Month: February 2022

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What Does Amateur Radio Mean To Me?

If you have never heard about Amateur Radio, then welcome. I hope I can help explain what it is.

If however, you are already a bit curious about Amateur Radio and have started researching it on the World Wide Web (WWW), then you have probably already learned that Amateur Radio means many different things to many people. Sometimes these differing view points can lead us back to the same question.

“What is this thing they call Amateur Radio?”

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), a department of the Canadian Federal Government defines Amateur Radio as:

“a radiocommunication service in which radio apparatus are used for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication or technical investigation by individuals who are interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest.”. So essentially, in Canada it is a segment of the Electro-Magnetic Specctrum (EMS) where individuals can use radios for training, communicating and investigating without the aim of making money.

This statement is accurate and described in the regulations governing Amateur Radio operators in Canada. But, I don’t feel that this would be a good description to use when trying to communicate the hobby to the curious or newcomer. In this article I want to take a more exploratory approach to defining Amateur Radio. These views are a bit more personal for me and based off of what I have learned about the hobby so far.

By the end of the article I hope that you will have started to develop your own definition of what Amateur Radio means to you, or maybe influence your current thinking. To help facilitate this discovery we will take a look at the term Amateur Radio, break it down to its component parts, examine the meaning of those parts and combine those individual meanings back together.

Throughout this process I will share a few of my own perspectives based on my personal experiences. Of course, by considering my own experiences I will likely be incorporating my own bias that I bring to the analysis. To round out this personal exploration we will finish off with a list of 10 cool activities that many radio amateurs are doing.

I feel that by looking at the activities associated with Amateur Radio we can move beyond a debate of definitions and move towards a practical examination of what being part of the hobby means. Once you know what Amateur Radio means to you, then you get to decide if it is something you want to include into your life.

While this article has a more personal focus, this is only one of many sides to the story. An exploration to understand what Amateur Radio is all about would not be complete without consulting a few other perspectives including those organizations that have a mandate or specific role to play in defining Amateur Radio. In the article About The Amateur Radio Service In Canada, we looked at how different authoritative groups define Amateur Radio in Canada. We also compared and contrasted international views, views from the United States as well as the Internet commons at large via Wikipedia.

Before moving on from this page after reading the complete article I invite you to reflect on how you would describe Amateur Radio before landing on this page. Compare your intial perspective to either some of the ideas presented here or perhaps a new view you have developed. Has your view evolved or reamined the same? Either way, please take a few moments to leave your comments below and share what amateur radio means to you.

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A Simplified Description

Do you ever have moments where you think about a phrase or specific word long enough that it looses all meaning? You try saying it different ways at different speeds, but you keep coming back to thinking the words are just a collection of noises that mean nothing? I find this often happens to me when I talk to fellow amateur radio operators about what make amateur radio what it is.

Lets start with my own first atempt at a simplistic summary of Amateur Radio:

a social and technical hobby for those interested in learning about wireless technology.

There we go, that was easy. But what does that mean? Oh. Lets go a bit further.

What Is In A Name?

In my university days (1999-2003) I studied Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism at Lakehead University. When we weren’t exploring how to facilitate outdoor adventures or lead expeditions, we explored and tried to define things such as play, recreation, liesure, travel, tourism and parks. What was the difference between play and games or games and sports? Of course, everyone across genders, experiences and cultures always agreed, right? Not a chance. If you ask 100 radio amateurs what the hobby is to them, you’d likely get 125 different answers because at least some of would not even agree with our first definition and change it on the fly.

While at University, I also picked up a philosophy minor in occupational ethics where we spent a good chunk of time trying to define other things like quality, good, ethical and meanigful. We wanted a way to discover the true meaning of something. We wanted the truth. But could we handle the truth? I think one of many truths about Amateur Radio is that it is constantly evolving, morphing and changing. A definition we settle on today is useless tomorrow.

Good times were had by most in these classed. I personally loved these kinds of enquiries. I especialy enjoyed logical sylagisms and techniques of categorization. For example, a sylagism might read as

The moon is round
Cheese is round
Therefore, the moon is made of cheese

Of course this is flawed due to various logical falicies, but I don’t remember which one. We can assume it is wrong though right? Or can we? OK, Back to Amateur Radio.

Radios are fun
Being an amateur can be fun
Therefore, Amateur Radio is fun

As fun as amateur radio is I am sure there is a glaring logical falicy here too. Lets get back to basics.

Back To Basics

We have one term to define that is composed of two words, Amateur and rRadio. So lets break it down another way. Lets flip the question on its head. The answer then becomes clear, Amateur Radio must be Radio For Amateurs.

Are we done now? Ok, Ok. Just trying to have some fun here. So where next?

Dictionaries are a great to for defining things. I grew up with copies of the Marriam-Webster dictionary in my childhood house, I brought one with me when I went away for university and I now have a copy in a box somewhere in my current house of my family of creation. So lets ask Marriam-Webster about these words.

Lets try again to work backwards starting with Radio.

radio noun
Definition:
1a the wireless transmission and reception of electric impulses or signals by means of electromagnetic waves
1b the use of these waves for the wireless transmission of electric impulses into which sound is converted

Source: Marriam-Webster.com – radio

OK, that is a start. I remember studying something about electric impulses and signals when I prepped for my Basic and Advanced Qualifications.

What about the word Amateur

amateur noun
Definition
1 : one who engages in a pursuit, study, science, or sport as a pastime rather than as a profession
2 : one lacking in experience and competence in an art or science

Source: Marriam-Webster.com – amateur

Yes, this resonates with me. While I used to be an outdoor experiential educator and wilderness guide I now work in the fields of Information Technology, Data and Information Management. So radio is certainly a past time for me, not a profession. As a rookie amateur being licensed less than 3 years I also lack experience and competence so I think I meet the definition of amateur.

Lets revisit my simplistic definition and update it a bit

A social hobby for amateurs in pursuit of the study and science related to the practices and technology of wireless transmission and reception

I think we are getting closer now. We can describe something many different ways. For example using your own senses, external sensors, analogies and lists to name a few. I think we have done that a bit now. Another useful way to describe a thing is describing what it is not.

If Amateur Radio is not its own opposite, what might be the opposite of Amateur Radio be? Well I can’t think of an opposite of Radio (maybe a black hole?), however when thinking of the opposite of Amateur, the term professional comes to mind. Lets try that out.

professional adjective
Definition
1: relating to a job that requires special education, training, or skill
2: done or given by a person who works in a particular profession
3: paid to participate in a sport or activity

I think we might have something to work with here. Lets test if professional is an appropriate opposite for amateur in the context of amateur radio.
1. To pass the qualifying exams for amateur radio you would likely benefit from special education and training, but you don’t really need any skill to start. However, over time, you will get skills too. So this part fails the opposites test as you will need special training and eventually you will develop the associated specialized skills.
2. So if for a moment we consider Amateur Radio to be a profession in loose terms and you attend a course where you pay an instructor to teach you about that profesion, then they would become a professional. So the second points also fails the opposite test.
3. As an extension of the “amateur radio instructor” example what about if we got paid to operate the actual radio on the amateur airwaves? I am pretty sure this would go against regulations, specifically Radio Information Circular 3 (RIC-3), but lets not disect regulations here.

