WFD 2020: Hudson Valley & OMARC Edition

Part of the OMARC "Over Night" team. Pictured, counterclockwise:  Aaron KC2NDA (Flex 6300), Alan KD2HLX, Doc KJ2DOC, Mike KB2AQW,  "JR" KA2TMU  and  Kate KD2RYD. Photo taken by Steve K2GOG.

2020 marked the 3rd annual  Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club participation in Winter Field Day.  This non-ARRL sanctioned contest style event has challenged and inspired the United States amateur radio community through different sets of goals where amateur radio capabilities can be tested in bad weather in most parts of the country the last weekend each January.

This article captures the essence of this fantastic event and its opportunity to not only hone amateur radio skills but to also engage with the public about the convergence and modern relevancy of amateur radio today.

OMARC WFD 2020 Summary

This year, the Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club set up four HF stations for making contact during Winter Field Day from Ferncliff Forest in Rhinebeck, New York.

OMARC is the only Hudson valley region club running a winter field day operation and continues to grow its list of achievements and accomplishments. A full list of known participants can be viewed here.

The major goals for this year  for OMARC were to add PSK31 and CW modes on HF to generate more points beyond our normal "voice only" operation and to also be ready to have at least two stations on the air at the start of the official contest time of 2:00 PM Eastern US time.













WFD HF Antenna Fun

"Hey Dave K2JLV, is that an antenna?"  The green wire was leftover from the inverted L.  It looks like it should be re-purposed as another 20m vertical for 2021 WFD  (L-R, Dave K2JLV, David KD2MQE)

80m+ Inverted L:  70ft wire fed at the ground with a 4:1 balun with an LDG RT-100 auto-tuner protected from the elements in the "hobbit house".  The 90 degree angle was at the 35 foot mark and then sent horizontal another 35 foot.  Goal for this antenna was 80m operation to fill in pattern gaps from the inverted V 40m/80m dipole and to also act as a general purpose all band antenna.  We fed it with almost 400 feet of LMR400. 

Charles KD2BID and Steve K2GOG positioning one leg of the 80m/40m dipole for OMARC WFD2020

40m/80m Inverted V Dipole:   We spent the most time making sure this antenna was set up correctly and was oriented to provide north south coverage in the US. The center of the dipole had a 1:1 balun and 15 inch spreaders to keep the 40m and 80m wire elements isolated from each other.  This antenna was fed with 250 feet of LMR400.

David KD2MQE and JR KA2TMU using a sling shot to position an end rope for the other end of the 80m/40m dipole to pull it up past an annoying tree branch. No, they are not hunting for "sqweeeeeerl" 

10m/15m/20m Aluminum trap dipole:  Hung up in a tree about 60 foot high almost directly over the pathway to the immediate right of the cabin. This antenna was fed with about 100 feet of  LMR400.


20m Wire vertical: Suspended from a tree and the feed-point of the antenna was about 15 feet from the ground with its two radials held in place at 45 degree angles. This antenna was fed with about 100 feet of  LMR400.

OMARC WFD 2020 HF Radio Discussion

This year we operated as "Four Oscar" status per the official rules and used the following radios.

• Flex 6300
• Icom IC-725
• Icom IC-718
• Yaesu FT-450

A Kenwood TH-D74 was used for our AO-91 satellite contact and a Yaesu FT-450 was used for our PSK31 contacts on 20m.

Doc KJ2DOC fine tuning his "Military Go Box"  to get it just right for a weekend of radio operation at OMARC WFD2020

Dave K2JLV learning about PSK31 from Bob KD2QAK. Looking onward was Winn KD2HAF and Bob, a curious drone enthusiast who came with Winn and Ted K2MKD to his first Winter Field Day experience

Powered by OMARC: Doing it the safe way!

Newly elected OMARC VP, Alan KD2HLX confirming generator operation along with OMARC President Dave K2JLV. Nice work guys!

Keeping the generators far away from the radio shack and proper grounding eliminates any interference or noise when trying to receive weak signals on the HF frequency bands.

This Kingston, New York based club has made considerable investments in its generators and being able to run them continuously thanks to external fuel tanks. 

The first year the club ran WFD, they realized a need for some higher wattage generators to run electric heaters and also made sure we always use non-ethanol fuel.  

Even though there are no gas stations in Dutchess County that carry this fuel, its worth the extra trip across into Ulster to get this higher grade and better quality gas to keep the generators running perfectly.

CJ KD2IIN and Dave K2JLV inspecting the generators late at night Saturday. Needs more cow bell!

OMARC WFD 2020 Satellite Contact Discussion

Steve K2GOG again focused on getting the club its 1500 extra points for making one satellite contact. This year he was successful during the Sunday 10:03 AM EST pass of AO-91 thanks to a low elevation contact with Dana VE1VOX about 750 miles north east in Nova Scotia.

