Pages: [1] 2   Go Down

Author Topic: Field Day limit of 150 watts?  (Read 644 times)

KT0DD

  • Member
  • Posts: 568
Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« on: June 28, 2021, 04:37:35 AM »

Was the 150 watt power limit for field day just for 2021 or is it going to be permanent? If so, I doubt I will be participating much anymore. Sometimes on Field Day I may be trying to make a DX contact and 150 watts may not cut it. I may have to stick to doing my own thing and work DX on my own. 73.

Todd - KT0DD
Logged

W3PX

  • Posts: 190
    • HomeURL
Re: Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2021, 04:56:08 AM »

It was put in place for 2020 and extended for 2021. It's hard to say what the ARRL will do with this "temporary" rule in the future.

There's no reason you can't still make DX contacts at higher power levels as long as those QSO's aren't submitted as FD contacts.

Even at power levels below 150 watts as Class D and E, some DX stations aren't eligible to participate (for credit) in Field Day anyway. See the rules for more info.

73 Frank W3PX


« Last Edit: June 28, 2021, 04:58:45 AM by W3PX »
Logged
"So, we just went ahead and fixed the glitch" - Bob Slydell

"I’d say in any given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work" - Peter Gibbons

KT0DD

  • Member
  • Posts: 568
Re: Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« Reply #2 on: June 28, 2021, 05:15:00 AM »

Thank You W3PX. 73.

Todd - KT0DD
Logged

GRUMPY2021

  • Posts: 280
    • HomeURL
Re: Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« Reply #3 on: June 28, 2021, 06:22:27 AM »

After making contact with the Slovak Republic, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Sweden on 6 watts SSB,  I would say if you can't make a DX contact on 150 watts you need a better antenna.
Logged

WA9AFM

  • Member
  • Posts: 978
Re: Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« Reply #4 on: June 28, 2021, 06:42:05 AM »

The 150w limit applies only to Class D/E, i.e. home stations.  This was put in place to level the playing field with mobile/portable stations.  Don't know if it will be permanent, but my guess is it will.
Logged

KD1JT

  • Member
  • Posts: 61
Re: Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« Reply #5 on: June 28, 2021, 08:31:11 AM »

IMO that limit should apply to ALL classes and be permanent.  What's the justification behind using QRO in a portable field operation, other than amassing points?
Logged

KE8G

  • Member
  • Posts: 26
Re: Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2021, 08:33:37 AM »

I hope the ARRL keeps the 150 watt rule in place!  It makes for a more even playing field for the 1D & 1E stations. 

I agree with GRUMPY2021, if you can't make a DX contact with 150 watts, then you really need to invest some time in your antenna system and make improvements.  I regularly work Europe, Asia, and Australia on a simple 40 or 80 meter wire antenna running 90 watts or so. 

just my 2 cents.
73 de Jim - KE8G
Logged

KO4JPZ

  • Posts: 28
    • HomeURL
Re: Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« Reply #7 on: June 28, 2021, 09:00:41 AM »

This was my first big field day as I just received my license late last year.

A couple of thing I observed. The 150 limit was not always self imposed. There were more than a few stations still blowing right along at high power.
There was so many people participating that
1. You did not need a lot of watts to get contacts, and
2. The high power folks were bleeding over and making it hard on other contestants.
3. When the waterfall is white, high power just tends to add to the problems.

My favorite was a fellow that sounded to be very old and hard of hearing. His radio was on 40 meters and instead of .00 or .50, his frequency he was .25 or somewhere close.
He told everyone they were off frequency again and again. Finally some gentleman in an east Texas accent fired up his cloud warmer and told the fellow, "Hoss, you are the one off frequency."

I heard more that one person mention they felt that 150 watts was QRP to them.
But really, there were so many folks in so many pileups I can't imagine someone not getting contacts. Maybe they felt it was not fast or easy enough to get contacts.

Logged

W9SA

  • Member
  • Posts: 15
Re: Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« Reply #8 on: June 28, 2021, 09:35:27 AM »

I was running 1D and stayed below 150 watts.  Some of the contacts were a challenge but that's the point.  I had fun and that's also the point.
Logged

K4FMH

  • Member
  • Posts: 681
Re: Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« Reply #9 on: June 28, 2021, 12:42:31 PM »

Hi everyone,

I hope FD was enjoyable. Two comments here.

My team had a run on 20M using 150 watts SSB (Kenwood 950sdx) of 167 contacts in a row. Worked everyone calling until 20M faded after 10pm local (!).

On the level playing field notion, see the km-per-watt metric used in the Portable Operations Challenge: foxmikehotel.com/challenge. Run all the power that’s legal if you want. But everyone faces the power efficiency of the scoring so it’s more focused on radio “sport” than radio “equipment”. See if your big contester buddies will Take the Challenge!
Logged

N8NK

  • Posts: 179
    • N8NK QRP
Re: Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« Reply #10 on: June 28, 2021, 01:23:58 PM »

I agree with Grumpy. Just playing around using QRP of course, I swept 20m and 80m repeatedly using SSB and only called maybe 2 or 3 stations that I couldn't end up working. Worked up and down the west coast from Michigan using QRP, and also worked LA, TX, etc on 6m using QRP. Same with 10m.
I say lower the power limit further to 100w max.
Nobody needs more than that to work anywhere in the world when the bands are in good shape.
FD 2021 seemed to fizzle out completely two or three hours early. I believe this to be due to an excess of 'wobbly pops' the evening before   ;-]
Chuck A.K.A. Blowzo the Humble Ham
Logged

KD6VXI

  • Member
  • Posts: 1022
Re: Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« Reply #11 on: June 28, 2021, 04:24:44 PM »



Snip.

