)
• Multi battery charger (Tyler,Phil)
• G3KMI banners (Phil)
• Lighting - (morse has two LED desk lamps (mains+12v))

Food - (morse)

• Bread
• Bacon
• Sausages
• Burgers (+ buns?)
• Eggs
• Margarine
• Large pan
• Pesto
• Cheese to go with pesto
• Pasta
• Ketchup and Mayonnaise
• Lemonade/Cola
• Tea/Coffee
• Milk
• Sugar
• Cake
• LOTS of water

• Beer - BYOB

Menu:
  Lunch: Bacon Sandwiches
  Dinner: Pesto (bacon optional)
  Midnight snacks: Vintage Pot noodles
  Breakfast: Fry up (bacon, sausages, eggs)
  Lunch: Bacon Sandwiches

Individual Kit

• Waterproofs
• Boots
• Towel
• Sleeping bag if staying overnight
• Foam mats or camp-bed
• Mug and Cutlery
• Suncream - if it fails to be wet
• Change of clothes if it is very very wet.
• Petrol contribution - if you have an appropriate container.
• Mosquito repellent
• Headphones + adapters (Tyler has 2 adapters)
• Torches + batteries
• Laptop each?

Lessons Learnt from last year

• Henry should prepare, bring a sleeping bag... (this requires him owning one)
• Phil has hayfever

• The generator is quite loud - longer power cables to allow us to put it further away.
• packing the car took far too long - do it the night before
• antennas should be further away from each other - we should at least test the interference by deliberately transmitting at each other.

• it was hot, bring more water - freeze the water bottles
• bring cool bag, the fridge wasn't big enough for everything

• operating in a gazebo may be cooler than in tents - air flow.
• we should have more specific quantities of food (pasta:water)
• we need a measuring contraption for food (mass/volume)

• don't leave the back of Phil's car open - the battery goes flat
• remove the fuse from Phil's car's interior lights

• check PSUs don't drop too much voltage during transmit

• align the rotator arms with north
• mark north on the floor

• have a separate sleeping tent from any other storage

• bring a spade to move farming by-products

• hi-viz the tent guys (and masts) for moving around at night (glow sticks?)
• same goes for power cables