CARS Field Day 2024 was held next to the offices of Blackman TWP.
1276 Parnall Rd, Jackson MI (42.291480, -84.421727)
Cascades Amateur Radio Society (CARS) Field Day 2024
Field Day 2024 was successfully completed with over 200 contacts by 12 different operators. Seasoned Hams helped two operators, who are studying to get their first ticket, make HF contacts. One of these was the 12 yr. old son of a CARS member. This year’s Field Day was a unique exercise conducted in two phases to minimize issues from predicted weather. Phase 1, was in traditional Field Day fashion, setup, operate, and tear down which lasted until 10:00 p.m. (local time) Saturday evening. Phase 2 was the operation at an Emergency Operation Center (Jackson County Health Department) using a fixed antenna system and operations room. This started at 8:00 p.m. and ran through the night until the early hours of Sunday morning.
Phase1 (Call Sign – W8JXN)
Phase 1 was conducted in the empty parking lot east of the Blackman Township offices. Phase 1 started about 9:00 a.m. (local time) with unloading support items from Dennis’ trailer. The club trailer was retrieved from the fenced area near the Blackman Township water tower and additional materials were unloaded. Two HF antennas were used at this site along with a J pole antenna for repeater operation. One of the HF antennas was an 80/40 NVIS (Near Vertical Incident Skywave) where the RF energy is transmitted directly overhead and then scattered by the ionosphere to an effective range of 600 miles. DX Engineering has a very good NVIS explanation document, “A Practical NVIS Antenna for Emergency or Temporary Communications”. (https://static.dxengineering.com/pdf/wp-nvis-rev2.pdf) This antenna was built by Tim (WD8PMD) for use at the 2023 Field Day and donated to the club. Figure 1 is a map of the sections contacted with this antenna and it clearly shows its localized performance. Only the 40-meter portion of the antenna’s capability was used due to the lack of band activity on 80 meters.
The other HF antenna was the EFHW (End Fed Half Wave). It is a multiple band antenna capable of operating on 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters. With the NVIS working 40, this antenna was used on 20 and 15 meters. The 10 meters band lacked activity so it was not used for any contacts. The EFHW antenna was built by Dennis (KC8IJZ) from the ARRL offered EFHW kit for 2023 Field Day. CARS reimbursed Dennis for the kit and it is a club antenna also. Figure 2 is a map of the sections contacted with this antenna. The coverage extends from coast to coast, North into Canada and South into Texas. Figure 3 is a consolidated map of the contacts from the Phase 1 activity.
Both of the antennas set up easily in the parking lot. 15 feet (3 pieces) of the Army fiberglass poles were used as the center support for the NVIS antenna and concrete blocks were used at the ends to “anchor” the antenna. The EFHW antenna was strung between one of the light poles in the parking lot to a recently donated, used speaker stand. This antenna was horizontally deployed about 12 feet above the ground. Higher installation (~30 feet) would help the antenna performance but would have required more support equipment and more installation effort. As it was, the antenna performed well and minimized effort in the warm, humid outdoor conditions.
104 contacts were made during Phase 1. 20 CW contacts were accomplished by Gary Schauffler (W8KM) in the 20 meters band. 84 phone (SSB) contacts were made in the 15, 20, and 40 meter bands. The 40 meters band, using the NVIS antenna, had 53 of the phone contacts. Total time on air was 6 hours (18:00 June 22 to 00:01 June 23, UTC).
Phase 2 (Call Sign – K8JXN)
Phase 2 began at 8:00 p.m. (local time) in the third-floor conference room at the Jackson County Health Department (JCHD) building. CARS has a radio station in that room. The station consists of a Kenwood 570 HF transceiver, a 2 meters transceiver and a 70 cm transceiver. CARS has a 5BTV (5 Band, Trapped, Vertical) antenna installed on the roof of the JCHD building along with two dual band FM antennas. This station was operated as a class “1 Foxtrot” which means it was fixed station, located in an Emergency Operation Center (EOC). The total crew arrived around 10 pm after the packing and putting away of Phase 1 equipment was completed. Seven Hams were involved with the operation until midnight. Three hearty souls, Brandon (KE8ZHR), Tim (WD8PMD) and Dennis (KC8IJZ) stayed until the sun came back up Sunday morning.
107 contacts were made during Phase 2 with all of them being phone. 40 meters had 62 contacts, 20 meters had 36 contacts and 15 meters had 9 contacts. Figure 4 is a map of the sections contacted during Phase 2 from JCHD. The contacts were made across North America and Canada.
During Phase 2, time was taken to perform an SWR reading on the 5BTV antenna. Figure 5 is the plot of the measurement. It shows the antenna has capability in all 5 bands (80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters). It also shows the antenna needs to be tuned to improve its performance.
Summary
Field Day 2024 was a blast, including the two-phase approach. The NVIS performance was terrific and shows its capability as a limited, regional coverage antenna. Everyone that came to Field Day got a chance to operate a radio and have a conversation with other Hams. Lots of information was exchanged and lots of stories (mostly radio related) were told. In all, 211 contacts were made. Figure 6 is a map of all the sections we contacted this year. The amount of coverage is the best I have seen within the last 15 years. There were two stations heard from that we could not achieve a contact with but their location was very exciting. One was an airplane at 30,000 feet in the air and the other was the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
Thank you to all who participated. The setup and tear down crews did a very fine job. The radio operators invested themselves into making our stations professional and educational. Special thanks to all the “before it happens” people. Their efforts make a great Field Day possible. Personally, I had a great time and I really enjoy hearing all the other Hams say they had a great time.
Dennis (KC8IJZ)
Figure 1 – Sections contacted using the NVIS antenna (Phase 1)
Figure 2 – Sections contacted using the EFHW antenna (Phase 1)
Figure 3 – All sections contacted during Field Day 2024, Phase 1
Figure 4 – Sections contacted during Phase 2 (contacts from the JCHD using the 5BTV antenna)
Figure 5 – SWR plot of the 5BTV antenna atop JCHD (22 June, 2024)
Figure 6 – Sections contacted during Cars Field Day 2024