My favorite was a fellow that sounded to be very old and hard of hearing. His radio was on 40 meters and instead of .00 or .50, his frequency he was .25 or somewhere close.
He told everyone they were off frequency again and again. Finally some gentleman in an east Texas accent fired up his cloud warmer and told the fellow, "Hoss, you are the one off frequency."
.

Both of them are fairly ignorant.  There is nothing that states you have to work frequencies that end on 00, 10 or anything else.  You just have to remain within your band segments authorized.
Logged

GRUMPY2021

  • Posts: 280
    • HomeURL
Re: Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« Reply #12 on: June 28, 2021, 06:27:04 PM »

I kind of agree and disagree with KD6VXI...  both of them were fairly ignorant.... no... only the one was.   If you're the person calling CQ you can be on any frequency you are legally allowed to operate per your licsence.   SO if I want to call CQ on 7.207.67 I can do that.   NOW for some reason everyone has this notion it has to be 7.207.00 or God forbid 7.207.50.   Mostly it has to be even numbers.... so the cloud warmer was the ignorant one for telling him he is off frequency.  More than likely the old man was correct.   People were tuning below or above him so yes they were off frequency.   Now we're splitting hairs.    Glad that cesspool called Field Day is over.   
Logged

N8AUC

  • Member
  • Posts: 1007
Re: Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« Reply #13 on: June 28, 2021, 06:36:48 PM »

I understand the motivation of the 150W limit for class D and E stations. It was, as others have said, to level the playing field with stations actually operating in the field. Whether that rule will be permanent or not, I have no idea. And actually, I don't really care. I'm not out in the field to win a contest. I'm out in the field to keep operating for the entire event, and I really try to avoid using a gas generator. The only thing on site that used the output of the site's generator was the field kitchen. Haven't yet found a 40 cup coffee urn that doesn't need 110VAC to operate. As a side note, if this really was a disaster response, I'd be boiling water on a propane stove and drinking instant coffee.

Field stations often have to restrict their RF power output based on limitations of available off grid power sources. If you're running a decent sized gas powered generator, you could probably run a KW, as long as you had enough fuel on hand. Frankly, I don't have a problem with someone who does that. If you want to haul that kind of weight, then go for it.

As for me, I run my rig on a portable solar power setup, as do most people in our group. In previous years, I had 42Ah of AGM fed with a 100w solar panel. That means I had 21 Ah of usable capacity. In order to make my battery last all night, I operated CW, and turned the output down to 20 watts. Until the sun comes up Sunday morning and gets over the trees to illuminate the panels, you really can't start charging the battery again. Once it does though, the solar panels generate enough power to run the rig, and charge the battery at the same time. Made plenty of contacts doing that. I did use the generator output to run the logging computer, because that AGM battery setup just wasn't big enough to run the rig AND the computer. This year, I upgraded my battery setup to a 50Ah LiFePO4, to provide enough power to run the rig AND my laptop off of the solar setup. That worked great! I was even able to increase my RF output power to 40 watts, and still had capacity to spare. Was able to work everyone I wanted to, pretty much, limited only by my ability to hear through all the on-site QRM.

The problem with Field Day, is that Field Day has evolved over the years to the point that it now legitimately means different things to different people. The reason for that evolution is to encourage participation. Because let's face it, if you tried to convince the majority of hams to participate in a disaster preparedness drill, participation would fall off a cliff. Most hams would not consider that to be fun, and let's face it, ham radio is an avocation, not a vocation. So in order to increase participation, a contest aspect was added to the event. Many more people consider that to be fun, but not everybody. So now it's also a club picnic/cookout and social gathering as well, because everybody likes a good cookout. None of that is wrong, or even incorrect. But at it's core, what Field Day really is, is a disaster preparedness exercise. That's why it encourages operation without permanent structures and commercial power, and why you get bonus points for using alternate power sources. Because in the aftermath of a real disaster, it is likely you would have none of those available. The plus side to all of that, is that many more people get exposed to the methods and techniques of post-disaster operation, by osmosis if nothing else. And the real, underlying goal is to learn to be able to operate completely off-grid for 24 hours, and practice the techniques required.

The reason I love Field Day, is that it combines two of my favorite activities. Camping out overnight, and playing lots of radio. For me it used to be playing radio all night. But as I'm getting older, staying up all night gets harder and harder for me to do every year.

To be perfectly honest, I think the best rule change was to allow home stations to count the points for working other home stations. Because in the aftermath of a real disaster, that's probably where most people would be anyways.

73 de N8AUC
Eric
« Last Edit: June 28, 2021, 06:52:29 PM by N8AUC »
Logged

N8AUC

  • Member
  • Posts: 1007
Re: Field Day limit of 150 watts?
« Reply #14 on: June 28, 2021, 06:44:24 PM »

I kind of agree and disagree with KD6VXI...  both of them were fairly ignorant.... no... only the one was.   If you're the person calling CQ you can be on any frequency you are legally allowed to operate per your licsence.   SO if I want to call CQ on 7.207.67 I can do that.   NOW for some reason everyone has this notion it has to be 7.207.00 or God forbid 7.207.50.   Mostly it has to be even numbers.... so the cloud warmer was the ignorant one for telling him he is off frequency.  More than likely the old man was correct.   People were tuning below or above him so yes they were off frequency.   Now we're splitting hairs.    Glad that cesspool called Field Day is over.

Except for the cesspool comment, I agree. Rigs have VFOs for a reason. You're legally able to operate anywhere your license privileges allow, as long as you keep your entire transmitted signal within your allocated band segment.

The only time being "off frequency" is even an issue, is when you're in a net operation. And then, you're supposed to zero-beat to the net control station. If he's on 7267.53, then that's where you should be also.
Logged
Pages: [1] 2   Go Up