This episode of HamTalk Live is brought to you
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Neorep, here we go. Welcome to Amtopi, call in,
let's talk, Neil's your guy. Amtopi, here we
go. Good evening, it's time for HamTalk Live,
episode number 320. Field Day 2023, recorded
on Monday, June 19th, 2023. I am your host, Neil
Rapp. Call sign is WB9VPG. Thanks for tuning
in to this episode of HamTalk Live. Tonight we're
joined by Paul Bork, N1SFE. And last time here
on the show, we were live from Ham Vaish Hamvention
in Dayton. Hope you enjoyed that. I was totally
exhausted after that. I've never had Hamvention.
It's always busy for me. I've never had a busier
Hamvention than this year, but it was great to
see everybody and do all that stuff. But Wow,
it took a took a while to recover there But hope
you had a good one. And if you missed out, please
please think about going in the future. It was
great. I had a record attendance Since they moved
so Things are always Fun at Dayton. So if you
missed that show here on ham talk live, you can
listen anytime ham talk live comm or on your
favorite podcast app or Of course, we're also
on YouTube. And after I rested up from that and
almost had everything put away, we turned around
and left for vacation. So I've been gone for
a while, but I got to go down to Florida for
a while and went monorail mobile for the first
time. I didn't take the satellite antenna because
I was trying to use this trip as a makeup. to
my wife because, well, at hamcation a couple
years ago, I got food poisoning on day two. And
on day three, we were supposed to go to Epcot.
So because of that, I kind of got sick and couldn't
go to Epcot. So this was the makeup trip. So
I didn't. Dare take the satellite antenna with
me, but I did take the HT with me Did take a
couple of hours to go ride the monorail and while
I did I went monorail mobile and I Figured out
a few things to hit the digipeter. It does matter
which side of the monorail you're on and You
know, it does kind of shield the RF. So I did
the old trick I used to do back in junior high
and high school, you know, put the rubber duck
up near, you know, right along the window, right
along the metal seam there of the vehicle. And
that usually helps. But I did find out it does
matter. Which side of the monorail you're sitting
on so I was able to track on APRS sent out a
couple of messages didn't didn't really get any
any contacts unless that one gets confirmed by
APRS, but Did give it a shout out on a couple
repeaters and So got to enjoy some time monorail
mobile Down there and also got to see Andy KK
for LWR and had dinner with him and his wife
Christy and and even went and shot a video which
which will be Coming out here soon shot a short
video from from the skyliner down there So that
was kind of fun. I may have to go skyliner mobile.
I didn't do that. So maybe next time we'll do
that but anyway Tonight we're talking about field
day because now that's next on the list that's
coming up this weekend. So we usually have Paul
Bork in 1SFE here to talk about field day and
take some questions and so we're going to talk
about field day today right after this word from
Tower Electronics right here on HamTalk Live.
Thanks for choosing Tower Electronics. How may
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Ma 'am, that's the name of our company. We can't
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At HamTalk Live we have a million dollar request
guarantee You give us a million dollars and we'll
do a show about whatever ham topic you request
guaranteed HamTalk Live And welcome back to ham
talk live tonight Paul Bork in one SFE joins
us. on the Orlando Amateur Radio Club and hamcation
Zoom line. Paul is the ARRL contest program manager.
He's just finished up his fourth year in that
role and he's been licensed since 1994 and came
out of some some broadcasting experience and
started the station at the university of Hartford
where the general manager pushed him to get his
ham radio license. And he is a, he is a townie.
He's a, he's in Newington and grew up in Newington
and, um, likes giving back to the hobby. And
we always talk to him this time of year to talk
about field day, which is what we're doing tonight.