Everyone else looking for satellite contacts seemed to be creating a traffic jam again on AO-92 which was passing over at the same time! 

The prior evening, AO-92 and SO-50 were also packed with contacts trying to score points for Winter Field Day and Steve was not able to bust through the pile up to make a qualified contact.

The audio recording was made with the digital recorder that is built into the Kenwood TH-D74, but I forgot to set it to record both sides of audio, which is why you do not hear me ask "Are you participating in WFD?" in which Dana says, no he is not and just having some fun in the rain. This was then followed by me comment on everyone else being on AO-92 and I appreciate the nice contact with him.

Steve K2GOG making contact via AO-91 with Dana VE1VOX to earn 1500 points for WFD. 
Kate KD2RYD was kind enough to capture the moment . 

Wait, there was a movie filmed at WFD?

C.J KD2IIN, who runs the Farming and Gardening Net but now recently re-branded as the Sunday Evening All Things Natural Net took a nice video that he posted on his popular Farmacy Seeds Network YouTube channel. For those unable to make WFD, this may give a better glimpse into the shenanigans that happen at the event.

OMARC WFD 2020 Moments & Miracles

Starting around noon Saturday was the expected sleet and freezing rain, which was right on time! The good news was OMARC was ready to get on the air before the official start time of 2:00 PM. A few hours later, former OMARC President Ted K2MKD and a few others needed to leave and Steve K2GOG was kind enough to give them a ride down the trail to avoid getting wet.

Miracle #1: Rather than spend a few minutes to get out of the car to unlock the gate to turn around, Steve decided to do a three point turn that did not go as planned. The ice and rain created some pretty bad road conditions and he slid off the road, but safely navigated to a spot that would allow Master Yoda to use the Force to pull him from the icy trail side muck. 

Reality Check:   Mark from T and N Towing came by to assist with a flat bed tow truck and masterful winch skills to free Steve's RAV4. Not a single scratch happened thanks to Jedi like diligence and focus at the controls. Thanks Mark!! 

Stuck in mud , are you, hmmm yes?

Drive carefully one must during Winter Field Day 

Moment #2:

Kate KD2RYD attempted to get a few hours (minutes?) of sleep in her hammock slung under her ultralight tarp.

Miracle #3:    No one put graffiti on the N2HVD "Alice" camera that Steve K2GOG constructed.  The goal was to share and control video from on top of the Ferncliff Fire Tower. Due to technical difficulty on the ground, the 900 MHz link was not making contact, but local access over 2.4 GHz was possible.  A version 2.0 is being planned for the next event at Ferncliff Forest that does not weigh 14 pounds!  More about this in another soon to publish article.

Moment #4:  The OMARC team continues to do a great job showing the best way to run generators by following proper safety at all times.

Miracle #5:   Our new sign for Winter Field Day was still standing by the end of the event!

Miracle #6:  Not a single person went hungry or without a hot drink for the duration of the event.  Pizza, donuts, coffee and tea kept everyone running at top performance levels. Saturday night, Dave K2JLV cooked burgers and dogs, but no pictures of that seem to exist!

Charles KD2BID keeping a close eye on the coffee and tea pots. Cold pizza anyone?

Please visit the official Facebook page for more pictures and details about the Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club Winter Field Day. Hope to see you next year for another OMARC WFD!

               

                               Visit OMARC Facebook 

Walmart & Satellite Communications: AO-91

On a recent Saturday afternoon, April 28th 2018 to be precise, the AO-91 satellite was as active as ever with stations looking to make contact with one another across the Eastern and Central United States.

Walmart #1540 in South Haven Michigan

The AO-91 satellite rapidly passed over the Hyde Park, NY area at over 480 miles an hour which allowed for satellite reception for roughly 11 minutes using a portable antenna called an "Arrow II" and a Kenwood TH-D74 hand held radio which also can record audio. The software used to predict when the AO-91 would pass over my location was the ISS Detector application available on the Android Google Play store.

ISS Tracker application showing altitude, location, distance and speed from
location of K2GOG at time of AO-91 pass on April 28th 2018

Where are satellite users located?

Stations using this and other amateur radio satellites often use a 4 digit grid square identifier to quickly let others know where they are located since it is quicker than saying latitude/longitude, ZIP codes or town names. A grid square that covers the Hyde Park, NY area is FN31 for example.

Grid square boundaries and names in the New York area. Google Earth
with a Grid Square overlay was used to generate this image

Another and slightly more easy way is to use the store number of a Walmart location. Walmart parking lots serve as great locations to operate a portable satellite station since there are few obstructions in the way in most directions horizon to horizon.