So, now we have learned that certain aspects of Amateur Radio run counter to some of the motivations of professional radio operators. Mainly, you can not get paid to transmit or recieve messages using the Amateur Radio bands. In Canada, professionals in the field of broadcasting tend to get licensed to operate through various commercial broadcast radio services including the AM and FM radio broadcast bands. These would be your local radio stations. Other examples would include commercial TV broadcasters or radio operators using emergency band allocations such as police, fire and ambulance.

Lets revisit the modified definition we have for Amateur Radio. I now remember that definitions should not be circul by including the words to be defined.

Amateur Radio is:
A social hobby composed of non-professionals in pursuit of the study and science of wireless technology who are not financialy compensated for their use or development of practices and techniques used in transmitting or receiving messages by means of electromagnetic waves

Hey, that’s pretty cool how we got here actually. Not too painful. While I think this definition is accurate, it is starting to get a bit lengthy. And not that it matters right now but I sense some alignment with the ISED definition listed at the top of this article. So lets see if we can simplify this a bit.

A Personal Approach To Defining Amateur Radio

When I was first starting off in amateur radio in 2020 I started sharing some of my adventures with my neighbour, he decided to gift me a notebook for amateur radio. On the cover it aptly described the hobby as…

Amateur Radio:
/noun/:
a hobby,
where people talk about their hobby
using their hobby

From this I gather that Amateur Radio is a hobby. While a bit tongue in cheek, it is also accurate. However, until you get more into the hobby it might not resonate for you. After some time in the hobby it becomes clear why this statement is not only clever and true, but also pretty funnny. Lets add it in to our running definition.

Amateur Radio is:
A social hobby where non-professionals share and talk about their personal pursuit of the study and science of wireless technology through the development of practices and techniques used in transmitting or receiving messages by means of electromagnetic waves while not being financialy compensated to do so.

This is probably the best definition I have come across yet. I like it for a number of reasons, it is sufficiently vague and non committal whith a side order of tounge in cheek. However it may not be the widest accepted view or help our newcomers to the hobby.

Lets put the definition building on hold for a bit and step back. While a single paragraph might try to grasp the essence of Amateur Radio I want to take a slightly different tact.

Based on my experience as an amateur radio operator to date, I would describe Amateur Radio as:

Amateur Radio
* A Hobby of over 1000 inter-related hobbies where radio communication and propagation are the common intersection
* A collection of community services supported by radio technology including emergency and event communications
* An opportunity for continued education and self-training related to wireless technology outside of traditional educational environments including self discovery and experimentation.
* A social platform supporting human connections between other amateur radio operators regardless of their generation, gender, social cast, political views or geographic location, including outer space
* A framework for conducting technical investigations and experiments related to wireless technology
* A community of individuals who are interested in radio techniques motivated by personal aim rather than financial interest

We have tried a few different approaches to defined amateur radio. We started with an official definition from ISED, the Canadian communications regulator. We then tried decomposing its root terms and having fun building back up a working definition. I have also shared my own views of what amateur radio means to me which I think could resonate with other like minded folks. Now lets see how the regulators and national organizations that support our hobby define amateur radio.

There are many potential ways to define amateur radio. One approach I find resonates with folks is to describe what amateur operators are doing in the hobby. The hobby itself has been described as “the hobby of 1000 hobbies“, because many operators combine their various passions from the outdoors to science and astronomy with radio to come up with a number of unique and exciting niche activities.

An Experiential Approach To Defining Amateur Radio

If you had to describe your favourite hobby or sport or passtime to someone, say an alien, how would you describe it? While we have tried defining what Amateur Radio is and isn’t we have taken a largely academic approach. What if we looked at the hobby not from an outsider’s perspective looking in, like a specimen on a petrie dish, but rather from the inside out.

By sharing with others what kinds of experiences we have as Amateur Radio operators I wonder if we might spark some curiosity and interest in others. Maybe a few of those sparks might lead people to attend a local event, join a local club or one day become an operator.

Here are just a few Amateur Radio activities that I find personally exciting and often associate as being unique to the hobby:
1. Join a local club for social events, presentations and training related to radio
1. Talk to friends in your neighbourhood on the radio
1. Join a weekly network or Net using a local repeater to discuss various aspects of the hobby
1. Organize an ARISS event at a local school where students can talk to astronauts through the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
1. Communicate with other amateurs around the world using Amateur Radio Satelites orbiting the earth.
1. POTA: Go to a provincial or national park to set up your radio(s) and make contacts with other operators (Parks On the Air)
1. SOTA: Hike to the top of a hill or mountain with a radio to activiate the summit by contacting others (Summits On the Air)
1. Travel to distant and foreign locations to activate specific geographic grids as part of a DxPedition
1. Launch high altitude balloons equipped with radio beacons and track their progress around the world with a network of other observers
1. Learn about electricity, electronics and circuits to build useful gadgets from kits or from scratch. The hobby has a large maker community making evertything from useful gadgets, to full radios. Some even build Amateur Radio CubeSats to be launched into space to orbit the earth.

These 10 examples only scratch the surface of what Amateur Radio has to offer. What I like about them is that they don’t only involve radio technology for the sake of radio, but rather the radio supports other pursuits, achievements or understanding. For me sometimes amateur radio is about the radio, I like geeking out over radio. But most of the time amateur radio is about what you can do with a radio.

I achieved my Basic Qualification in July 2020, my son Vaill was born in August 2020. I had heard about amateur operators operating “bike mobile”, meaning they had radios hooked up on their bikes. I thought what made sense for me to combine two new hobbies, being Amateur Radio and Parenting was to operate “Stroller mobile”. With my Handy Talkie, stroller and son I would walk around my neighbourhood, stop at a park and try to connect to local repeaters. Then I would move onto the next target. I really looked forward to my daily walks with Vail and my radio.

I may have encouraged him to babble on their air for the first time in his first six months. So there we have it, Amateur Radio plays at the intersection of your passions and life.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Amateur Radio is stilll many things to many people. For some it is a hobby, others it is a service. For some it is about working Morse Code (CW) and others it is about digital modes between computers. For me personaly, Amateur Radio is about the people in the hobby and the activities they do that can include a radio.

We explored the meaning of Amateur Radio from the perpsective of a regulator and a publisher of dictionaries. We explored a philisophical and logical approach as well. We rounded out the exploration by being less anlytical and more introspective by sharing what amateur operators do.

While I enjoy the process of analysing the world around me, I often end the process with more questions than I started. More avenues to explore than I have time for and have likely confused others along the way. And this is all good, because this is my journey and I own what amateur radio means to me.

But just for the fun of it lets try one more time to plant a flag somewhere on the beach head. Here we go.

For Dave Sampson Amateur Radio Means:
A federally regulated hobby for technical people who enjoy socializing at a distance over the airwaves with other geeks while combining endless other hobbies to create a community where non-professionals share and talk about their personal pursuit of the study and science of wireless technology through the development of practices and techniques used in transmitting or receiving messages by means of electromagnetic waves while not being financialy compensated to do so, but having a heck of a lot of fun in the process.

Does this sound like something you could get into?

As I have mentioned multiple times, Amateur Radio is many things to many people. I feel that when I first started this hobby I had a pretty narrow view of what Amateur Radio was all about. But it did not take long for me to go “stroller mobile” or spend several evenings to try and hammer out my own meaning of Amateur Radio.