So Paul, welcome back to the show. Good to see
you. Hi, Neil. Thanks for having me on. And so
good to be here as always. Yeah, somehow we messed
up last year. So my apologies for not having
Paul on last year, but there haven't been a whole
lot of changes, but there are some changes this
year and we're going to talk about those here
in just a little bit. But first, for the newbies
out there that may not be familiar with field
day, just talk a little bit about when field
day is and what it is. Okay, well the field day
is always held the fourth full weekend of June
and what field day is is field day is a lot of
things but it's really an on -air operating event
which really showcases a lot of clubs and groups
get together and they operate in outside parks
and public locations and they set up temporary
stations for field day and operate Almost as
a it's a practice for emergencies and informal
contest. It could be a picnic. It's you know,
and sometimes it's a it's a club picnic, but
it really is a showcase for amateur radio to
the public and it showcases our emergency readiness
to set up stations and and to support emergencies
and and really an opportunity to get on the air
and and have fun and also to uh, inform the general
public what amateur radio is and what it is exactly
that we do. Now, to add to the fun, there, there
are some, some point values that are assessed
to, uh, different things and to encourage different
things to happen, uh, during field day. And,
and we won't get into that whole, is it a contest?
Is it not a contest argument? Cause it's not
a contest. People say if you put points to it,
it is. It really is what you make of it. I get
asked that question a lot. I say, well, if it's
a contest, why are there points? Well, it gives
you a way to judge what you did last year. Did
we do better? Did we do worse? Some groups do
consider it as a contest. They want to say, hey,
there's a Crosstown Rival Club. rival club and
they want to do better than them. And that's,
you know, as maybe there's a cross town rivalry
and it's, it is really what you make it of it.
Um, so it's, you know, yes, there are points
values assessed, but it, it kind of really is
a way to judge, um, how, how you've done over
previous years. Well, you know, the points are
there and it, like I said, I'm not going to.
dive into the controversy here. I've got my opinion,
but, but, but yeah, everybody's got got their
opinion on it. But It's a time that you can kind
of judge, like you said, how well you're doing
compared to other years and that, you know, did
this work better? Did that work better? Um, it's
a way to, to kind of tell that a little bit.
So for, for those people who have never been
to field day, what, what should they expect?
Just going to a ham radio field day. Well, I
mean you can a lot of groups there's there's
public displays of you know There'd be a little
public information booth. They'll give you a
little bit of information about what amateur
radio is You know a lot of groups will give you
an opportunity to even get on the air and operate
even as an unlicensed You know say you were an
unlicensed tamper just you brought your friend
with you you know they'll be able to demonstrate
what amateur radio is and maybe even let you
get on the air and enjoy some contacts. There's
a good way to really network with your local
clubs and your groups. Some clubs have food.
There's a cookout. Again, a lot of times they're
in a park. There's actually a group near me that
actually gets together at a farm. and they have
quite the spread set up. They have a snack bar
and everything. But yeah, they have quite a bunch
of different stations set up and it's really
kind of interesting. Well, we encourage everybody
to get out and check out Field Day because it
is a great opportunity to just get on the air
and meet up with some people and get some tips
and tricks from other people and kind of find
out what This HF thing is all about and as well
as VHF and UHF. There's a lot of HF ability there
and you may not have a license for that. Yeah
and again there are stations set up. Some of
the bigger stations will have what's called a
get on the air station or what we call a gota
station which its main purpose is to provide
either inactive hams or relatively inactive hams
or maybe a chance for them to get on the air.
And even someone who might have a technician
class license to get on the air on HS and really
see what 20 or 40 meters phone is like so that
they'll allow those people to get on the air
and experience parts of amateur radio that they
normally wouldn't. So it allows them to try something
new. Well, now that we know what, what field
day is that there are the point systems and rules.
I just want to add before we get into that, Neil,
that you're new to amateur radio. Um, check out
our website, arr .org, uh, slash field hyphen
day. There's a bunch of great information on
there. And, and, you know, lots of frequently
asked questions lists and also all sorts of.
It's a treasure trove of information. So if you're
new to Field Day, absolutely, I encourage you
to check out the website. Yep, absolutely. And
we have that link already in the description
of this episode. So if you need that link, it's
there at the end of the description. But since
we've got the rules and everything, which you
will find on the website and all that kind of
thing, You know, we don't get points for working
the same station 20 times in the same, uh, 24
or 48 hours that you're out there. So, uh, let's
talk a little bit about, uh, the rules, specifically
the changes for this year, because, you know,
the rules have been pretty consistent over the
years. Um, but sometimes, you know, things like
the get on the air station, um, may get a few.
