Tag: #LoTW

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W4A- The Battle of Atlanta Special Event Station

I’ll be the first to admit that this year’s attempt working as the W4A Special Event Station did not have nearly the same amount of QSO’s that our club did last year. Even though last year was the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Atlanta, was promoted more on our part and we worked using the call over the course of two different dates- the beginning and ending dates for the battle- I simply couldn’t overcome the logistics that other club members had already made, some that arose for me; so the body count was very low.

Just me, really.

That aside, I did my best and have sent out specially designed QSL cards for the event and have uploaded the log to LoTW. I also took the opportunity to work this event in one mode only- JT65. It was sort of an odd choice, I’ll grant you, as you can’t ordinarily count on a high number of contacts due to the length of the exchange per QSO. That said, I was pleased to turn in ~60 QSOs in about 8 hours of operating. That’s probably not a bad average, all things considered- many of the contacts were on 20 meters, with the first half or so on 40 meters for good measure. The bands were better on the second day as opposed to the first- but that’s how it goes, sometimes.

Thanks to all who worked me!

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The High Holiday is Here!

Another Field Day in the books!

For all who worked N4PU, thank you! We are in the process of going through the logs and sending them up to both the ARRL and LoTW.

This year, I decided to send QSL cards to individuals we worked. If we missed you, please don’t hesitate to reach out for a card, sent direct. No SASE or Green Stamp required.

While our small club, The Southeastern Underground Radio Fellowship, only had two operators at any time, we tried our hand at working digital modes- both WSJT-X (JT65 and JT9) along with that favorite of many, CW. We had a personal best for a competition- right around 250 QSOs or so (we also worked some FB OMs on Phone, too). The bands were great to us this year, though we did not elect to work the midnight oil like many do and instead had a leisurely bit of fun.

We did manage to make a 6M CW contact with a mobile station, which is a first for us in any contest we’ve participated in! Our band/mode QSO breakdown is as follows:

2015 Field Day QSO Breakdown
                                                 2015 Field Day QSO Breakdown
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Field Day QSL Note in June 2015 QST

I think this bears repeating:

Last Field Day, I operated single operator QRP PSK31. I completed 85 contacts to 30 states. That should have given me quite a start toward the PSK31 WAS award. What is disappointing is that of all these contacts, only 10 took the time and effort to verify through Logbook of the World (LoTW). For those who are not math majors, that is a 12% rate. The by-state verification through LoTW wasn’t much better – a pitiful 23%.

What I find hard to understand is why this is, when most PSK31 programs (and many other logging programs used on Field Day) automate the logging process and produce a fiel that is quite easy to upload to LoTW. The extra effort would be most appreciated by your fellow Field Day participants who are pursuing awards.

Ted Antanaitis, WA7ZZB

I couldn’t have said it better myself. What gets me is that many of these clubs who operate during Field Day submit their log electronically to the ARRL to see how they rate among their peers- it’s not a contest, after all.

Perhaps incentivising clubs would do the trick- if you upload your log to both the ARRL and LoTW, then you could get more points. I think this is a great idea and would encourage more clubs to do the right thing and upload their contest logs which would help out people like Ted and other amateurs as well.