Take Action: Start Your Own Adventure in Amateur Radio

I hope that by now you can see that being a radio amateur is not about being a professional reporter, broadcaster or an electrical engineer. Its about diving into the weird and wonderful world of wireless technology, combining it with your existing passions and making the hobby your own.

Take moment to drop me a note in the comments section and share either your view on amateur radio or this article. Are you a new or returning ham? Maybe you are just starting to explore amateur radio, or maybe you are returning to the hobby now that kids have moved out and retirement is in sight. Where will you take it and who will you motivate to follow you?

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About Rookie

About The Amateur Radio Service In Canada

What is this Amateur Radio that you speak of?

If you have never heard about Amateur Radio, then welcome. I hope I can help explain what amateur radio is. If however, you are already a bit curious about Amateur Radio and have started researching it on the World Wide Web (WWW), then you have probably already learned that Amateur Radio means many different things to many people. Sometimes these differing view points can lead us back to the same question.

In this article I hope to shed some light on what Amateur Radio means in Canada. I hope that by reading this article you will gain a better understanding of the various views of amateur radio from different sources. From our Canadian federal regulator to the national advocacy groups, Amateur Radio remains different things to different groups. In contrast to a purely Canadian view I will also shed light on how Amateur Radio is defined in the international community, our friendly neighbours to the south, as well as a Wikipedia.

While it is valuable to consider, compare and contrast the views of regulators and advocay groups, you may also want to consider the views of Amateur Radio operators themselves. In the article What Does Amateur Radio Mean To Me? I had a bit of fun in exploring what Amateur Radio means to me. Throughout the process I hope that you and others will start to develop your own definition of Amateur Radio. To help facilitate this discovery I take a look at the term Amateur Radio, break it down to its component parts, examine the meaning of those parts and combine those individual meanings back together.

Ok, are you thinking that an article containing a bunch of official definitions is not your cup of tea? If you are up for the challenge I invite you to complete this article now and spend a few moments to compare these definitions to your own definition of Amateur Radio. Maybe one of the organizations has captured the essence of the hobby, or perhaps you don’t see yourself in any of the descriptions provided. Maybe your view evolved a bit or maybe it remained the same? Either way, please take a few moments to leave your comments below and share what amateur radio means to you.

Who Defines Amateur Radio in Canada?

In Canada there are generally three authorities that work to define what Amateur Radio is in this country and how it is governed. The first and most dominant authority is Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), a department of the Canadian Federal Government. The second is Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC), a national membership driven advocacy organization. The third is Fédération des clubs radioamateurs du Québec (RAQI).

Lets take a look at each of these authorities in turn to see if we have concensus amongst the leaders of Amateur Radio in Canada. Take a moment and write down your prediction. Do they all agree, all disagree or maybe only some agree? Lets find out.

A Regulatory View of Amateur Radio In Canada

ISED is the Canadian federal department responsible for Broadcasting and Telecommunications regulations which includes “Broadcasting, distribution and spectrum licences, telecommunications standards, certification and more.” Canada administers several radio services including AM and FM broadcast radio, the Family Radio Service (FRS), General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS), General Radio Service (aka Citizen’s Band or CB radio) and the Amateur Radio Service to name just a few.

ISED defines The Amateur Radio Service as:

“a radiocommunication service in which radio apparatus are used for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication or technical investigation by individuals who are interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest.”. So essentially, in Canada it is a segment of the Electro-Magnetic Specctrum (EMS) where individuals can use radios for training, communicating and investigating without the aim of making money.

(ISED source (2022): Introduction to Amateur Radio Service )

National Advocay of Amateur Radio in Canada

Where ISED is the federal regulator, the interests of Amateur Radio Operators in Canada are represented by two seprate organizations. In their Amateur Radio Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section, ISED refers readers wanting more information about Amateur Radio to reach out to both Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) for Canadians in general and the Federation des Clubs Radioamateur du Quebec (RAQI) specifically for Canadians residing in Quebec.

It looks like RAC takes a slightly different spin than ISED when answering the question of what is amateur radio.

RAC describes Amateur Radio as :

“a form of communication; a hobby; a community service.”

RAC further explains that

“Even though Amateur Radio conversations may be heard around the world by anyone with a suitable radio receiver, given the right frequency and propagation conditions, Amateur Radio is basically two-way communication between Radio Amateurs.”

(RAC Source (2022): How To Begin)

RAQI takes a slightly different approach still from ISED and RAC. Based on what I could find on their website, RAQI defines Amateur Radio by describing what an Amateur Radio Operator is. I will include the original french followed by an English translation.

“Les radioamateurs sont des personnes qui appartiennent à toutes les couches de la société, peu importe l’âge, le sexe ou les capacités physiques. Les radioamateurs sont présents aussi dans la communauté lors de certains évènements.”

Using Google Translate, this translates to:

“Radio amateurs are people from all walks of life, regardless of age, gender or physical ability. Radio amateurs are also present in the community during certain events.”

(RAQI Source (2022): Par ou commencer)

Amatuer Radio Through a Global Lense

To understand better what amateur radio is in a global context there is an international organization with a perspective to consider. The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) describes itself as:

“the worldwide voice of radio amateurs, securing and safeguarding the amateur radio spectrum since 1925”.

(IARU Source (2022): iaru.org).

In its constitution and bylaws, the IARU defines two radio services:

Amateur Service: A radiocommunication service for the purpose of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations carried out by amateurs, that is, by duly authorized persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest.

Amateur Satellite Service: A radiocommunication service using space stations on earth satellites for the same purposes as those of the amateur service.

(IARU Source (2022): IARU Constitution).

Influences From Our Neighbours.

Like Canada, many other countries have their own governing body for Amateur Radio. The most influential country for Canadian Amateur Radio operators in this respect is the United States of America . If you are a new or current Canadian Amateur Radio Operators it would be beneficial to familiarize yourself with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) sometimes referred to as “The League”. Like ISED in Canada, the FCC manages the Amateur Radio Service.

The FCC Defines the amateur radio and amateur-satellite service as

“for qualified persons of any age who are interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest”.

Meanwhile the ARRL defines amateur radio as

“a popular hobby and service that brings people, electronics and communication together. People use ham radio to talk across town, around the world, or even into space, all without the Internet or cell phones. It’s fun, social, educational, and can be a lifeline during times of need.”

(ARRL Source (2022): What is Ham Radio)

The large portion of Amateur Radio content that Canadians will find on the internet has been generated by Americans, generally for other Americans. While most of this content is universally accessible and useful, new and aspiring amateur operators should consider what sources of information they are referencing. For example, band plans between Canada and the UNited states may be simmilar, but may not be eact matches. Also, the way that amateur radio is governed, and enforced, including the laws and regulations associated with that governance can be significantly different.

View From the Digital Commons

Finally lets take a look at Wikipedia. I like referencing Wikipedia because the articles there tend to be influenced by many different sources. The wikipedia entry for Amateur Radio states:

“Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communication. The term “amateur” is used to specify “a duly authorised person interested in radioelectric practice with a purely personal aim and without pecuniary interest;” (either direct monetary or other similar reward) and to differentiate it from commercial broadcasting, public safety (such as police and fire), or professional two-way radio services (such as maritime, aviation, taxis, etc.).”

(wikipedia Source (2022):Amateur Radio)

The Wikipedia entry actually does a nice job of combining together some of the elements we find in the two country regulators (ISED and FCC) as well as the IARU. It also takes a broader view that includes some of the nuances about the people in the hobby and the activities they undertake.

