- Soapbox WFD 2021
COVID-19 kept us from having a “club station” but lots of us got into the spirit of Winter Field Day this year.
Ben, AC2YD worked 137 QSOs in a walk-in shed for horses
From Our Organizer, Bob, N2EIM: I made 50 QSOs (49 cw and 1 ssb) on 20m. I tried vhf and uhf simplex but no responses. I did hear Deb on 146.520 but he didn’t hear me.
From Karl, KB2FA: First WFD for me. Worked yesterday opening to dusk 1O on 2m simplex. Only made a handful of contacts with half of them being non participant rag chews. 🙂 Still, got 3 logable contacts. (on paper) Planning to use the software from n3fjp that John posted about to create the Cabrillo file and submit for the club.
From Pat, K2PAT: Using a 5 watt HT, and hill-topping at 500′ to 600′, Pat made 2 contacts about 20 miles away in 1 hour and went home. Few contacts but a big pile of bonus points.
From Ben, AC2YD: I wish I could have earned bonus points for being cold, but that’s my usual station location, using my usual antenna … next project: remote operation!
Used battery power for the QRP rig (including laptop), but household A/C for the 2 heating pads (feet and lap/hands) and 1 space heater for trying to keep me warm. Special credit to the neck gaiter made by my XYL … helped immensely!
Worked 137 QSOs, and even got a good night’s sleep. I have a feeling that I didn’t miss a lot overnight. All on 20m and 40m, the only bands I can use with my Softrock rig … missed out on much higher multipliers if I could have used other bands.
Among the QSOs were 4 that, before Friday, I had no real intention of doing … SSB! 2 on 20m and 2 on 40m, just to get the band/mode multipliers. My little Softrock (with Quisk) “just worked” with the mic built into the laptop … did one trial Friday night, reaching a Texas POTA CQ on the first call! I’m impressed with what SSB can do on 2 watts!
… photo of me this morning trying to stay warm in the “radio shed” (really a walk-in shed for horses, but that’s where my rig is!).From Rebecca, K3RPM: Anybody out there on 2M simplex?
From Bob,WA2BSP :Guess my signal Doesn’t make it.
From SKIP, N2EI: And a good time was had by all. 76 casual QRP QSOs across three bands operating 1H. Another WFD in the Log.
From Charlie, N2CTW: I proved I could get on the air, then pulled the plug, went inside and got warm. 40M SSB and 2M FM
- The new N2RE.ORG is Live!
Put our brand-new website, N2RE.ORG as a link in your browser…
Better yet, put it as your homepage!
Then explore the pages we have so far… using the menu just under David Sarnoff!Look at the events list to see what activities are coming up
And the Blog to see what’s happened and what’s being planned.
The new WordPress system allows us to change pages easily and add new features, so come back often (and maybe volunteer to help!)
The old HTML-based webpage has moved to http://old.n2re.org
- Presentation on Historic ex-RCA Coast Station KPH
Presented by Richard Dillman W6AWO
live, via Webex videoconference, from CaliforniaHere are some notes from W6AWO’s presentation on the history of Ship-to-Shore station KPH. The talk included some fascinating never before seen photos. The station is now owned by the National Park Service.
The virtual talk was well attended and the club members enjoyed it.
Operating KPH Here’s the announcement:
Historic ex-RCA Coast Station KPH
Richard Dillman W6AWO- Tuesday, Feb 16, 2021
- Pre-meeting dinner, 6:15 PM, Zoom Video
- Meeting 7:30 PM, Cisco Webex
KPH is a public coast radio station on the West Coast of the United
States. The station dates back to the dawn of the radio era in the
early years of the twentieth century when it began operations at the
Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California, using the callsign “PH”.
Forced out by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, the
station moved from one temporary site to another until it was
acquired by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and relocated to
Marin County. Subsequently, it was owned by MCI Communications and
finally Globe Wireless, who still own the KPH operating license.For most of the 20th century, it provided ship to shore
communications including telegrams (using Morse code) and marine
telex service (using radioteletype). The station discontinued
commercial operation in 1998, but is operated occasionally as a
historic service.Richard W6AWO’s presentation will be about the history of KPH and
will include some never before seen photos.
Room full of transmitters, KPH transmitter site Bolinas For more information, follow these links:
Historic KPH Maritime Radio Receiving Station and Cypress Tree Tunnel
https://www.nps.gov/pore/planyourvisit/kph_treetunnel.htm
https://www.nps.gov/pore/learn/historyculture/stories_communications.htm - Remembering Dennis McClary KC2IMI
This past July our club president, Dennis McClary, died unexpectedly. Dennis KC2IMI was the public face of the David Sarnoff Radio Club for many years. He will be remembered for promoting emergency preparedness, community activities, and a sense of inclusion.
Here is a .PDF slideshow from his memorial service, with many Field Day and club photos!
- Logging For Winter Field Day
Winter Field Day has its own unique exchanges, and so the logging system must be able to deal with those, and also with the bonus points. Here are some options.
N2EIM’s .pdf from our January meeting explains the exchanges and about the logging.
It reminds us that our club name must be exactly:
“David Sarnoff Radio Club” (no quotes)
Logs must be sent in “Cabrillo Format” which means you have to format your contacts and station information… There are several optionsLOG METHODS:
- Use the .pdf here: https://www.winterfieldday.com/files and then send in using “Proper Log Format” Cathy Tsao had a Excel based form which was sent to the club reflector.
- Use a logging program during the contest that has Cabrillo output.
For example N1MM Logger (free) - Use this cool online tool, found online (no warranty implied)
http://b4h.net/cabforms/winterfieldday_cab3.php It can be used with a paper log to make the Cabrillo output (which may require some tweaking at the end.) Thanks Cathy Tsao for finding this! - John DeGood recommends http://www.n3fjp.com/winterfieldday.html which costs a small amount, but can be used free for 30 contacts. Take a look at the page and see if it suits your needs.
- If you want to see what the Cabrillo format actually looks like, here‘s a good page to start with, though the header “Cabrillo” has one bad link in it, the information can be found on other pages.
- Check back later.. there may be more in this list as folks suggest things.
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