[NLRS] VHF Field Day modes

[Matt Burt]

Great ideas for FD this year!

WØNE will be on the air from EN44ea in Winona.  Bands A,B,D SSB/CW/Digital


New for us this year is running N1MM on all our stations; very easy to  
bring up the digital window and use Fldigi.  Really looking forward to  
trying it out.

73,


Matt  - KFØQ

----- Message from n0nas at amsat.org ---------
     Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 12:16:10 -0500
     From: Doug Reed <n0nas at amsat.org>
  Subject: [NLRS] VHF Field Day modes
       To: nlrs <nlrs at mailman.qth.net>


>
>
> One thing you should note about the FD rules is that voice, CW, and
> digital are all considered separate band-modes and provide a way to
> multiply your QSO points when station count is limited. Instead of
> working a station just once per band, you can work them in 2 or 3
> modes per band for up to 5x the points.
>
> If your club is going to the trouble of running a VHF station,
> consider adding a computer and sound card interface to that station.
> You get one point for the voice contact, 2 more points for a CW
> contact with the same station, and 2 more points if you can contact
> them on a digital mode as well. Having the sound card interface also
> sets you up to try meteor scatter mode which could increase you points
> score when the band is otherwise dead...
>
> So if you can operate all three modes, you could actually improve your
> VHF point score 5X by making duplicate QSOs in alternate modes on the
> same band. This is a perfect excuse for the VHF emergency services
> crowd to use the FLDIGI software for real. I know that FLDIGI has all
> the digital weak signal modes that you could want and you can
> send-receive CW with it as well. Or you could use any other digital
> sound card program you want.
>
> There is also nothing that says you have to QSY to use the other
> modes. CW and digital modes are OK anywhere in the band. So you could
> call CQ on your frequency and mode of choice, and after the first Q is
> made, ask if the other station has CW or digital modes and make those
> Q's before you offer to QSY. Do the same on each band where you have
> common equipment. You may find that CW or digital lets you make some
> Q's you couldn't have made on SSB. I suggested PSK31 because it can go
> 14dB below the noise, WSJT can dig 24dB into the noise...
>
> One nice thing about doing the sound card modes is that you never have
> to leave SSB mode on the radio if the computer is doing the sending
> via the sound card interface. And of course you can pre-load various
> FD messages to automate the digital and CW Q's even more. I don't
> think FLDIGI has a SSB voice keyer mode, too bad....
>
> If you are going to do this, you might want to amend your listing in
> the VHF-Blog to indicate CW and digital capability. I'd suggest
> keeping your options to a minimum, perhaps just CW and PSK31 if on SSB
> or CW and MFSK16 on FM? (It never made much sense to use CW or digital
> with an FM voice rig, but it does meet the requirements of the FD
> rules and it is FCC legal....)
>
> Just be sure to reduce the digital audio drive levels to keep power
> output low so you don't overheat your finals!!! Digital modes are
> considered 100% duty cycle and most SSB rigs can't do that at full
> power output. It is probably less of a problem with FD Q's since they
> are short and fast, but don't blame me if you damage your finals
> running too much power.....
>
> I'm not expecting anyone to do this if 6M is open and hot. But in the
> more likely case that the bands are quiet, this does offer you a way
> to increase your VHF QSO points with a fairly simple station upgrade.
>
> The most difficult part of this is getting the sound card interface
> and a computer with software before next Saturday. Having a little
> time to play and become familiar with the software would be a good
> thing as well.... Radio City would be happy to sell you an interface,
> they usually have them on the shelf. My personal favorite is the
> Signalink USB because it is one cable to the computer and one cable to
> the rig, but YMMV.
>
> If anyone would like to build their own sound card interface for next
> year, let me know. The main ingredient is two 600 ohm transformers and
> some sort of isolated PTT keying circuit, and I can provide those to
> anyone who wants to build the rest. I'm considering trying the KH6TY
> interface (March 2011 QST) with a USB dongle as my next interface,
> although K0BXB had an interesting suggestion in June 2011 QST....
> <https://sites.google.com/site/kh6tyinterface/>
>
> 73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.
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