Winter Field Day for 2023 was very mild as far as weather goes (40 degrees). With the mild weather in view, we decided to set up the equipment the day of the activity. Again we were able to set up at the Appalachian Conference grounds in Dublin, VA (thanks to WD4JIX).
Setup started around 11:30am for the early attenders, and was completed about 12:45pm. Equipment setup included 3 stations sharing a single multiband antenna through a new triplexer purchased by the club in 2022. This gave us 20, 40, and 80 meter bands to operate on. The single antenna was set up at a leisurely pace in about 45 minutes.
Once the setup was complete, W4XXV gave an Introduction to HF class to those attending. There, the differences in VHF and HF phone communication was demonstrated along with operation tips and tricks. The end result was two of the attending making contacts with a distant Parks on the Air activator!
As 2pm rolled around, we were ready. The first contact was made at 2:02pm with notable activity on the 20 and 40 meter bands.
Throughout the evening it seemed that 80 meters just wasn’t working well for contacts, but 20 and 40 seemed to fare well.
After 270 contacts (250 phone, 20 CW) and a clock reading 11pm we decided to pack it up and call it quits. (authors note: need to nap before coming out to the event for more energy!)
This was the second year we have participated in Winter Field Day as a club, and we all had a great time seeing each other and playing radio.
See below for photos and a PDF summary of the activities.