Becoming an Amateur Radio Operator In Canada?

Anybody can participate in the many aspects of the hobby without needing to buy equipment. However, this often involves needing to attend an event or finding a local amateur to use their gear under their supervision. To fully explore what amateur radio has to offer you should consider becoming a licensed amateur radio operator. This involves studying for and successfully completing a Basic Qualification exam.

At some point you may decide you are wanting to dive deeper and become a licensed operator.
In Canada, amateur radio is administered by ISED which also governs the process by which Amateur Radio Operators become qualified to operate. To achieve you operators qualification, you need to write an exam provided by ISED and proctored by a qualifed examiner, often another fellow amateur. If writing a government exam sounds too daunting, relax, you have a whole community of other amateurs that have developed some great resources.

I hope that you invite myself and other amateurs along for the ride. We want you to suceed and can help you get started. Please reach out and connect.

Throughout this site you will find articles and resources that will help you explore the Amateur Radio hobby. So that you can stay up to date with new content as it comes out I suggest you subscribe to my mailing list and if you are on Twitter then follow me @ve3fcq.

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Events Field Day Field Notes Rookie

Winter Field Day 2022 Notes for VE3FCQ

Preamble

2022 marks my first participation in Winter Field Day (WFD2022) which is an exciting amateur radio operating event. I operated for only a few hours on Saturday January 29, 2022 and Sunday January 30, 2022 but I still achieved 74 contacts and 2 multiplier points for a total score of 148. Provinces X and Regions Y. In this post I aim to share a bit more about Winter Field Day, my experience, lessons learned and personal notes to review when I give it another try next year. As a reader I hope to offer you some insights into my motivations for operating this events as well as what approach I take when operating.

If you are new to the Amateur Radio Hobby, or a newly returning ham, welcome. Please keep in mind that as of the time of this blog post I will have had my license for 1.5 years. So please assume that I may be wrong about everything technical. What I am trying to share is mainly my personal experience with WFD2022 and some of my understanding of what I think I know.

If you are an experienced operator and see some glaring issues, omissions or full on false hoods, please be kind. I am of course open to actionable feedback and corrections, but insults and shaming won’t help me become a better operator. Lets keep the comments section clean and productive.

Before we dive into the details I want to share some high level takeaways from my experience:
* Contesting is great for practicing
* My modest station will not likely rate high in the rankings.
* My overall experience aligned well with the purpose of the event
* Part of my strategy was to stick to a single band
* The other part of my strategy was to employ both the hunt and pounce technique followed by some sit and squawk technique
* Operating as single operator in a home setting still provided many opportunities for honing my operating skills
* This year I hope to move my operating out doors more often, which might include a revisit with WFD2023 operating outside.

Event Summary Details

This section highlights a summary of key details related to this event such as my call sign, station location, points earned and operating duration.

  • Station : VE3FCQ
  • Country: Canada
  • Province: Ontario
  • City: Ottawa
  • Grid:LB24PF
  • Maidenhead: FN25CG
  • Total QSO’s: 74
  • Total Multipliers: 2
  • Total Bonus Points: 0
  • Total Points: 148
  • Started Operating: 2022-01-30 15:58 (UTC) (earliest QSO Contact)
  • Ended Operating: 2022-01-30 18:16 (UTC) (Latest QSO Contact)
  • Category: 1H ONE

Weather and Sun

Historical weather for Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, for January 30, 2022 from Weatherunderground.com
* Measure: Actual (Historical Average)
* High: -10 C (-6.2 C)
* Low: -21 C (-15.6)
* Daily Average: -15.58 C (-10.6 C)
* Wind Max: 22 MPH
* Visibility: 24 (Miles?)
* Day Length: 9h 40m

Daylight Information for Ottawa, Ontario, Canada from timeanddate.com
* Dawn (Civil Twilight Start): 6:55am
* Sunrise: 7:25am
* Sunset: 5:05pm
* Dusk (Civil Twilight End): 5:37pm
* Daylight Hours: 9:41:00
* Solar noon: 12:15pm

Event Purpose

Every operating event or contest tends to have an expressed purpose. I have found that the clearer the purpose is communicated the better I can self evaluate how my activities were inline with the purpose of the event. The Winter Field Day Association (WFDA) identifies the purpose of Winter Field Day as:

“To foster Ham camaraderie, field operation, emergency operating preparedness, and just plain on the air, outdoor fun in the midst of winter for American, Canadian, and DX Hams. Don’t let those winter doldrums keep you locked up in the house… get out and play some radio!!”

WFD Rule Book 2022

About Winter Field Day

Winter Field Day (WFD) is an annual event for Amateur Radio Operators held over 24 hours of the last full weekend in January. Stations can begin setup no earlier than 14:00 (EST or GMT-5) on the Friday, with operations commencing no sooner than 14:00 on the Saturday and concluding no later than 14:00 on the Sunday. The purpose of this event is for Amateur Radio operators to test their emergency communications capability in the context of the North American Winter season.

Just like most operating events and contests, stations aim to achieve points by way of making contacts, also called QSO’s. The more contacts a station makes the more points it earns. Points can be further increased by achieving various bonus points and multipliers. Bonus points are awarded for stations operating at low power (aka QRP) and using non-commercial power (eg Battery, Solar, Generator)

Participants must choose a category for their operating station. Individuals or groups, operating either at their home or remotely. Remote operations are categorized as either indoors or outdoors. Operating remotely while indoors might include operating from a remote cabin while operating remotely outdoors might include from a picnic table, tent or shelter without side walls.

Winter Field Day is sponsored by the Winter Field Day Association (WFDA), a dedicated group of Amateur Radio Operators who believe that emergency communications in a winter environment is just as important as the preparations and practice that is done each summer but with some additional unique operational concerns. “Disasters are unpredictable by nature and can strike when you least expect them. WFDA’s goal is to help enhance your skills and ready you for all environmental conditions found in the US and Canada during the spring, summer, fall and winter Preparedness is the key to a professional and timely response during any event and this is what local and state authorities are expecting when they reach out to the emergency service groups that offer their services.” https://www.winterfieldday.com/

Learn more about Winter Field Day, including the WFD rules and log submission requirements.

Alignment with purpose

In this section I wanted to take some time to reflect on my experience participating in this event and assess how well aligned it was to the purpose of the event.

First, and foremost I have to say I had fun. For me, having fun means I am able to maintain my attention, get into “the zone” or “The flow” and experience a state of timelessness. That actually matches well with my undergraduate studies in Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Tourism and Lakehead University. As text book like as it may be, that would fit the bill for me. However, having fun does not translate into something that is too easy, nor particularly challenging, but rather something in the middle where I can see incremental improvement towards mastery but never actually achieving mastery.

I feel that I missed out on the experience of field operations since I operated inside my home. It would be easy enough to claim that the Canadian winters in Ottawa are un-predictable, and that was why I did not get out in the cold, however the truth is I had no intention of operating in the field this year. Field operations, however, are of great interest and I think would be a fun challenge. This is on my list of improvements for next year or at least future events and contests.

