AREG member stations operating in the 2015 WIA Spring VHF/UHF Field Day!
VK5ZM Portable Array ready for the field day
Recently with the HF conditions deteriorating the operating interests of a number of club members has been switching to VHF/UHF. To help get their VHF/UHF stations “tuned up” for portable operation, a number of members are taking the opportunity to participate this year in the WIA Spring VHF/UHF Contest.
AREG members haven’t actively participated in this contest for a few years now so this marks a return to these bands for quite a few of us.
About the Contest (Extract from the WIA Website)
The VHF-UHF Field Days provide VHF-UHF operators with the opportunity to “head for the hills” and see how far they can work.
The Field Days have separate sections for single and multiple operator stations. The duration of the Field Day is 24 hours, but there are also 8 hour sections for operators who may not be able to camp overnight. Most club stations prefer to operate for the full 24 hours.
The Field Days also generate plenty of activity from home stations, so there is also a separate Home Station section.
All contacts must be simplex: contacts through repeaters or satellites are not allowed. There is plenty of FM activity, but one feature of the Field Days is a high level of SSB activity.
It is possible to do very well with only modest antennas if you pick a good hilltop. Another option, if your station is easily transportable, is to operate from more than one location during the contest period.
The overriding aim is to get away for the weekend and have fun! But next after that, the aims are:
VK5QI, VK5FO and VK5ZM are all preparing stations. Most club members are planning on operating in the 8hr section for the first 8 hours of the contest. Several sites around the Adelaide Hills and metropolitan area are being considered for activations. VK5FO and VK5RR will be operating from Saturday 0100hrs UTC for 8 hours from Ardrossan with:
VK5FO antennas on test
Bob and Ray should be capable of working most home and portable stations in the Adelaide Metro area and will be running SSB and FM. They will also beam towards Port Pirie, and Pt Lincoln.
VK5QI Antennas
VK5QI is also organising a station with Andy VK5AKH and has some “rover” antennas prepared.
The idea of the contest has also inspired Matt VK5ZM to go on an antenna building spree with new 2m and 6m LFA beams built and ready plus a borrowed 70cm 9el antenna to give Matt 70cm capabilities as well.
VK5ZM 2m LFA Beam
VK5ZM and VK5FGRY will be headed to Anstey Hill, using a site suggested by Andy AKH. You can find their location here; (VK5ZM Location for the VHF/UHF Field Day.) Gary and Matt are just focusing on 6m, 2m & 70cm (FM/SSB) and Matt will take a 23cm HT (FM) if anyone wants to try, but it will be rubber duck.
They will be located within the Anstey Hill Rec Park with a good elevation (400m) and clear LOS to just about everywhere. The site is a little shadowed to the southern suburbs and vales, but has a good outlook none the less.
Members are certainly welcome if they would like to come and visit VK5ZM and VK5FGRY. Note that parking is along the roadside so use your common sense here please.
It should be a great weekend so look out for these and many other stations participating in the WIA Spring VHF/UHF Field Day!
Well, the AREG has wound up it’s activities 
at Para Wirra
Recreation Park for this year’s contest. A great deal of fun was had by everyone to participated, even by those who operated under physical duress (two members could hardly walk).
A big thanks to everyone who took part and operated or provided support for the event. In particular (and if we’ve missed you out please let us know and we’ll add you to this list) those who took part in operating the station included: VK5AKH, VK5ZM, VK5QI, VK5KX, VK5FSKS (who flew in from VK3), VK5GR, VK5JO, VK5MTM, VK5UP, and we believe that VK5FGRY was spotted sitting at a few consoles however we’re not sure if he transmitted or not this year (*grin*).
With the Para Wirra CP being so close to Adelaide we were also fortunate to have a large number of visitors which included; Kim VK5FJ, Arno VK5ZAR, Paul VK5JG and Dennis VK5FDEN, Cary VK5CD, Peter VK5APR, Louis VK5FLY and Jess, Wendy, Dean VK5FAIR and Sally VK5FSAM, Brenton VK5BZ, Ben VK5BB, Darin VK5IX and Glenys plus boys, Sharon FSAW and the Moo, Allan VK5MAK, Bob VK5FO and Ray VK5RR.
We also must thank Arno VK5ZAR and Gary VK5FGRY who helped keep the troops fed manning the BBQ and keeping the ants at bay as well as Sharon VK5FSAW who provided dinner on Sunday night. We must also thank all of the visitors that rang ahead and checked if we needed anything, with the weather so warm the bags of ice, drinks and loaves of additional bread were gratefully received.
A big thankyou again to the rangers of Para Wirra Recreation Park (Steve and Mel!) who graciously allowed us to conduct the event inside the park for the 3 days. To find a site so close to Adelaide with such a low HF noise floor is a wondrous thing.
