Winter Field Day (WFD) is around the corner - 2020 January 25 & 25, Saturday/Sunday. www.winterfieldday.com As far as I know, this is the first time CARA has participated in the winter edition of Field Day. WFD is not organized by the ARRL but rather by the Winter Field Day Association, which has similiar goals and values. As with the summer Field Day, the basic premise is to allow amateur radio operators to gain experience in transmitting, in temporarily erected circumstances, between fellow operators all around the world, outside the comfort of their home's ham shack. This within the extra challenge of winter's cold environs.
WFD 2020 happens from 12 noon MST (19:00 UTC) on Saturday, January 25 through to noon MST (19:00 UTC) Sunday, January 26. Venue is the south parking lot at The Military Museums (TMM) in Calgary 4520 Crowchild Trail SW Google Plus Code: 2V7M+CG Calgary, Alberta.
Setup is Friday, January 24 from noon til 4 PM. Packup is Sunday from noon to 1 PM. Debrief is at the Garrison Pub immediately after 2020 - 42 Ave SW.
CARA's 2020 WFD team will operate from the CARA Communications Trailer, which will be deployed at TMM's south parking lot, west side, just east of the display of Canadian army tanks.
The comm trailer offers full 12 VDC and 120 VAC power supply service with USB power ports, 12 VDC power sockets, binding posts, and banana plug sockets.
The trailer is set up with a permanently installed tri-band Yaesu FT-857D with a full array of ham stick antennae. Participating radio operators can also bring their own radio to the comm trailer for their operating shift.
A thirty foot Clark telescopic antenna mast is integral to the comm trailer. Antennae for that include a Hy-Gain TH-3JRS HF tri-band, 10/15/20m Yagi-Uda 3 Element Beam, and a Diamond HF VHF UHF X6000A omni-directional whip. Please note that people want to use the Yagi, it takes a team of people to assemble it up and pack it away.
Bands are all amateur bands: HF (except 12, 17, 30, 60 metres), VHF, UHF . See the Rules, attached to this topic. Any mode is allowed as long as it can faithfully transmit the exchange intact without a conversion table i.e. CW, SSB, AM, FM, DStar, C4FM, DMR, Packet, PSK, SSTV, RTTY, Olivia, Satellite, etc… (note FT8 2.0 cannot).
Participating entrants register under the Category of Outdoor, Indoor, or Home. And by Class, which is basically the number of stations that can simultaneously transmit at one time. CARA's exchange will be 1O, meaning one transmitting station in the Outdoor category. Call sign will be VE6NQ.
Team organizers are VE6CCL Rob Wilson VE6CCL@shaw.ca and VA6RPL Peter LaGrandeur VA6RPL@techworld.ca .
To register to be part of the CARA team, visit https://caraham.org/event-3625946 . Once registered, email VA6RPL Peter to request a time slot to do your operating. One hour time shifts are available throughout the 24 hour WFD period.
If you just want to come by and see the trailer or see how amateur radio contesting works, just come on down! No appointments required. We hope to have coffee on, and there is a warmup tent beside the trailer for socializing. Meet your pals or meet some new pals.