I think I managed some achievement in emergency operations though. While I did use “shore power” or “commercial power” I do have experience using a deep cycle RV Battery from my camper. I am currently in the process of building a home brew battery using Lithium Ion 18650 cells, so stay tuned. I think operating using batteries will be an improvement for next year. While the power may not have been “emergency power” I think there is lots to be said about the operating practice alone for emergency communications. Since the WFD rules state that broken QSO’s result in negative points it was important to ensure the QSO was complete. This meant chasing after a few stations as they faded into the static to ensure we both had what we needed.

The most surprising part of the overall purpose that I feel I achieved was camaraderie. I have have listened to many podcasts over the last year and a half, listening to stories of groups and clubs prepare for events like field day. So I could see hanging out with friends and playing radio all weekend would qualify as camaraderie. So how did this pan out for a one-hotel station? Well let me paint a picture for you.

I had been operating for close to 2 hours and was steadily building my QSO count (list of contacts in my log). I had been calling CQ for a while (asking if anyone was out there) and managing a steady flow of incoming radio traffic. At times there were even mini pile ups, which is radio speak for a line up of contacts waiting for me to respond to them, meaning I had to manage more than 1 responding station in sequence. Pile ups usually mean you are a on a role as you make a number of successive contacts.

I was starting to get tired and perhaps I should have taken a break, grabbed a snack and down some fluids. I was not copying (hearing and confirming) call signs and exchanges clearly and the band was starting to break apart. This one particular contact I was trying to copy was slipping into the static, they were a pretty weak station to start with and I had a heck of a time pulling their call sign out from the noise.

I had decided to notify them that I could not copy them and apologized for not completing the contact. Then, clear as day, I heard a second station come through. They were not claiming their spot as being next in line, but rather they were relaying the missing information to me. Often times while operating on the amateur bands two stations are too far apart or their signals are too weak to hear each other. However a station in the middle may be able to hear both signals and can act as a relay.

So get this, during a contest, a station that was competing against both myself and the other other station, could have waited until I called CQ again and grab me as an easy point and another entry in their log. They could have just as easily moved on to another frequency to pick up some other QSO’s. But instead they stuck around, listened to our exchange, picked up on the missing details and relayed them to me. I have to say that if I wasn’t already pumped full of adrenaline from the rush of the contest and if I was in a different state of mind at that point I might have actually cried. This experience highlights one of the things I appreciate about this hobby, people’s willingness to help and support a fellow operator.

This was a selfless act of kindness by a fellow operator who decided to help two fellow competitors ensure neither would submit a broken QSO in their log. I admit I did not see that one coming, completely unexpected. I was grateful. I had already given up on a number of weak signal contacts and self doubt was starting to crawl in about my operating skills. I started to wonder if fellow competitors were judging me as a rookie operator. While that may have been the case for some, it was not for the relaying station. This was the equivalent of a competitor in a marathon taking a moment to help a fellow runner get back on their feet while potentially harming their own progress.

What could be more amazing than this supportive act from another operator? Well I seem to recall this scenario happened 2 more times, where an exchange was supported by way of relay from a third party. Looking back on the experience I don’t ever recall seeing anything in the rules speaking to the use of relays, but even if sharing this publicly disqualifies my entries (Which would be pretty harsh), the experience will not be forgotten. If this event was to help operators practie for emergency situations, I could easily seen how one or more relays might need to be used to get the message through.

I’d like to end this section on an interesting observation. While there is a scoring and points system, no where in the purpose statement does it state that scoring or points are important to achieve the purpose of the event. What I like about the point system is not to compare myself to other operators, but rather that I now have a baseline to measure against for future events. To me, the scoring is a way to measure ones self improvement over ones comparative competence.

So by my assessment, I believe my experience met or exceeded the intended purposes of this event. I plan to be back next year.

Discussion

My contesting experience is very limited since I joined the hobby in 2020. Winter Field Day 2022 might be my fourth radio event or contest I have participated in. With each event I continue to find my stride and build both my confidence and skills while I continue to learn my radio setup and build up my QSO list.

I find that contests are actually a great opportunity to practice and play. My current station consists of a modest mobile HF setup from the 1970’s and a multi-band dipole wire antenna at 30ft. With this setup I do not anticipate that I will ever place in a notable ranking in a contest, however I hope that with a bit of reflection, blogging and note taking I can steadily improve my performance between events and year over year.

Planning

Little planning took place on my part for this event. For those who have never operated an event or contest, I can atest that you can get started with minimal planning. However, I can also say that with a bit more planning you can likely do much better. I was reminded of WFD2022 while listening to one of the many Amateur Radio podcasts I subscribe to. I placed the details in my personal and family calendars and discussed with my wife how we could work out a schedule that would balance family obligations with a bit of radio fun. It turned out that I only ended up operating for 1 hour on Saturday afternoon and just over 3 hours on Sunday. Operating for that 3 hours stretch was probably too long for me personally. Taking a few breaks and stretching out the operating intervals might have helped.

While I started warming up the radio I checked out the WFD2022 rules, which in retrospect I should have researched well before the event. Check out the WFD Contest rules 2022. It would also be a good idea to review the Contester’s Code of Ethics for reminders on how to share the bands during contests.

One of the biggest adjustments for my operating during WFD2022 was the exchange. I have become accustomed to exchanging a signal report and a serial number. Usually the signal report is simply a “5 by 9” or simply “59” (spoke five nine). During events and contests I don’t find many people give true signal reports. Probably because they are pretty subjective and S-meter readings are not a precise measure of signal strength or quality. Meanwhile a serial number is just a sequential number starting at 1 and incrementing by 1 after each contact. During Winter Field day, rather than exchanging a signal report and an serial number, your exchange is focused on the type of station you are and your location. This impacts what you enter into your logging software which generates a digital record of you contacts, or simply your log. Looking at a sample log also helps and could impact your strategy.

For instance for WFD2022 your exchange includes your region. There are set regions for ARRL (The Governing body in the US) and RAC (Governing body in Canada). In the event rules it gives examples of what your verbal exchange might be, such as “North Eastern Ontario”, however in the log section you will notice the expected entry is “ONE” which stands for “Ontario, North East” I noticed that while majority of contesters stuck to the phonetics of what is expected in the log, for example “Oscar November Echo”, there ere a hand full of operators who would say the full name. While I did study geography Canada I am not all that great at recalling all the state acronyms, then knowing the specific region.

So I appreciated the fact that I reviewed the rules and documentation which provided a lookup table, and it also meant I knew I had to capture the short form in my logs not the long form. These small nuances in the rules can have big impacts in how you operate and can help you maximize operating time. For example, when someone started using the long form I had to do a mental translation or look up the region, note down the short form then confirm I had the right short version. It also meant some operators wanted me to provide the long form for their logs. I am not sure what happens when they subitted their logs, because the extra spaces would look like extra collumns and the upload page would likely have generated errors for them. But I am not sure.

As well as doing some planning ahead of time to review the contest rules, you should plan for some time to wrap things up. For me, part of that process is this blog post. The simple act of recounting the event has helped solidify some concepts, like the rules, and confirm others, such as maybe I should do more planning next time. The other part too is that if you are operating in the field, you need to plan some time to take down your station, pack it up and then unpack it when you get home. The process of moving from a cold outdoor environment to a warm moist car, back to the cold and into a warm and moist house can result in condensation not just on electronics but also other pipeces of gear and clothing. Essentially operating outdoors can be similar to lauching a camping trip with the added sensitivities of electronics, batteries, solar pannels, chairs, tables, feedline, antennas and collection of connectors, tools and analyzers. No wonder, many field operators maintain their own field kit instead of moving their shack station.