Not the strangest thing seen at Walmart

People waving around an antenna in a Walmart parking lots is likely not the strangest thing to see at a Walmart.  Its easy to confirm this by doing a search for "strange sightings at Walmart".  At least if you want to avoid "radio active amateur radio operators", you can predict when they may be at a Walmart by using ISS Detector. Other potentially "radioactive" people are harder to predict at the 24/7 hour Walmart Superstore locations at 1:45 AM!

Frequencies for AO-91

Here is a table of of frequencies to know what to program into your radio

What does satellite communication sound like on AO-91?

Here is a sample recording of contacts being made on AO-91.  How many grid squares, Walmart locations and station call signs did you hear?

April 28th 1:30 PM ET 2018 AO-91 recording by K2GOG

Amateur Satellite Basics: Where, When & What to listen for

Interested in trying something new using your handheld VHF or UHF radio?  How about putting that old scanner to use or using one of those other bands not used in your "all mode/all band" HF radio?  What about using that $20 software defined radio dongle you may have gotten for Christmas?

Diana Eng photo with home made antenna in a 2009 Make magazine article.  Look here for more info

Consider satellite listening as your next adventure!

This article will only focus on when, where and what to listen for. Later articles will cover transmitting and other related best practices in using the amateur radio satellite constellation for your enjoyment.

What is out there to listen to?

The below chart from the radio amateur satellite corporation or AMSAT for short shows the name of current satellites and general usage patterns. As you can see, there is a lot floating and spinning around Earth that are amateur focused satellites.

Where to listen for these satellites?

There are sub-bands set aside for satellites and to ensure there is minimal interference from other users in different parts of the world or for those with other interests not related to satellite operations.

In the United States, the ARRL and FCC have negotiated a general band plan along with the ITU and other regulatory bodies such as OFCOM, JARL and many others. Here is a summary taken from the ARRL website for where these special allocations of frequencies exist for satellite only activity.

• 10m band  satellite down-link from 29.3 to 29.510 MHz
• 2m band new OSCAR sub band from 144.3 to 144.5 MHz
• 2m band linear translator inputs from 144.5 to 144.6 MHz
• 2m band linear translator outputs from 145.1 to 145.2 MHz
• 2m band OSCAR sub band from 145.8 to 146.0 MHz
• 70cm International satellite sub band from 435.0 to 438.0 MHz
• 23cm band satellite up-link sub band from 1260 to 1270 MHz
• 13cm band satellite sub band from 2400 to 2410 MHz

The above adds up to almost 24 MHz of total band width available for two way satellite communications.  Not included above are other frequencies available for "Earth-Moon-Earth" communications where you can bounce your signal off the moon as a passive repeater to communicate to other stations elsewhere on Earth. Also not included are frequencies at the 3.3 GHz, 5.6 GHz and 10 GHz frequency bands also used for satellite communication.

Have a look for more detail here on the ARRL website: http://www.arrl.org/band-plan 

Making it more simple

The below frequencies would be a good starting point for just listening, so save them into a radio that you have plenty of left over empty channels in or some other radio you do not use too often.

FM based satellites (down link frequencies)

• SO-50 on 436.795 MHz
• AO-85 on 145.980 MHz
• AO-91 on 145.960 MHz
• AO-92 on 145.880 MHz
• ISS on 145.800 MHz ( Over North America only)

There are a few others that can be looked up on the AMSAT website and the above are the most easy to listen for currently.  https://www.amsat.org/fm-satellite-frequency-summary/ 

SSB based satellites (down link frequencies)

• FO-29 on 435.8 to 435.9 MHz 
• AO-73 on 145.950 to 145.970 MHz

These will be in side band mode and may either be USB or LSB depending on what is sent up via up link and is then inverted on the way down. Other SSB or "transponder" satellites can be found here: https://www.amsat.org/two-way-satellites/

Data focused satellites (down link frequencies)

• APRS via the ISS on 145.825 MHz
• APRS via NO-44/PCsat on 145.825 MHz

There is a lot more not even touched on in this article such as FalconSat, LilacSat, XW-2 Series and others, but all the above should be easy to hear with even modest antennas such as a 3 element tape measure beam or a simple gain "rubber duck"

How to find when to listen?

There are many applications such as Orbitron, Gpredict and others for PC or MAC based computers, but are not very portable.  For an Android based smart phone, look for "ISS Detector" in the Google Play store. It does much more than just predict when the space station is overhead.

AMSAT has a prediction tool on its website here:  http://www.amsat.org/track/index.php

Also, NY2O has a great website as well for finding when to listen: http://www.n2yo.com/passes/amateur-radio.php 

Next steps?

K6KLS has a great website for getting started called http://www.work-sat.com and is worth having a look for more info.

There are also a number of dedicated discussions taking place on Echolink, D-Star and DMR where satellite enthusiasts gather to talk about best practices, so have a look at the HVDN activity calendar to learn more.