Winter Field Day is a great opportunity to get outdoors, gain experience assembling equipment in the rough, and operate a station under potentially-challenging winter conditions. This year the West Valley Amateur Radio Assoc (WVARA) operated QRP in the 7-transmitter Outdoor category from a campground at Sunset Beach State Park near Watsonville. The weather this year was cool with highs in the 60s, nighttime lows in the 40s and no rain.

We had two HF CW stations, three HF SSB stations, one HF digital station, and one VHF/UHF station.  In addition, Mark (W6IA) netted us two satellite contacts.

In contrast to summer Field Day where we often put up wild-n-crazy antennas, the focus at this year’s Winter Field Day site was simple, basic antennas that could be quickly assembled in a true emergency — mostly verticals and end-fed wire antennas.  Unlike summer Field Day where the bands are packed throughout the night, action during Winter Field Day dwindled beginning in the late afternoon.  (We suspect this was at least partly due to the severe winter weather back east.). As a result, many of us took a break after sunset and went to a local Japanese restaurant for a great dinner and very satisfying conversation.

Twenty meters was the “money band” for us this year.  Our site was not on a hill top, and being QRP with basic antennas meant that our QSO total was respectable but not record-breaking.  But more importantly, we had loads of fun and definitely improved our emergency preparedness comms skills.

QSO totals:

HF/CW:            67
HF/SSB:           84
HF/Digital:       19
VHF/Phone       5  (3 on 2m, 2 on 440)
Satellite:            2

QSO Total:   177