While it will require more planning, and likely prior practice and rehearsals, moving my station to the field in winter or any time of year is on my list of compentencies to build this year. So this spring, summer and fall, I hope the COVID situation starts to stabilize, increasing my comfort level with getting back outside camping and going to parks, summits, campgrounds or even my backyard. Playing some radio in the out doors would be good preparation for WFD 2023.

Station Details

My station operated in the category of single operator (1) from home (h) located in Eastern Ontario (ONE). Therefore the information I had to send to other stations as part of my exchange was “1H ONE”. Because of propagation and many weak signals, both sides tended to use phonetics, for example I would send “one-hotel oscar-november-echo” (1H ONE). Since I was running from my house as my regular QTH I used my usual HF radio powered to 100 Watts or less from a power supply, so no bonus points were achieve for operating off grid or out of doors.

I just recently switched my main station from operating off of a deep cycle RV-Batter to a dedicated power supply. I acquired an Astron VS-35M power supply when I local ham was moving back to their native Ireland after retirement. It is a 35A variable Linear Power Supply capable of 13.8 Vdc peak output. It has both a Ammeter and a volt meter as well as matching adjustment knobs. The knobs pretty much stay put both close to their max. The supply when turned on in a quiet room has a bit of a hum and I can feel a light vibration in my desk since the shelf it is sitting on is touching my desk. But, a ham shack is seldom a quiet place and so the hum does not intrude normal operations.

The radio I used was a Kenwood TS-120S with a band selector for 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m and 10m. Unlike other events, for WFD2022 I decided to stick to 40m for the duration of the event. The TS-120s is an older radio, circa late 1970’s and represents one of the earlier solid state mobile HF rigs. Check out this 1979 Advertisement for the TS-120s. A note of interest for me was the inclusion of the “NB” button or “Noise Blanker”. Before learning much about this radio I thought it would be good at getting rid of surrounding noise and radio frequency interference, maybe an early type of noise cancellation. In fact, I later learned its primary purpose was to remove the “hum” of the alternator in your car when operating vehicle mobile. The contest limited power this year to 100 Watts or less. Since the TS-120s is rated at 100 watts Max it fit the bill perfectly.

To impedance match the radio and the antenna system I am using an MFJ Deluxe Versa Tuner II. I don’t know how old mine is, but it looks identical to the MFJ-949E Deluxe Versa Tuner II currently being sold by DX Engineering. While the TS-120s could likely handle the VSWR of my 50 Ohm radio, 50Ohm coax and 75 Ohn dipole resulting in SWR of maybe 1-2:1, I find using the tuner also helps to attenuate local man made interference (QRM) including some strong local AM Broadcast stations.

Connecting my antenna impedance matching unit (some call this an antenna tuner) to my feedline leading to the antenna I have a 75 Ohm Low Pass Filter. I probably don’t need this, however it feels like it belongs in the system, even if it does indicate 75 Ohm. Some day I hope to build some dedicated band pass filters for 80, 40, 20, 15, 10 as well as am AM broadcast band blocking filter to antennuate local noise. Until I spend some more time messing around with the system and re-doing my measurement the low pass filter will stay.

My feedlines consist of various RG-8A/U or similar, 50 Ohm coaxial cable with a couple of male-male barrel connectors to extend their lengths. While in theory this might result in some loss, in practice it does not register on any of my testing and sensing equipment. The coax feedline exits the house through a cold air intake for the furnace after running through 5-6 ftp of steel HVAC pipes as part of the cold combustion air sink for my furnace room and travels up a 30 ft mast to a home brew tri-bander dipole for 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m. Because I am using HVAC pipe as par tof my exit out of my house coax seems to be the best choice since balanced feedline does not like to be close to metal.

For managing logs I have been using PyQSO. I tend to look for, use, learn and contribute to Free and Open Source Software and I operate Linux based operating systems on my computers including (Ubuntu Linux)[https://ubuntu.com/]. So PyQSO is a nice lightweight logging software. It has its quirks, but works for me most of the time.

My PC was built as a bare bones kits many years ago. I won’t go into the details here since the computer is only used for logging and maybe a peak at QRZ.com or the Inovation, Science and Economic Development Canada website to perform call sign lookups.

Operating Strategy

As an operator, I have been experimenting with many operating strategies. During events like Winter Field Day I get the opportunity to try on new approaches to see what fits. As a rookie with less than two years of operating experience I don’t feel I have my own operating style yet and my strategies are sill maturing. I pick u lots of ideas through podcasts, youtube videos and listening to operators on the air. In this section I’ll share my approach at a high level that seemed to work for me during WFD2022.

When I walk into my shack to play some radio I start by flicking the red switch of my Astron power supply and then my TS-120s. While they are “warming up” I get the logging software ready on one monitor and pull up the event rules on the other monitor. I position the Radio and the impedance matching unit where I can easily access them. I switch the matching unit to bypass mode, and tune to the middle of the band I plan to use. Over the last year and a half I have been keeping notes on what Transmitter and Antenna matching settings work best so I don’t need to do a full tuning procedure.

Having some pre-sets gets me started but I still tune to the middle of the band, ensure the frequency is clear, announce my presence on the frequency and ask if the frequency is in use. If the frequency is clear, I switch over to the matching unit’s dummy load and do a quick tune using the CW mode on my radio and slowly increase power. This gets me to the ball park. However I find that I still need to do the same procedure on-air to truly match the feedline and antenna that lays beyond the matching unit. I ensure the band is still free and do as brief of a tune up as I can on-air. Then I release the frequency. Now my system is matching and maximum power from the radio is now traveling down the full system.

Since my regular operating tends to be in the evenings after my toddler son goes to bed I tend to spend lots of time on 80m. If I operate during the day I will travel around on all the bands from 10 to 80 but focusing on 20-80. For past contests I think I likely moved around the bands too often. For WFD2022 I decided to try sticking to one band to see how it goes. I chose the 40m band.

While this may have limited the number of contacts I might have received, it did afford me the opportunity to become “band aware”. Band awareness is when you can start to sense or visualize what is going on with the band, not only who is operating on that band but what the behaviour of the band is. This is something I had not purposely tried before.

The 40m band is divided into into various allocations for different operating modes such as CW, Digital and Phone. Because I am only operating HF Phone (Voice) using the Single Side Band (SSB) mode, I still had a large segment of the band to use. To help visualize the band I use the RAC Band Plan info graphic for 0-30 Mhz. I find the color coded sections for the various modes help me mentally visualize the band. I keep this band plan handy when ever I operate HF.

As I look back on my logs to write this blog I now see an error in my ways. As I spent a lot of time on 7.176 Mhz, I realize now I was too close to a segment of the band reserved for TV. I should have moved up closer to 7.178 Mhz. Read more about this lesson learned in Being Band Aware ON the HF Frequencies

Deciding to work only the 40m band during this event meant that I did not need to adjust any antenna and feedline matching. Unless you have a perfectly matched system, operating using only a single antenna, running QRP (low power) or have an automatic antenna matching unit, when you change bands you often need to re-tune the system. Even in my case where I have written down the ideal settings to match the system, there are many factors that can cause your SWR to be significant even with minor adjustments. For example, I have learned that small changes in turning the impedance matching knobs can mean the difference between 100 watts out or 10 watts out. So staying on a single band helped me decrease the time consumed in fine adjustment tuning.

