2010 Jock White Field Day Report

GO TO: 2010 JWFD-RESULTS-PDF

Thanks to you all for getting out and getting active again.
Great weather over the whole country was nearly spoiled for some this year by the Chilean Tsunami alert.
There seemed to be three responses to this that I am aware of:

1. The Christchurch team had the civil defense vehicle with them so had no choice but to shift, they ended up operating from the top of Mt Pleasant in the open air.
2. South Canterbury was right on the coast at sea level and tossed a coin, the result being they stayed put.
3. Marlborough (also at sea level near the coast) listened to the national radio coverage and decided that since the Chathams were not hit, decided to stay put.

Activity was up this year, the number of field stations was similar to the last few years but the number of total branch points for field stations was was up to 103, the highest for a few years.

Forty Metres

There has been significant interest in the single station 80/40 section, two stations have been attracted over from the 80 metres only section, and one other has returned after an absence, so there has been a contribution to the increased 40m activity. The other two stations have shifted from open regional sections.
Several new stations also appeared this year and operated on 40m in other sections, this with much improved propagation resulted in the most lively Field Day 40m activity for several years.

Invalid Branch Points

A few teams did not meet the 50 phone or 25 CW contact criteria. That is why your branch point numbers will have been reduced in most cases. Please plan in advance your operating resources to meet the above criteria. Don't 'just give out a few numbers', all that happens is that I will have to adjust the scores. Perhaps there is a need to relax these criteria a little for 40 metres?

Check Logs

This year I was sent a couple of check logs from teams that felt their logs were not up to scratch to enter. They were, and I scored them, one team has done very well as a result. Again, if you are having difficulty with your scoring effort etc, contact me! I am only too happy to call you at my expense and discuss things and give advice.

Logs Not Submitted

Logs were not received from Hutt Valley (18) and Te Awamutu (40). Also, ZL1LC appeared again giving out contacts for Auckland (02) yet no log has been received. See my comments above, contact me if you are having problems with scoring. It makes my job easier to have all logs submitted. Hutt Valley is a repeat offender here.

Brickbats!

Please please use the summary sheets available on line in the contest section on the NZART webpage. I have asked this every year since I took over in 2006. This is not me being pedantic; the rules are there to make the scoring job easier. Too many teams do ad-hoc printouts which make life difficult for me to check scoring.
assets/contests/2006/summary-2006.pdf
assets/contests/2006/summary-2006.xls
Next year score sheets will be returned for proper completion if they deviate excessively from what is required in the rules.
This year some teams will have their sheets sent back with the correct version done by me enclosed. I know there were not shredders around in Jock Whites day but I be he would have put one to use if he were managing field day now!
If you are not sure how to tote up using the summary sheets then contact me by e-mail and I will happily phone you and go over things.
Also, please (as required in the rules) highlight or underline contacts claimed for branch points.
Still some splatter and awful signals persist. Once again, turn the wick down, AND CHECK YOUR ALC METER!
Another problem is low DC supply voltage; this could be heard on several signals as distorted audio. Your modern solid state radio just will not operate properly much below 12 volts at the set. Long DC leads or tired batteries will cause this. Check the voltage at the radio. If its low, run a generator to charge the battery and make sure the DC leads are up to scratch.

Replies to a few comments

A few have suggested that we have the event on the same weekend as the VK John Moyle field day. Unfortunately the two events are totally incompatible; the VK event works on three hour periods.
Electronic logging: see my previous reports re this, but in a nutshell field day has the full spectrum from hardened experienced electronic logging operations through to a not inconsiderable number of once a year paper based teams. Electronic logging is perfectly OK, but electronic submission of logs will not work until everyone logs this way.
Surely it is not too much work to manually transpose branch point callsigns on to the summary sheets and to fill out the main score sheet? After 18 hours of contesting and the set up and dismantling time, half an hour doing the paper work is not too much to ask?
Why have you allowed the power increase to 150 watts? Good question. Many new transceivers operate at a higher power level than 100 watts hence the change. I will think this one over; I can see merit to a return to the 100 watt level.
Can we staple our log sheets? Yes you can.

Valid Branch Points (Multipliers)

There were a total of 103 available for field stations, 107 for home stations: (four less for field stations, as they cannot claim their own branch number)
80 Phone (39) 01 02 03 04 05 10 12 13 17 18 19 20 22 23 24 25 27 28 29 30 34 37 40 41 47 51 53 63 64 65 68 69 77 79 83 84 86 87 88
80 CW (23) 01 04 05 10 12 17 19 22 24 25 27 28 29 30 47 51 65 69 77 83 84 87 88
40 Phone (28) 01 02 03 05 10 12 13 19 20 22 25 27 28 29 30 34 37 40 51 53 64 65 66 68 77 84 86 87
40 CW (17) 01 05 10 12 19 22 25 27 28 30 37 51 65 68 77 84 87

Statistics

There were 202 operators at 38 field stations, up from the last two years. branch 20, Manawatu had 19 operators, and Whangarei branch 20 had 16.
Only three home station logs were received this year.

Team Comments/Observations

Band conditions and promotion of 40m activity helped
Good to see the Western Suburbs guys travel south and put Inglewood on.
Pleasing operating standards and a good weekend.
Tauranga Emergency Communications branch 88 was interrupted by a SAR callout.
Eighty metres here (far north) during the middle of the day was a waste of time - hey but that's contesting.
Not as well organized as we should be, but we tried.
Nice weather for a change
Overall good band conditions and a busy contest until 40m faded out mid morning. Thanks for a great contest again: VK2ACD
Excellent weather, 40 metres much better this year, ZL2xx scorched the table with the BBQ!
A home station: I was disappointed that I could not get the branch to take part in field day.
Good weather and propagation, 30 degrees with a swimming pool nearby but 80 metres feedline broken by a wandering bull!!
Brilliant weekend in all respects: weather, turnout and companionship.
The use of single letter calls is to be deplored; this branch avoided working such stations.
Why does ZL2QF send at 20+ wpm each year?
Propagation on 40 metres was very good (better than last year) but 80meter contacts were scarce (North Otago)
Lack of operators to run a field station so I went on as a single operator to put another branch multiplier
Frequency stealing went on quite a bit.
Stuart Watchman ZL2TW