John Moyle Memorial Field Day

Denis VK4AE, WIA coordinator for the John Moyle Memorial Field Day 2018 reminds us that next weekend is the Field Day -Saturday the 17th to Sunday 18th March, 2018, the duration of the contest will be from UTC 0100 Saturday to 0059 on Sunday.

The aim of the field day contest is to encourage familiarisation with portable operation and to provide training for operations in emergency situations.

During the contest the field (portable) stations appreciate the support from home stations. However, in order to make the whole event a lot fairer, those field (portable) stations actually take part in effectively a separate event to home stations. In this way home stations are not given an unfair advantage, when compared the portable stations that do not have the advantages of a permanent antenna installation, mains power and the comfort of operating from their own home QTH. Home stations are single operator stations and Club Stations operating from their club premises are not operating portable. Last year we had a number of club stations wanting to claim portable operation from the clubrooms as it was likely to be raining during the contest and they were not keen to actually operate portable. In addition, there were club stations who felt that operating in the local caravan park using mains power was also ‘portable’ operation. Of course, none of these club stations were operated according to the rules or to the spirit of the contest.

No matter how you plan to take part in the contest, after the activity is all over and the radio equipment has been packed away, there is one task that must be completed by all stations. They must submit their log for the contest for the validation of those contacts for the other stations.

There is sufficient time allowed after the contest to actually complete and submit their log to the WIA, as paper logs will be accepted as long as they are post marked 18th April and electronic logs up until midnight 25th April 2018. So there are not many excuses today for not sending in your as it can be kept electronically while the contest is under way using one of the many logging programs such as VK Contest Log by our own Mike VK3AVV. Then you simply have to submit the print file from this program to me via one of the e-mail addresses shown on the contest page on the WIA website.

Of course by submitting your log you automatically enter the contest and you never know you might even get a certificate?

Now is the time to carry on with your planning for the field day as there are only a few weeks to go before the event. There is still time to make sure that everything is in order and operating and all of the little bits and pieces that are needed to put your station onto the airwaves are all in the desired place.

Make sure that the location you had chosen is still accessible after the summer onslaught from flood and bushfire and the roads into the place have not been closed – in the interests of public safety – and that the trees that were so useful for string aerials and tent ropes in the past are still in good condition and safe to be around.

Best of luck to all in the field day and I look forward to working a few of you on the day and most of all receiving your log entry after the event.

Visit the John Moyle Memorial Field Day page via this - Link

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