So my rig is warmed up, I have committed to the 40m band, found the centre frequency of the band, which is also where the antenna should be resonant and I have taken a few moments to do some “tuning” into a dummy load and fine tuning on air. I am now ready to play.

The TS 120s has a number of knobs, switches, buttons and big inviting frequency dial. Modern rigs (radios) have even more bells and whistels on them. What I find though is that there are really only 3 settings I adjust often. These are the AF Gain or AFG (Audio Frequency), RF Gain or RFG (Radio Frequency) and the frequency dial that interfaces with the Varialbe Frequency Oscilator (VFO). The AFG and RFG share the same real estate. The AFG sits at the middle of the knob while the RFG is a ring that surrounds the AFG. The VFO dial sits centre of the console. Anyone can turn on a radio to listen or talk. Talking might be scary for some people, as it was surprisingly for me, but it does not take much skill. One skill though that will get you far in this hobby as an operator is the ability to pick the weak signals out of the strong noise of the band. To do that the operator needs to find the right balance between the AFG, RFG and VFO settings. I have a long to way to go befor I get in my 10,000 hours to master this balance.

The purpose of WFD2022 like other events is to have fun while making contacts. There are two primary states when operating a radio, you are either transmitting or receiving. To make contacts you need to do both, but rarely do they both happen at the same time. If you are receiving, you are looking for signals. If you are transmiting you are making signals. When my radio is on I am either hunting and pouncing or sitting and squawking. Before deciding on doing either I take a walk along the band, its time to spin the dial.

To get a lay of the band, I like to start with a spin up and down the band, just to get a feel. During contest or event weekends you can hear the pileups. Not as words that you can make up but rather tightly packed and often evenly spaced chirps and beebs. When I hit an interesting patch I slow down and note the frequency, not exactly, just generally. I move back and forth at an increasingly slower speed. Still too fast to tune in clearly but slow enough to distinguish if there are multiple signals or only one. I look at the readout and make a mental note to come back. Up and down the band I spin the dial a few more times.

Now that I know there is action on the band I like to start with a bit of hunt and pounce. I like to think of a good hunt and pounce session as hearding. I start with a big broad arc, a curve even. Then over time I create a tighter circle until I find a good signal.

While moving up and down the band I have three settings to keep in mind. The AFG, RFG and VFO. The broad search starts with the AFG turned to slightly above 1, where I can hear the static, and the RFG is wide open at 10. At this setting there is lots of static and you can hear many signals. But it is hard to pick the signals out from the noise. But that is OK. I find in this setting you can find the stronger stations. The static is there but strong stations come in clear. You may have to turn down the AFG a bit. So I travel up and down the band picking out the strong signals and picking up a few contacts. These are the easy prey sitting outside the heard.

Next I try to find another slightly weaker signal. To bring it out from the noise I tune the VFO for maximum signal, which likely includes maximum static. I wait for them to start talking, and then move the RFG down to maybe 8 or 9 and the AFG up slightly to 2-3. I play a bit with the VFO for maximum signal again until they come in clearly. Then I travel up and down the band with these settings picking out the medium signals. Each time I bring down the RFG and bring up the AFG and fine tune the VFO. This way I can pick out the weaker signals.

Hunting and pouncing is perhaps the more straight approach compared to sitting and squawking, but it comes with one drawback. During a hunt and pounce you are actually looking for others who are sitting and squawking. The drawback is that there are usually more hunters than squawkers. So the competition is high. With many hunters targeting one squawker and only one hunter can contact a squawker everyone else needs to wait. This type of a traffic jam on the airways is often called a pile up for good reason. With all the hunters talking over each other, the frequency is a big pile of confusion. If your station has a strong signal (not necessarily high power) you tend to be at the front of the line. Stations with weaker signals are at the back of the line.

The major draw back to hunting and pouncing is that it take a lot of energy. A lot of concentration to listen for the signals. Controlling the AFG and RFG settings to find the right balance. For low power stations (100 watts or less) like myself I need to compete with the strong stations. But the thrill of the hunt is exciting, it is fun and the feeling you get when you “bag another qso” is fantastic. The whole process can generate a pretty intoxicating high. However, eventually the high wares off and the energy subsides. Time for a drink, a snack and a change of tactic.

Sometimes, as a hunter, you come across a squawker that is squawking so much the don’t stop to listen for the hunters. I have heard a number of operators run through their call lightning fast, as though they are merely following a protocol or a perceived rule. At the end of the day as long as you announce your callsign at the appropriate interval, the amateur airwaves are governed more by convention and tradition than rules and regs (of which there are still many). Some squawkers might barely leave a few seconds between each call. So they won’t be able to hear me calling them. I can relate to how they are feeling, I feel it too. A need to rush, a rush to silence, which many people find uncomfortable. So they fill the empty void with another round of squawking.

As a hunter you are highly likely to find contacts but you might need to take some time. I try to hang out in line and bag the contact so I don’t have to come back. I find this to be a great way to build my confidence and start off the contest strong. But I find that the real fun starts when you find a nice quiet spot on the frequency, sit on down and start to squawk.

Sitting and squawking is when the hunter becomes the hunted. Unlike big game hunting, in this match up the hunted wants to be found and the hunter wants to release its prey and move onto the next next thrill of the chase. The whole thing is actually quite humane, amateur radio operators make it out, relatively unscathed. A squawker needs to follow three simple steps. First, you spin the dial. You want to get far enough away from other squawkers that they don’t flood your calling frequency and you want to make sure your calling won’t flood theirs. On SSB voice I understand that 3 kHz is a minimum distance where 4 or 5 kHz is even better. You don’t want to move too far away from other squawkers, because where there is squawking there is hunting. Second, you need to squawk, squawk, squawk for any passers by to hear. Then you need to stop and listen to see if you attracted any of those hunters.

Step 1 Spin The Dial:
So I find a nice spot on the frequency nestled between two other squawkers several kHz off to either side. As I worked the 40m band along side other operators I felt that I started to learn who the “big guns” were and where they were operating. I started sitting off to the side of their frequency in hopes that other operators may pass by my frequency on the way to or from the big guns. I definitely started to get a feel for the 40m band that I may not have had if I was busy switching bands continuously.

Step 2 Start the Squawk:
“This is VE3FCQ, on 7.176. Is this frequency clear?” I wait a few seconds, no response. I start in with a classic squawk. “CQ Winter Field Day, CQ Winter Field Day, CQ Winter Field Day”. It is often debated how many CQ’s you should do. Common convention is 3, but that is usually just a regular “CQ, CQ, CQ” quick and sweet. For an event or contest I like adding in the name of the event, as do many others. “This is VE3FCQ, calling CQ Winter Field Day on 7.176 from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada”. So there is a fourth CQ and event name, followed by frequency and location. I started adding the frequency to my CQ’s after noticing some contacts were a few Hz or kHz short (or so I think). I sometimes check how closely our frequencies match by using the RIT setting on the Ts-120s. This is a technique used mainly by CW operators “running split”. When running split, CW operators will receive a few kHz off of their transmit frequency. For Phone I don’t think this is common practice, but it helps me tune into stations that might be a bit off.