tweaks and that kind of thing. So the first one
I see is that there is no limit to the number
of contacts made by the go to station. They're
all worth five points, regardless of mode. So
talk about that one. Right. So as I mentioned
before, the, you know, a class, a class A and
F stations have what's called a get on the air
station, which allows, uh, again, relatively,
uh, inactive licensees or even, um, non -licensed.
guests to operate. And so there used to be a
cap to the number of QSOs you can make from the
go to station. Well, they've changed that where
there is no cap for those QSOs. So you can make
as many QSOs or contacts from the go to station
as you can with no limit and five points for
each contact regardless of mode. So by mode,
we mean either Morse code, CW, phone, or a digital
mode. Any of the digital modes will count as
digital so the soldiers there there are five
points for each contact From the go to station
and there's also we've simplified the way the
scoring is too So it's I think it's going to
make it a lot simpler for groups to be able to
figure out how to calculate out How many points
are going to get from there go to station? It
really made it they really kind of streamlined
the the process So I'm hoping that that's going
to a lot of a lot of entrance are going to find
it a lot easier to to submit their entry without
having to figure out all this funny math yeah
okay so you know the go to station is there make
use of it for your your newbies and your and
your inactive hams just get them on the air uh
i remember uh i used it for a boy scout merit
badge uh as soon as you know the the event started
We lined them up at the go to station and I ran
them through and got them a contact for toward
their merit badge. And that was the first two
or three hours of the go to station. Um, so it's
great opportunity to get people on the air that,
uh, I may not have been on for awhile. So again,
no limit now. All right. The next one. Oh, go
ahead. I was just going to kind of emphasize
what you were saying there about the no limit
and that we really made it go to scoring a lot
simpler. Alright, so the next one we've already
been talking about the wording on this one. This
is the exact wording here and we'll talk about
what this means. You may need your dictionary
for this. Each contact must include contemporaneous
direct initiation by both operators making a
contact. Initiation of a contact may be either
local or remote control. Fully automated contacts
are prohibited. And now in English that says...
So there's a lot in there. So what that means
is... When you go to make a contact, especially
in a lot of digital modes or even with CW keyers
or whatever, there has to be a human operator
starting that contact. I think this really speaks
a lot to FT8 and those modes. Somebody actually
has to start the sequence of calling CQ by starting
the computer calling CQ and then somebody has
to be there to answer it. What it really is saying
is we don't want to have fully automated contacts.
So there needs to be an operator initiating the
CQ sequence and an operator answering it on the
other side. So it can't just be two computers
set up to do this all automated with no user
intervention. You go away and have a sandwich
and you've made 20 contacts. In other words,
you have to be at the station to actually manually
initiate or respond to the contacts. Does that
make sense? Yeah. With digital, it's easy to,
you know, some people will do that. They'll set
it up and it will automatically go out there
and make contacts and just keep track of them.
And yeah, that's not what we want here. The second
part of that where it says fully automated contacts
are prohibited, that speaks to that. So what
we don't want to see is, and there are ways we
can do that with the digital modes is you can
set up scripts and. and you know there's all
sorts of you know like WSJT is open source so
there's a lot of other software based on that
that can do that well that that's not allowed
so in other words somebody has to actually be
there so again you can't just let set the set
the station up and walk away from it let it make
contacts for you that's that's not allowed and
you know there's Some movement toward that even
on sideband where you just type in the call sign
or it you know listens and tries to figure out
the letters and Automate that so yeah, we were
we're not counting that toward toward this But
I know you mentioned you got a you got a call
already about the voice gear so you might go
ahead and throw that story in Yeah, so I yeah,
I took a call the other day said hey I have my
my my computer set up, you know computer logging
and that program has a voice gear where basically
you can record yourself calling CQ and You know,
it'll do it. He says I haven't set up for an
eight second cycle. I'll call CQ going to receive,
call CQ again. I said, is that prohibited? That's
absolutely not prohibited. It's 100 % allowed.
I mean, that happens in contesting all the time.
But when somebody comes back to that CQ, you
have to manually answer that call. So you can't
just have the computer do it all by itself. The
voice keyers are allowed, and I get a lot of
calls too about people asking me whether FT8
is allowed, because there is what's called the
auto sequence, where you'll start calling CQ,
and you have to manually start that, so there's
the contemporaneous, or the manual initiation,
so someone's actually starting that, it'll call
CQ, and then when somebody answers, it'll answer
it, and it'll go through the sequence, but that's
not... That is not prohibited. The regular WSJT
FT8 mode and FT4 modes are allowed as long as
the mode can support the exchange for field day,
they're allowed and it's not considered automated
contact unless you are using some other software
that automates that so that when the first QSO
is done, it moves on to an external without any
user initiation at all. It does that automatically.