Overall our tentative scores were:
[table “” not found /]
[table “” not found /]
80/160m: With changes to the radios this year, it was fantastic to see the contacts and multipliers achieved out of the low band station. Peter VK5KX and the low band crew achieved contacts into ZL on 160m and into the USA on 80m. Well done!
40m: was hard going this year. We lacked enough punch to be heard often in Europe and that cost us many contacts in the early hours of the morning. We did get a few contacts into that part of the world but often it was through multiple repeats and perseverance. The auto keyers got a work over and between Josh VK5JO, Andy VK5AKH, Grant VK5GR, Matt VK5ZM and Mark VK5QI plus other relief operators, we ground out a solid score. The tube amp and dipole did well to the USA – but the fixed orientation wasn’t helping our cause for Europe. More work and ideas planned for this station next year :-)`
20m: at times flew and at others was a grind. Again, punch to get over the European QRM made prefix chasing hard work although a solid result was still achieved with the Elecraft K-line and the Hex Beam. With 40m and 20m being co-located teams were taking turns at each station making further contributions to both stations.
15/10m: The surprise this year was 15m. We again had a Elecraft K-line and a 3-band Spider beam which we ran for the John Moyle Field Day. With that setup and the ionosphere playing the game the crew manning 15m had a huge amount of success. Long runs of Japanese stations as well as a beautiful opening into Europe Saturday night brought a sparkle to Matt VK5ZM, Theo VK5MTM and high band crew’s eyes.
All in all, a great result, a lot of fun and look out for AREG again next year! Meanwhile, ideas for improvements to the station are already circulating, and we wait with bated breath to see how we placed.
A big thank you to the OCDX contest organizing committee for staging the event too. It certainly gave our club the excuse to get out and play portable “Amateur Radio” for the long weekend.
73’s de VK5ARG
The station is built and raring to go. Here are some early photos from the activities up at Para Wirra Recreation Park.
Next Weekend is the Oceania DX Contest, SSB section. Members of the AREG will be activating the Club Call sign VK5ARG for this event from the Para Wirra Recreation Park, north east of Adelaide. The OceaniaDX contest provides a great opportunity for Oceania stations to get on the air as there is lots of activity in our region. Whats more, the DX chasers from around the world will be actively looking for Oceania! Hopefully the propagation will favour VK5. More information on the OCDX contest can be found via the WIA website.
Contest Times: 08:00 UTC (17:30hrs ACST) Saturday 3 October to 08:00 UTC (18:30hrs ACST) Sunday 4 October 2015 (Yes Daylight savings starts this weekend too!)
AREG welcomes all amateurs with an 
interest in portable field stations and contesting to come on up to the park and visit us over the weekend. Entry to the park will cost $10 / vehicle for a one time fee for the weekend.
While the park closes at dusk, the radio club has sought and obtained special permission from the park rangers to remain in the park overnight. To find our operating location, enter the park from the main gate off Humbug Scrub Road, proceed past the the park office then past North Oval until you reach the toilet blocks, picnic shelters and open paddock at the end of the bitumen.
Saturday Afternoon prior to the contest AREG will be having a HF activity afternoon with a mixture of SSB and FreeDV operation on both 20m and 40m. This will be another great opportunity to test FreeDV. The VK5ARG team will be monitoring the FreeDV QSO finder, and posting regular blog updates as the afternoon evolves. Activity is planed from 1500-1700 Local time but may start earlier depending on interest.
Theo VK5MTM operating 20m
The crew have arrived and are studying their blank canvas. Hmmm how to decorate this paddock with antennas? Lets put up the 40m antenna over here!
On the weekend of July 11th and 12th, the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group will be activating the WIA special 
event callsign VK100ANZAC as part of this year’s IARU HF Contest as the official WIA Headquarters station.
The IARU HF Championships encourage amateurs to contact as many other amateurs, especially IARU member society HQ stations, around the world as possible using the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meter bands. Operation will begin at 1200 UTC Saturday and ending 1200 UTC Sunday (July 11-12, 2015).
Look for VK100ANZAC / WIA during this weekend and give us a call! Better still, why not give the IARU Championships a go yourself. Details are available on the ARRL website
The results are now in for the 2015 John Moyle Memorial Field Day. As published on the WIA website, the multi club operation undertaken by AREG, EARC and members from NERC under the callsign VK5WIA has taken out first place in this year’s Multi Operator Portable HF Phone only division.
VK5WIA scored: 1141 contacts and achieved a score of 2,282 points
Well done team! Congratulations to everyone who took part!
The VK5ARG activation during the CQ WPX Contest and the VK5 Parks award activation by VK5QI and VK5AKH are underway now from the Coorong National Park. The bands are jumping and the team is having lots of fun camping out under the stars.
20m is alive with activity during the contest, as can be seen from Mark’s SDR screen capture here. Not a lot of room on 20m when this was captured!
All the best boys and enjoy yourselves.
