SO2R & Field Day?

[KO7I]

Reading thru the current issue of the NCJ, I saw the article titled WRTC-Style Controller for Field Day. Looks pretty complicated.

But it got me thinking about FD 2012 and if SO2R is legal for Field Day. Is there a band change wait time restriction? while searching other bands for "new ones".

Thinking about giving it a try, if it is legal.

Thanks & 73,
Don KO7i

[KS2G]

There are no restrictions on band-changes in FD -- you can jump around as often as you like.
SO2R is fine -- same as using a single radio to band-hop.

The factor that determines FD category is how many transmitters are on the air simultaneously.

73,
Mel - KS2G

[KO7I]

Reading the K5WA article in NCJ was a ah ha moment for me.
The Dec 11 QST say's they entered as 1A - 1894 qso's - 4 ops - for 7,438 pts. Very impressive.
I was wondering how these 1A guys were racking up these 2A style scores. The NCJ article spells it out. They aren't 4 guys sharing one transmitter, they are 4 guys with 2 transmitters, and one sophisticated PLC controller, that only allows one transmitter to be transmitting at a time.
Interesting use of tactics, Intellegent programmer, and a team of good CW ops = successful field day.
Then there is K6AM 1A - 3610 qso's - 6 ops - for 11,134 pts... Wonder if they had 3 or 4 transmitters slaved to on another?
73, Don KO7i

[KS2G]

They did the same thing in the last WRTC in Russia -- two ops and two radios at each station, but only allowed one signal on the air at any instant. Used sophisticated lockouts to prevent violation of that restriction.

[N2EY]

Things have come full circle.

In the 1950s there were a few clubs who got the bright idea to use an interlocking system to limit the number of transmitters on the air simultaneously. There might be 5 stations with operators but only 2 actually on the air while the rest looked for new ones. Obviously this really only works for S&P.

I'm not sure of the exact year, but in either the late 1950s or early 1960s the rules were changed to effectively prohibit such interlock systems and fast band-hopping.

In looking at the 2011 rules, those prohibitions are gone. I will have to check to see when they were eliminated.

Maybe they'll bring back the club-aggregate mobile category....

73 de Jim, N2EY

[KO7I]

Looks to me that there is room for SO2R. I am reading up on SO2R now.
73, Don KO7i

[N2EY]

Looks to me that there is room for SO2R.

Yes, but what they're talking about is different from SO2R.

With Single Operator 2 Radios, the one operator controls two rigs. For example, you might be running contacts on a busy 40 CW while doing S&P on 10, which is not-so-busy. While the computer is calling CQ or sending the exchange on 40 you seek new ones on 10.

Where SO2R of that kind is really an advantage is when multipliers count - which they don't on FD.

What is being described here (I think) is having multiple rigs and ops but a system to limit the number of rigs actually transmitting simultaneously, to keep a multiop setup inm a lower transmitter category. You could conceivably have 10-12 rigs or more all doing S&P yet still be in 1A because only one actually transmits at a time.
73 de Jim, N2EY

[KO7I]

OK good points, I guess what I was refering to SO2R is not accurate. What I am thinking of is a WRTC style operation where only one signal is transmited at a time. That by definition is not SO2R.
Thanks and 73,
Don KO7i

[K3AN]

If your contest entry category is single op (or 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E or 1F in Field Day), you can transmit on just one radio at a time. That includes SO2R stations.

An SO2R op runs on one band with one radio while doing S&P on another band on the other radio. In a contest, when you hear a station suddenly take a break from CQing it means he's quickly working a station on the other band. Then he starts CQing again.

BTW, check out K6AM's Field Day results. 3.600+ QSO's! That's averaging 150 contacts/hour for the entire 24 hours. Gotta be SO2R.

[N4OGW]

When I first operated FD in the 1980's, there was a time you had to wait after a band change (10 minutes?) before you could change bands again. Sometime between then and a few years ago that rule was removed.

To do 3600 qso's in FD, you would have to have two (or more) stations and operators calling cq and running stations. The transmitters run through an interlock so that only one can transmit at once, so there is always a single transmitted signal. You keep the cq messages short.

It is not too hard to get ~1500 qso's in class A on CW in FD (field setup no so2r/etc, simple dipoles). 3600 definitely requires one to be running on more than one band at once.

Another thing: some of those 3600 qso's could have been on VHF which is a "free" extra transmitter. 6m was open this year and several hundred qso's could have been made on 6m.

Tor
N4OGW

[KS2G]

As stated in an earlier post, there are no multipliers (e.g. working states, sections, etc) in Field Day.

It's a RATE event ... big scores come from working a lot of stations.
 
So the key is RUNNING (calling CQ and getting answers).

And if you're running at a good rate, there's no advantage to either SO2R or WRTC-style multiple-transmitters-on-the-air-one-at-a-time.

73,
Mel - KS2G

[N2EY]

As stated in an earlier post, there are no multipliers (e.g. working states, sections, etc) in Field Day.

It's a RATE event ... big scores come from working a lot of stations.
 
So the key is RUNNING (calling CQ and getting answers).

And if you're running at a good rate, there's no advantage to either SO2R or WRTC-style multiple-transmitters-on-the-air-one-at-a-time.

Well, yes and no.

On the one hand, running will rack up lots of QSOs *on a busy band*.

But:

1) Running on FD requires a big signal. And since there are no multipliers there's no "10 dB gain built into being a rare one".

2) Bands do get worked out, and some are more buys than others.

73 de Jim, N2EY

[N2EY]

Then there is K6AM 1A - 3610 qso's - 6 ops - for 11,134 pts... Wonder if they had 3 or 4 transmitters slaved to on another?

Almost certainly they did. Plus a really, really good signal.

Note that a lot of them must have been 'phone. Here's why:

If you run in low power (more than 5 watts but less than 150 watts) you get a power multiplier of 2. CW and digital get 2 points per QSO. So it's 4 points per QSO for CW or digital and 2 points for phone.

3610 x 4 = 14,440. But they didn't score that high so they must have done at least some 'phone.

If they did half phone and half CW/digital, the score would be 10,830. Add some bonus points (100% emergency power, W1AW message, natural power) and you get over 11,000.


73 de Jim, N2EY