That's what's prohibited. Now you mentioned something
we should probably emphasize too Although I think
people are getting better at this now that they've
had more experience with FT8, but You've got
to support that exchange and if you just turn
on WSJT and just run plain old FT8 those are
not going to count so Kind of emphasize here
the exchange in that Right, so yeah, so again,
the exchange, you're exchanging your stations
class and your ARL or radio amateurs of Canada
section, which in the normal FT8 mode, it does
not do that. It's normally exchanging grid squares
and the signal report. So there is a field day
mode in WSJT that supports the field day. So
it is built in. You just have to make sure you
have that turned on. And I find that happens
with a lot of other events, too, like our recent
international digital contest. A lot of people
weren't using contest mode. They were using just
standard FT8 mode. And it confuses the heck out
of everybody because they're not exchanging the
right information. So make sure you've got that
field day mode turned on if you're running field
day. Otherwise, it's not going to count. You
got to get that exchange in. Okay, let's see
the other one that I have here and you'll have
to correct me if I missed one I've got one more
and that's for power output That the power output
for classes A B and C Have a cap now. So talk
a little bit about that. Oh Last the last couple
years we limited a power output to every for
every class regarding over goes with the classes
Everything was 100 watts maximum. Well we actually
had a lot of the outlying groups out and set
up remotely out in the field, especially out
in like really remote places like, you know,
parts of Alaska or Hawaii. They were finding
that 100 watts just wasn't cutting it. They weren't
really able to make it through. So for those
stations, it's Class A, B, and C. Well, Class
A and B are portable stations out in the field,
and Class C is mobile. But for Class A, B, and
C, we're allowing 500 watts maximum. All other
classes still remain at 100 watts maximum. So
that's the home stations, which would be Class
D and E, and that Class F EOC stations still
remain at 100 watts. Okay, so do you need to
watch that power output if you are running from
home or the EOC? It is just 100 watts. But 500
otherwise. Okay. Any other changes here that,
uh, I missed or, or changes that aren't super
highlighted in the, in the rules? Well, this
is, this is an older change that happened at
the beginning of the year that does affect field
day and other, um, contests that support that
have, um, ARRL or Radio Amateurs of Canada's
sections as their exchanges and that last, starting
on January 1st, the Radio Amateurs of Canada
had changed their sections. So they actually
split up the maritime section. So the maritime
section no longer exists anymore. So now it's
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are their own sections
and a couple years ago they actually split off
Prince Edward Island. So be aware that there
are different Canadian sections and I would Strongly
recommended that if you're logging software needs
to be upgraded. I would absolutely upgrade it
I know a couple of the software authors have
have new field day software updates that support
the new sections and Be prepared for some of
those other section abbreviations to change Like
there used to be a section called Greater Toronto
area, which is now known as Golden Horseshoe.
So you may here station still using the old abbreviation
and so I would definitely recommend going to
the field day page and checking out the field
day packet there is a list of ARL RAC sections
on there that is current for this year so definitely
familiarize yourself with that and make sure
that you update your login software. Okay and
then last before we go to the break let's talk
a little bit about where to find all this information
for rules and, and how to submit those dupe sheets.
All right. So, uh, let me see here, arl .org
slash field day is the, is the place to go. And
there's a whole bunch of information there. Um,
so you'll look at, there's a resources and rules
section. And the thing I keep pointing to is
the 2023 field day packet that has everything
you need to know about this year's field day.
There's also some of those on that web page,
some of those files are available separately
too. So you can take a look at the summary sheet.
