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Winter Field Day 2025 After Action Report

New/Upgrades for WFD 2025:

Failures:

One small configuration issue was noted with FLDIGI. I took the FX4-CR radio instead of the normal 705 and failed to change the sound card in FLDIGI. This was corrected half way though the morning WFD bulletin. Also, experienced an oddity with the RV heat. (See Solar & Battery)

Weather:

Saturday started off at 17F and sunny but warmed into the 40s. We experienced increasing clouds as the day progressed. Overnight low on Saturday night was 35F with mid 40's again on Sunday.

General Notes:

I used the FX4-CR radio for the limited amount of HF work that I did. It was used for one HF Winlink connection and to copy the WFD bulletin with FLDIGI and Olivia.

The Kenwood D75 was used as a digipeater and the main radio for managing Winlink connections. Winlink was checked roughly every hour. While not making Winlink connections the D75 was put in digipeater mode. The D75 was connected to the power distribution box for power the entire time. While not exactly pertaining to WFD, I was able to use my own Winlink gateway located 9.2 miles away from the WFD site for the Winlink connections from the field. This was possible because of the antenna height gained on the gateway recently.

The Yaesu FT5 was carried on my person and the Btech UV-Pro served as the backup.

At the desk in the RV I utilized the new power distibution box. This allowed the single power pole outlet in the RV to power the box. The HF radio, D75, and laptop were all connected to the distribution box for power. This worked very well and left a couple of outlet unused and available if needed. The only draw back was the lack of a meter in the box. It is recommended to use an inline watts up meter in the future so power consumption of the radios could be tracked and recorded.

This was the first year of the WFD bulletin that was sent with SSB, CW, and Olivia. I was able to copy the SSB version and the Olivia version during the evening broadcast.

I fielded ~110 Winlink message as part of the ACK WFD Challenge. It sould be noted that some operators sent multiple messages. When pulling the WL2K_MOBILES report at 2100 Saturday night there was a total of 83 people out of 100 listed participating in the challenge this year.

Solar & Battery

Consumption Notes
RV TV - 2A
RV Heater Fan - 2A
- The RV is heated with propane but it requires a 12V fan to circulate the warm air
Each RV light - .5A
RV 12V Fridge - ~2.5A when compressor is running
The consumption notes were collected in 2023 and left for reference

The Aferiy Power Station was connected to the RV's 30A input with a 110 adapter. This was done because the heat did not want to start from the RV batteries alone. It is a weird issue that has happened in the past as well. The propane heat will work fine while the RV is connected to commercial power but won't work with just the RV batteries though it should. The power station ran everything for 23 hours. At 0700 on Sunday the power station was disconnected and the heat in the RV resumed normal function with just the RV house batteries. Need to dig into this a bit more and see if the problem with the heat can be reproduced.

Generator:

The generator was on hand as a backup power source but not utilized for WFD. Since WFD doesn't require the AC unit, the generator isn't needed the way it is during summer field day. For propane consumption while using the generator, see summer FD 2022 AAR

Propane:

A minimal amount of propane was required for heat and cooking. Roughly 10% of one 30lb tank was consumed during the event according to the Mopeka tank sensor.

Go-Bag:

I continue to use the modular go bag. When combined with the Checklist Generator, nothing was forgotten.

Antennas:

My EFHW kit antenna was used for the HF antenna. A N9TAX rollup J-pole was used for the digipeater and for Winlink connections These two antennas have a proven track record of working well and being easy to setup requiring a fairly small footprint. There are no current plans to alter this setup.

A TN07 mast were used to get the antennas in the air. The second TN07 mast was loaned out to another operator during WFD

Final Conclusions

It was a fantastic Winter Field Day. I was pleased with my setup and accomplised all I wanted at a radio level. When not collecting Winlink messages, I spent time helping others troubleshoot various issues and socializing with other club members.

To-Do List:

Diagnose RV heat issue

END OF REPORT

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