I finish off the call with “calling CQ winter Field Day. Standing By”. So a 5th CQ and event name followed with a standing by. And I wait. Nothing. I go again. “CQ Winter Field Day, CQ Winter Field Day. CQ winter field Day, standing by”… and wait. I will alternate between short and long forms of the CQ call. If I just finished a QSO I will start with the short version. If I get no response, I will go with the long one. If you followed the Hunting and Pouncing process as I did, you will know that it takes some time to tune in a station. So the longer your CQ call, the more opportunity you give others to tune you in. If there is no pile up you need to make enough noise that when someone spins the dial and hears a beep, chirp or whirl, yours needs to be strong enough and interesting enough to come check out. So go ahead and Squawk, Squawk , Squawk.

Personally, I need to consciously focus on my speed and I try to slow down. I often get caught up in the moment and start rushing my call. I try to keep it slower than I would normaly talk until I feel it might be too slow. This is when I try to go for one more unit of slowness. To help me, I created a script to follow which I have used many times. I am now starting to find that my CQ calling is becoming habit at a pace I can sustain. I am actually finding it strangely meditative. A hypnotic rhythm that sometimes adopts some strange accents I don’t use in normal speach. A bizarre mix of Bob and Doug McKenzie, from Canada Eh! Mixed with some Bill and Ted, topped off with a southern drawl and a western twang. With morse code operators this is referred to as their “fist”, no idea what we call it for sidebanders.

Step 3 Listen:
I mentally put down the mic after a long CQ. I wait. I have a drink, maybe crunch some nuts. I take a breath and if there is still silence I start the second step again. It might take 2,3 or even 10 attempts at calling CQ. If I mkae it through a full ten, then maybe it is time to head back out hunting or at least spin the dial. Maybe you need to check to make sure your antenna is still hooked up. 10 CQ’s is a long time on a full band. But I never expect my first CQ to be answered.

Usually after of a couple of CQ’s I’ll have attracted one or two hunters. Maybe even three or four. But during WFD2022 I found myself in some real pile ups. Managing pile ups is something that I get excited to work on. I find the I can usually copy the whole call sign or just one letter. I dont’ find many in between. I hear many operators work through pile ups smoothly. They can manage traffic by keeping multiple callsigns in cue in their head. Sometimes they can pick out that there are multiple calls from one region or pick out a rare DX, or an activator on a summit or in a park. Watching these pros work a pile up on youtube, or listening live on the air is a beautiful thing.

Wrapping Up:
After a while my log built up with call sings and exchanges. I should have taken more time to step back and let others take over the frequency. If I scheduled more time operate I would need to schedule in these types of break.

So that is my strategy in a nutshell. Spend some time moving up and down the band to get a feel. Concentrate some energy on hunting and pouncing before claiming a frequency to sit and sqawk on.

Given the same amount of time on a given frequency with the same rig, antenna and power, I am pretty confident that during and event or contest I will gather more QSO’s by Sitting and squawking than by hunting and pouncing. However, on any given weekday or non-contest or non-event weekend or if I just don’t want to contest, I feel my best bet for making contacts on HF would be to hunt and pounce on existing conversations, look for other CQ call outs or join a net. This would need some validation by way of an experiment though.

Moving forward I continue to give myself permission to be a rookie, to continue learning and continue to mess up. I know that some hunters leave before I get to them. If I could say who is up next that might help encourage them to stay around. But at the same time I know the feeling of when the crowd goes home and there is alone hunter responding to my CQ and I can’t hear them. That does not feel good and I’d want to move on too. If there is a pile up in progress and I don’t know or remember who is next, I may just ask for a new call sign, “Are there any callsigns I missed?”. Sometimes one comes back, sometimes a tsunami of calls come back, and sometimes, static. Back to the long call.

With the contest over it was time to close the AFG and open up the RFG. The hum of the Astron and Ts-120s go silent. The operating position is closed up, monitors turned off and the door closed. As the door to the shack closes, regular life starts to come back into view.

So that is it, my first field report from my first experience with Winter Field day. The radio is quiet now. As the heavy mechanical switch of the Astron is flipped, the hum fades away, now gone as is my energy. Its time to go out into the fresh winter air and pick up my son from Grandmas. I feel pretty tired from my radio play but as soon as I enter my moms house, my son doesn’t care I just made 74 contacts and 2 multiplier points while radiating energy around the world. Doesn’t he understand that Dad spent good money to direct energy into warming the skies and burning off the clouds with RF for fun? Nope. Nor does he care that Dad’s brain is mush from filtering our static, moving knobs and spinning dials. Nope. My 18 month old son greets me with a loud scream, a big smile and runs towards me knowing he will get a huge hug. Now that Dad is here it is time to keep playing. So off come the boots and the jacket and down to the floor I go to learn what new game he and Grandma came up with today. Slowly my energy is recharged, a smile creeps across my face and I start to remember what drew me to this hobby. The same curiosity, excitement, newness and surprises that my toddler son experiences every day. The same stuff I am getting out of amateur radio as a 42 year old kid. And for a while, life just makes a lot of sense, the past and future go fuzzy and the here and now come into perfect focus.

Event Debrief

Since I operated as a single operator this year, my evaluation will be of myself. I like the approach of looking at what worked well, that I should continue doing; what did not go well that I should consider to stop doing and what should I consider to start doing next time.

Continue

  • Get on the air and make some noise
  • Start with some hunt and pounce
  • Progress to sitting and squawking
  • Radio, Matching Unit and Antenna seem to be good.

Stop

  • Setting up at the beginning of the event.
  • Skipping personal breaks to refresh

Start

  • Planning
    • Create an Operating Calendar for other events and contests for the year
    • Schedule Band Times
      • Saturday Afternoon: 40m
      • Saturday night: 80m,
      • Sunday Morning: 20m,
      • Sunday Afternoon: 40m,
    • Markable band map to indicate where other operators are set up
  • Station
    • go remote, at least backyard using battery power
    • Remote station with a temporary shelter
    • Operate from camper.
    • Try NVIS Antenna
    • Second receiver (eg SDR as Pan Adapter) to wait for openings
  • Operating
    • take more breaks
    • Try for a satelite contact
    • Try some VHF FM contacts
      • Yaggi.
  • Debriefing

Prologue

So you have made it to the end. Congratulations. I hope that these notes provided insight into either the hobby of Amateur Radio, the possibilities that contests present for practice, and maybe a little insight into my own operating style and personal experience.

If you made it this far I will go out on a limb and say that if you did not find the article useful you at least found it entertaining enough to stick it through to the end.

What ever your reason for getting this far, I invite you to subscribe to my news letter so you can stay in the loop when I share more experiences as I continue my adventures in Amateur Radio.

I’d also appreciate it if you took a few moments and provided a few comments in the comments section. This lets me know that someone actually read the article. Maybe share some thoughts that popped up while reading this. Did you remember a long hidden memory? Or maybe you have a piece of advice to offer. Maybe you want to share a link to your own Winter Field Report.

If you are on Social media, please reach out through Twitter to follow and connect with me @ve3fcq

Thanks for taking the time to read, connect and share.

Name here is,Dave,

VE3FCQ from Ottawa Ontario Canada

Put Yourself Out There and Get On The Air

Best Regards and 73

Other References

  • How to Hunt and pounce(https://www.mapability.com/ei8ic/contest/sandp.php)
  • SSB has Bandwidth of 2.4kHz to 2.7 kHz[https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/ham_radio/voice-modes/single-sideband-ssb.php], so lets call it 3Khz.