If you want to enter by paper, there is stuff
you can print out that you can mail in. But we
really do recommend going to the online Field
Day web app, which is field -day .arl .org. There's
a link, there's a link. So it's confusing because
there's two, there's arl .org slash field hyphen
day and field hyphen day dot arl .org with the
entry form is online and the easiest way to submit
your entry is to do it online. It steps you through
the whole process and you don't have to mail
anything in. So it saves a lot of paper and a
lot of stamps. And saves a lot of hours for Paul
Bork in 1SFE. Well, that too. I mean, but yes,
the last couple of years we've had about 99 or
so percent of entries online. You get an immediate
confirmation, and if there's any part of those
entries that are missing, there's documentation
for certain bonus points you have to supply.
If that's missing, it will tell you, hey, we're
still waiting for this document. And you can
go back later and add it. And I encourage everyone,
if you're submitting online, you're going to
get a confirmation email. Take a good look at
it, because it will tell you a lot of things.
Because I have a lot of stations that will submit,
and they'll be missing something like the dupesheet
or Kuvrilo file, depending on how you're logging.
But the dupesheet is basically a list of call
signs and stations who work sorted by band and
mode. Well, we want to make sure that some effort
has been Attempted to make sure you don't work
the same station Multiple times in the same band
and mode. So the dupe she is just really it's
not a full log It's just a list of stations you
worked on 20 meter phone 20 meter digital or
you know, whatever bands you worked So really
what we want to see is that there was some some
effort taken that you to prevent that you've
worked the same station on the same band of mode
more than one time So a lot of stations Seem
to forget to upload that and it will be like,
well, I submitted an entry. How come it's, how
come I'm not seeing it being complete? Well,
that confirmation email will tell you all the
information that you need to upload to make that
entry complete. Okay. Very good. So Paul Bork
in one SFE is the ARRL contest program manager.
And he's with us once again, talking about field
day. And we're going to talk about some more
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slash amateur. You're listening to Ham Talk Live,
the number one podcast amongst the podcasts with
the words ham, talk, and live in the title. Here's
your host, Neil Rapp. We are back. Welcome to
HamTalk Alive. Talking to Field Day tonight with
Paul Bork in one SFE and we'll resume that in
just a moment. But first, it's time once again
for the N9 GSU Choke of the Week. Now it's time
for the HamTalk Live Ham Radio Joke of the Week,
the part of the show where Rick tells us a ham
radio joke. The HamTalk Live Ham Radio Joke of
the Week is brought to you by QRM Labs. Now,
here's Rick Garrett in 9GSU with today's HamTalk
Live Joke of the Week. I decided to take my friend
who had never been out of the big city camping
for an overnight parks on the air activation.
Well the mosquitoes were the worst I have ever
seen them. We kept lathering on bug repellent
and still they came. Finally we saw lightning
bugs my buddy says I give up. Now they've got
flashlights. This has been the ham talk live
ham radio joke of the week with Rick Garrett
in nine GSU Tune in again next week for another
joke from Rick Welcome back to ham talk live
be sure to you check us out on Facebook Twitter
and Instagram and tonight we are with Paul Bork
in one SF II is the ARRL contest program manager
and he as the, uh, in dubious role of being in
charge of field day, uh, which is one of the
biggest events, uh, in ham radio to be honest.
And, uh, so he gets to, uh, to control the chaos
here as much as possible. And, uh, so part of
that chaos is finding a field day location. So
Paul, if I want to go to field day, how do I
figure that out? Okay well, several years ago
the ARL added what's called the Online Field
Day Station Locator. It's at www .arl .org slash
field dash day dash locator and it actually will
bring you up a map, you can search by location,
it'll bring up a map of all the field days near
you. This year there are currently, I'm looking
at it right now, as of right now there are over
1200 field day sites in the database. So there's,
you know, you type in your, your location or
even a call sign of a potential participant,
a group that might have a say, I know club X,
Y, Z call sign is this, I want to know where
they're going to be. But the easiest way to do
it is to type in your, your, your, your zip code
or your location, it'll show you a bunch of field
day locations near you. As a matter of fact,
you know, I'm looking, I'm looking near you.
All right. I have to be looking at that. 41091.
There you go. Yeah, there you go. So then again,
so the map was centered around the Cincinnati
area, obviously, Northern Kentucky. So anyway,
is your group on there or are you doing some
field day? Yeah. So I usually do two. K4CO is
an independence, which is the one closest to
me, I would believe. And then after I go there,
then I run up to the Voice of America Museum
at WC8VOA up on the north side of Cincinnati.
