WANSARC - Winners again!!

Well, it’s now official! WANSARC has the Certificate to prove it and all will see it on one wall of the clubrooms next month.

VK3AWS won in the Multi-Operator, Phone, All Band, 6 hour section of the John Moyle Field Day competition with 335 contacts and 1471 points. Our nearest rival was VK5SR, with 214 contacts and 1342 points. So in reality not much difference between us – WANSARC had 121 more contacts with only 129 points.

Having won the event for four (4) consecutive years, how does the 2010 win compare with 2007, 2008 and 2009?

Despite comments from other stations, and ourselves, that not much activity was evident on the bands we nonetheless had more contacts than ever before, however our points score failed to surpass that which was scored in 2008.

Certainly on VHF and UHF it appeared that less stations were participating, however our contacts and score was bolstered by some solid performances on HF. Frank, VK3ZO, has traditionally dominated 40 metres with some good contacts on 20 metres from other members, including Dallas, VK3EB.

This year, through the efforts of Urey, VK3ATA, 80 metres was made operational and it is clear that the loop antenna provided some extremely strong signals and some extra points for the club.
Based on the points scoring formula for the contest, VHF and UHF provides the maximum number of points per contact based on the distance between our station and that which is worked. In past JMFD contests we have easily worked into Mount Gambier (VK5) however this year no VK5’s were heard from our portable location. Leigh, VK2KRR, was heard briefly working some VK3 stations but overall the combination of a reduced size 2 metre beam and conditions curtailed such contacts.

On the agenda for 2011 is a bigger and better antenna for 6 metres, the “magic band”!! And of course club members want to win a 5th consecutive JMFD in this section. Perhaps it will then be time to mix it with the “big clubs” in the 24 hour section of the contest!!

The 2010 logs are in..........!!

The air was crisp as we finished packing the car for the John Moyle Field Day, but unlike last year the sky was relatively clear and all of the weather people held a concensus that it was going to be a hot day.

The "club" frequency of 146.450MHz FM was alive with chatter of members heading out of Melbourne to our "covert" location, on top of a hill with stunning views, between Melbourne and Ballarat. Traffic was light and within no time (and within speed limits) my trusty old Commodore steered off the freeway and into the hills.

Quite a few of our club members were already on site, unpacking cars, checking their radio equipment, coax and power leads and most importantly their food supplies.

The WANSARC group participates in the 6 hour portable, multiple operator section of the John Moyle Field Day (JMFD) contest. WANSARC takes the JMFD very seriously, having won the 2007, 2008 and 2009 contests in the 6 hour portable station section.

The contest is an opportunity to test the club's ability to work as a team and individually, in establishing a working portable station with power supplied independent of mains. Our main source of power during the day is a generator, however some of our members run their station on batteries.

Fortunately the site we use for the day allows multiple stations to be established with, as a minimum, 60 metres between stations. This becomes important to minimise any interference effects from station operations and to also reduce the potential of generator noise affecting High Frequency (HF) operations.

This year's crew consisted of Dan VK3DWH, Mark VK3PI, Don VK3HDX, Bob VK3EL, Urey VK3ATA, John VK3FMPB, Trevor VK3FTDX, Jess VK3FJPM, Rod VK3MRT, David VK3DTS, Victor VK3DKM and Frank VK3ZO.

The day was spectacular, with a light wind, blue skies and a scathing sun. Our tent for 2 metre operations was named "The Sauna". No prizes for guessing that the temperature was quite high, however the equipment being used remained cool, calm and collected.

The level of activity this year from other stations was down from previous years, however everyone in attendance had a great time, supplemented by some excellent tucker cooked up by Dan VK3DWH and Trevor VK3FTDX.

With our 6 hour stint of operations completed and the sun slowly sinking in the west, it was time to dismantle our temporary tent homes, sort out who owned various pieces of equipment, cables and masts, pack the cars to the brim again and head back to our respective homes.

Well, have we won again this year?? Who knows and really, the day's event is not about winning but about participating. The logs are in with the Contest Manager and it remains to be seen how we have faired against stations around Australia. But we would like to win again!!!!

What did we get out of the day again this year? The satisfaction of knowing that we can establish a working station on HF, VHF or UHF at short notice and that we can operate safely and reliably over a long period of time. The satisfaction of knowing that the home build antenna's used on the day actually work! The satisfaction of knowing that as a club we can work as a team, sharing equipment and experiences.

Many of our operators this year have been to the JMFD before but have never really experienced operations. This year it was pleasing to see a number of our "newer" members having a crack on air. In an age where many stations do not keep a log book of contacts it is quite confronting for some people to learn how to talk, listen (I mean really listen) and record accurate log details.

And how many stations did we "work" during the 6 hours and for what points? 335contacts with a total of 1471 points - a credit to all who participated on the day.

I have already started planning for the JMFD 2011......this year I am going to build that 50MHz beam antenna but well before the event.....I recall leaving it a little late this year!

That one day in March

For many years the Western and Northern Suburbs Amateur Radio Club (WANSARC) contributed to the noise and QRM of the John Moyle Field Day, just for an outing and a bit of fun.

Various sites have been tried over time, including Mount Hickey, Mount Disappointment and the Frank Thompson Reserve, near Kinglake..

In 2006 commissioning began for a state wide emergency services paging system, with the State Emergency Service (SES) and Country Fire Authority (CFA)as prime customers. This POCSIG simulcast system comprises of 148MHz paging transmitters dotted across the whole of Victoria. When a message is sent to a Brigade or SES unit, every transmitter in the State is keyed to ensure that the message is received over as wide an area as possible.

Unfortunately for amateur operations on 2 metres (144-148MHz) operation on some sites has become nigh impossible. This was certainly the case in 2006 when VK3AWS attempted to run portable at Kindlake, only to find the interference noise floor too high to sustain reliable two way communications on 2 metres.

The only rig which was reasonably immune to interference was the old Yaesu FT290R, owned by Dan VK3DWH. Older transceivers, such as the FT290R, were designed with a reasonable front end in the receiver so that (generally) only the desired signals within the passband of the receiver are amplified and received by the user. Similarly commercial units, such as the PRM80 series of radio equipment have front end filtering and are reasonably immune to interference.

However the newer rigs of today, although far more sophisticated in operation, have one major flaw - most have broadband receivers in addition to nominated transmit bands. This means that the front end of these rigs are "as broad as a barn door" and consequently the new rigs of today are far more prone to interference.

So it was that in mid 2006 WANSARC sought a new site for John Moyle Field Day operations. Mark VK3PI led the search, scouring the country side for a location with a reasonable take off and in reasonable proximity to Melbourne. By December 2006 a site had been chosen and formal permission sought from the site owner for WANSARC to operate in March of 2007. Fortunately for WANSARC and much to Mark's relief, permission was granted.

The site is located to the west of Melbourne with an excellent 360 degree take off.

In 2007 WANSARC used the site for the first time and was placed first nationally in the Six Hour Portable Multiple Operator section, the first time in its history since 1970 that the club had won this national competition.