alt text

Field Day 2023 After Action Report

New/Upgrades for FD 2023:

Digipeater Changed to Pi Zero 2W

Digipeater changed to Digirig interface - https://amzn.to/3XsPwLK

Evolve Laptop added to truck - https://amzn.to/44fSFAX

Added Weather Radio - https://amzn.to/43VRabg

Weather Radio Speaker - https://amzn.to/3Xm68Vw

Failures:

The only real failure this year was not being able to get weather radio data output through the RV speakers. I carried a small shortwave radio that could pick up the WX stations and intended on using a small portable speaker outside of the RV. Whatever was causing the noise in the area was almost completely wiping out the WX station frequency so I decided not to deploy it at all. (See General Notes) Another minor failure was not having a power pole splitter. This required some juggling to keep all of the batteries charged. This wasn't insurmountable but a bit annoying.

Weather:

Weather was clear and hot on Saturday. The recorded high temp was 93F but the breeze and shade made it a bit nicer. Overnight low as 68F. Due to family commitments, I had to bail early on Sunday before FD ended and the heat ramped up again.

General Notes:

Most everything worked as expected this year excluding the weather radio. (See Failures). As a last minute decision, I threw an extra laptop in the truck and networked it into the RV. This allowed me to utilize the FTM500 in the truck as a second Winlink station for 2M connections as demonstrated in this video. The laptop in the truck could be controlled over the network from the primary station in the RV. This allowed both HF & 2M Winlink without swapping antennas connected to the 705. However, I only used the truck laptop for a couple of connections to prove it worked.

This year I chose to setup in the primary FD area by the pavilion instead of the adjacent field. The RV was parked right beside the baseball backstop closest to the pavilion. Something in that immediate area was causing severe (S7-9) noise. Moving just a bit away from this spot would drop the noise level to a normal S3 level. Since I was completely setup before noticing this and I wasn't planning on using the radio very much, I made the decision to just live with it. I did manage one HF Winlink contact but chose to utilize 2M Winlink after the initial connection since it was available and I didn't have to fight the noise level. If I were trying to make contacts, moving the RV would have been required. Marvin (W0MET) was setup pretty close to me and chose to move his station. He moved to under the trees across the road which eliminated the noise. We ran multiple tests shutting down generators and turning off different things which netted us no reduction in the noise level. Testing should be done prior to picking the RV location for future events.

Instead of making contacts this year, I elected to be the tech support person for all things digital. This was challenging since I was presented with radios and computers that I was unfamiliar with. It was also VERY rewarding to get some of the other hams up and running with various digital modes. Pretty much all of Saturday (until 2200) was spent troubleshooting. Around 2200 I was able to sit down at my station and reply to everyone that participated in the 2023 FD Challenge.

APRS Digipeater:

The APRS digipeater performed flawlessly after being moved to the Pi Zero. The GPS in the 705 (primary station) was used and the data was streamed over the network to the Pi Zero. This works great and means you only need one GPS unit for any systems connected to the network. This could even be shared with other Linux operators if they connect to the RV network. A backup GPS unit should also be kept on hand in case of failure with the primary.

The interface for the digipeater was changed to a Digirig sound card this year. While the Mobilinkd TNC has worked well in the past, the Digirig works without needing to be charged and is one less battery to have to account for.

Pi Display:

The Pi display was utilized again this FD using the 15" monitor but not kept as up to date as I would have liked. Since I spent the majority of my time problem solving, less time as available to download the data over RF. In hindsight, I could have at least gotten the data downloaded early in the day and then maybe left the radio/computer monitoring the Wefax frequency since the computer will do the work for you in this situation once everything is dialed in.

Solar & Battery

Consumption Notes

RV TV - 2A
Each RV light - .5A
RV 12V Fridge - ~2.5A when compressor is running
Digipeater - ~200mA
Pi Display - 700mA
705 & Evolve - 600mA on receive

In all honesty, the 100Ah battery isn't really taxed during summer Field Day since the generator is running for the duration of the event. Winter Field Day is a much more realistic test of the battery/solar system as the generator isn't used. It would be much more interesting if the generator was only run overnight allowing the battery/solar to be the only power source during the day. However, since the RV also serves as a cooling station if needed, this isn't practical.

Generator:

The generator was used again this year to provide AC in the RV. The two 20lb propane tanks provided more than enough for the operation. See propane notes below.

Propane:

Detailed notes were not kept this year but can be found in the 2022 AAR. Both propane tanks were at 100% at the start. Generator was started at 0830 on Saturday morning and the AC temp was set to 70F. Bottles were swapped at 2200 and the first tank had 12% left. When I shut things down on Sunday morning, the second bottle had 62% remaining. At no time (excluding noise troubleshooting) was the generator not running during the event.

I would like to upgrade the current 20lb propane tanks to 30lb tanks which would allow the RV to be powered by the generator for longer periods of time. As a rule of thumb, I assume each 20lb bottle will run the generator for 12 hours. A 30lb tank in theory should therefore run the generator for 18 hours. Once this upgrade is complete, we should be able to run the RV offgrid for 5-6 days with AC assuming we only run the generator overnight while sleeping and utilize the battery/solar during the day to power the RV and radio. There should also be enough propane available to power the water heater and stove/grill for cooking in addition to running the AC.

Cost to refill propane after FD was $18.10

Go-Bag:

The modular go bag proved once again to be a winner. When combined with the Checklist Generator, nothing critical was forgotten.

Antennas:

Just like winter FD last year, my EFHW kit antenna was used for the HF antenna. A rollup J-pole was used for the digipeater. This year I chose to use the N9TAX J-pole. These two antennas have a proven track record of working well and being easy to setup requiring a fairly small footprint. Unlike pervious years where I used a separate mast for each antenna, this year I used one mast for both after 3D printing a ring that allowed the J-pole to hang one section below the EFHW.

Two TN07 masts were used to get the antennas in the air. One on the back of the RV and the second supporting the far end of the EFHW. The EFHW was run in an inverted L configuration.

Final Conclusions

In addition to testing different radio setups, FD provides me with an opportunity to test other systems such as the RV, solar, battery, and generator collecting real world data. This gives me a fairly accurate account of how the overall system will perform in an offgrid scenario which is valuable knowledge to have.

I was ecstatic with the way everything just worked this year. I was also super happy to spend FD as the tech support guy and will happily offer this at future Field Days. Fortunately, the internet was available to lookup key information when attempting to solve issues with different radios/computers. However, each operator should be encouraged to keep their radio manual on hand in the event the internet wasn't available. This should be kept in digital format at a minimum but it would be a good practice to also have at least the Nifty manual for your radio in paper format.

Ideas/To-Do List:

JS8Call message challenge?
Upgrade to 30lb propane bottles
Build/Purchase Power Pole Splitter to be left in RV
Test SDR dongle with main laptop

END OF REPORT

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

Published with Simplenote

Report abuse