That's right. It's usually do operate there anyway.
So yeah. So the, uh, the field day locator is
a great, a great tool to use if you, if you're,
uh, new to field day or maybe you haven't been
to one in a while, you know, the last few years,
things have been kind of, kind of, uh, not normal
with, with, uh, was COVID -19 and all that stuff.
So a couple of years ago, it was pretty much
field day was not pretty much a home event. So
there's a lot more groups operating out in the
field. So there's plenty of opportunity to find
a field day location near you. All right. So
check out the locator and if you're entering
the address, make sure you fill that out. completely.
Well, yeah, I mean, there are. So one of the
biggest challenges I have is that when a group
or usually a club secretary or somebody, somebody
delegated by a group that wants to put their
field in the locator will type in the name or
type in their entry and they won't put the full
address in and which causes the the mapping location
not to be able to find it. And so it ends up
putting putting them out in the middle of the
Atlantic Ocean somewhere. And we know that's
not where the field day is. So I know that on
the field day locator, if you are one of the
delegates from a club entering the information,
make sure you put a full address in and make
sure that that pin shows up on the map where
it should be, at least close to where it should
be. And the easiest way to do, when you get on
the field day locator, if you have an ARRL .org
website account, and you're logged in, it will
default to your location that ARL has for your
address. So it's nice because when I start up
mine, it comes up with my area. Okay. So if you
haven't submitted your Field Day location, make
sure you do that so people can find out where
Field Day is being operated this weekend. When
people are submitting the forms and submitting
the reports and the dupe sheets and everything,
Paul, what are some of the common mistakes that
people can look for to save you some headaches?
One of the biggest challenges is that certain
bonus points, if you're claiming certain bonus
points, certain bonus points require some sort
of documentation. a photo of your educational
activity or, you know, some require documentation
or like you copied the W -1AW bulletin. That's
another one. If you're going to claim that bonus
point, we want to see something that shows that
you actually copied a bulletin. We're not looking
for a perfect copy. A lot of people think it's
like a code proficiency test if they're copying
on CW. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just
shows that you actually copied the W1AW message
from W1AW. So one of the biggest things is bonus
point proofs. We call it proofs. So make sure
that you have uploaded something. And one of
the biggest challenges we have is if the files
are really big, like file size, a lot of big
files tend to not work really well. So try to
keep your file sizes down. I think we want to
see something under, you know, like three, four
megabytes a document. And if you have a lot of
big documents to upload, you can, I recommend
doing them in several sessions where you upload
one document, upload another one, because if
you try to do too many of them, the site does
not accept it. And so just be aware of the file
sizes of the documents. We just really need something
to be legible. It doesn't need to be, you know,
high resolution or anything, which is going to
be something legible or something that we can
read or, you know, prove that you had proof of
a bonus point that you're claiming. All right.
Well, Paul, I think that's everything. Anything
that you can think of that people should be aware
of preparing for field day? Yes, so field day,
of course, is the fourth weekend of June. So
that's this coming weekend starts at 1800 UTC
Saturday. And some groups who choose to, who
don't choose to start setting up until 1800 can
actually operate until 2100 UTC on Sunday. And
so that's the field day period. There is a 30
days or a month or 30 days from the from the
event is when the entries are due. So you have
until the end of the end of July. And so just,
you know, hopefully you get out there and have
fun and, you know, make sure you get those entries.
And again, go to www .arl .org slash field dash
day for all the all the info. And again, if you
have any other questions, you can always just
shoot me an email over at the contest branch
at ARL at contests. dot arl .org or fdinfo fdinfo
at arl .org. Okay, well that's how you can get
a hold of Paul Bork, N1SFE at AWRL. Thank you
so much for joining us tonight and talking a
little bit about field day and hope to catch
you on the air soon. All right, Niels, thanks
for having me. A great, great, great, great being
on the show again. All right. Well good luck
everyone with your field day activities and hope
you can get out and enjoy those this weekend.
But that is a wrap for this edition of HamTalk
Live. I'd like to thank my guest Paul Bork in
1SFE and everybody out there in cyberspace for
listening and invite you back next time and for
a list of our upcoming guests go to HamTalk Live.
So for now, this is Neil Rapp saying 73, 75,
and may the good DX be yours.