Hunkering Down Between the Triple Deckers: The 2022 Boston Winter Field Day Backyard Blizzard

My homemade antenna unun was rattling. Somehow the second bolt holding the SO-239 mount went missing and the nuts and washers were now free floating on the inside of the box. This meant that the capacitor leg soldered to that bolt was also dangling. At quarter to one, Winter Field Day was about to begin, and I had to fix my antenna. It was also time to try out my new radiator. Over the years, I have become increasingly aware of the need for good strain relief for the wires. What you are seeing is a bowline knot with shrink tubing at the eyebolt on this wire cut for a 20M half wavelength.

Oh yeah, and there was a blizzard happening. AA1F and I are usually up for the adventure. Last Winter Field Day we settled overnight in a train car caboose in Chester MA for the duration of the contest. Problem was the temps reached 0F and the caboose was uninsulated. Luckily a combination of a good portable heater and excellent sleeping bags (Mountain Hardware 0F Phantom for those keeping tabs, and no, I do not receive ANY compensation of ANYTHING on this website) kept us alive.

I strung an 80M OCF antenna along the fence wrapping it from the street, down the alleyway, behind the shed in the back, and finally along the other side of the fence back towards the house. Below, so you can see I wasn’t cheating, the balun of the OCF is on the left and my permanent 40M OCF (with its ziplock bag weatherproofing skirt!) on the right. Winter FD rules state you cannot be considered an “Outdoor” station if you use a permanently erected antenna. The DIY 49:1 unun with 20M radiator (instructions here) went from fence-to-fence kitty corner across the yard. The max height of our WFD antennas was 6 feet. It was about 15F outside and the winds were hitting speeds approaching 50mph in the city. Exposed skin frostbit within minutes.

So, as I eluded to, AA1F and I are generally up for an adventure. But one thing weather-wise that stops us in our tracks — the thought of moving our vehicles during a snowstorm. With on-street parking in Southie, we know there is a strong chance we may have trouble parking for the rest of winter if we give up our spots. Google “Snow” “Parking” “Fight” “Boston” if you want to get a bit of an idea of the war that is winter on the urban streets. On friday, before the first flake fell, AA1F and I set up the ice fishing tent in the backyard. We were doing a 2-Oscar (for 2 transmitters outdoors) station right in our city lot.

(If you look carefully at the above photo, you can see the 20M radiator on the 49:1 EFHW antenna crossing the yard.)

Antennas up and equipment in the ice fishing tent, we were finally ready to get on the air. We had two stations going with AA1F on the 80M OCF operating SSB, starting on 40M and later switching to 80M. If you look carefully, you can see multiple bandpass filters in their metal boxes sprinkled around. We ran our stations off of batteries, but did bring in shore power via extension cord from the house for peripherals. Hey, why not a little luxury to plug in our cell phones?? Our portable propane heater turned the ice house toasty. By 3pm, we were ready to jump into Winter Field Day as AA1F, a 2-Oscar operation in the middle of a blizzard.

AA1F used his standard portable station, namely the Yaesu FT-891A, a 15ah Bioenno lifepo battery, and an LDG Z-100 Plus tuner. He rarely ever changes his station, finding comfort with the familiar. He logged with N1MM+ without any sort of CAT control.

Both my station and my radio goals for this contest were a bit more exotic. I connected the Icom IC-705 to the RM Italy MLA-100 100W linear amplifier to the LDG Z-100 Plus tuner to a Dunestar 20M bandpass filter and finally to the antenna. There is a second brand of bandpass filter stacked up below too (Array Solutions) however I ended up just using 20M early on and switching to 40M later so never used those. The IC705 is connected to the computer, where I planned on running MMSSTV (pictured) for SSTV transmissions, FLDigi for CW decoding, JS8Call, and N1MM+ for logging. Both FLDigi and JS8Call used FLRig to control the radio, while MMSSTV directly talked to the IC705. I did not use rig control at all for N1MM+. Ultimately everything worked, but was not without glitches.

Here’s how the IC705 works with the MLA100 amplifier. The amplifier needs to transmit into a low-SWR situation in order to work. Therefore, the antenna tuner needs to be placed between the amplifier and the antenna (or in my case, between the amplifier and the bandpass filter which then goes to the antenna). In order to tune antenna (match its impedance purists!), I just change the mode to CW, put the keyer on “straight key”, and press the corresponding button on the microphone (or of course use my cw paddle). Make sure the amplifier is turned off for this!!! Once I transmit a constant tone with the rig set to “break in” (which is the setting that is needed to actually transmit the cw tone), I press the button on the tuner until the red light goes out. I then stop pressing the button on the tuner (but keep transmitting!) until the tuner finds a match. This method ensures that I do not need to have a separate keying cable to talk between the tuner and radio.

The IC705 is running off of its internal battery at or below its 5W maximum power. This is the maximum power the MLA100 should be driven at. Once the tuner has found a good match and the SWR is low, the amplifier can be powered on. Now just watch the controls on both the radio and the amplifier to make sure you are not overdriving it. A power meter between the tuner and antenna would be a good addition here.

The blizzard raged on, but we were snug as bugs in a rug in our little ice hut. We paused for a moment to take a selfie. Well, at least I did…

AA1F kept ploughing away at it… And we did not make a ton of contacts, but each one was hard earned!

Nighttime came quickly. Time to pause for a bit of shoveling and some hot dogs and hamburgers. At least we could pretend we were at a lovely July cookout! If you look carefully, you can see the icicles forming below the window of the Clam tent. This is due to the warmth inside the hut. We did not even need to wear a coat while operating!

With the setting sun, 20M went flat and I needed to switch radiators back to a 40M half wavelength wire as the SWR on the shorter wire made it unusable after dark. Not wanting to have to actually take down the antenna to bring it inside the shelter to work on it, I decided to change the radiator outside. In preparation for the exchange, I erected the 40M half wave 60 foot wire across the yard parallel to the 20M radiator. I left the end of the wire that needed to be attached to the unun dangling in a ziplock back while I went inside to eat. It was about 12F outside.

I returned with a tupperware container, a wrench, and some wire cutters (for the zip tie I used for strain relief). Despite how easy a task it is to change the wire, I did not think I would be able to do it. My hands almost instantly frostbit, and holding cold metal parts was unbearable. I lost all feeling in my fingers. Determination won out, and despite losing a lock washer in the snow, I was able to secure the 40M radiator onto the unun. It took my hands a half an hour to regain feeling, reinforcing the fact that exposed skin in a blizzard is deadly.

Well fed and back on the air, I tried my hand at JS8Call. AA1F changed over to 80M and I inherited 40M for nightfall. I was able to have a few weak signal qsos. All-in-all, we did not make a ton of contacts, less than 40 all together. But I am pleased with our efforts nonetheless. I was able to make contacts using several modalities, including SSB, SSTV, CW, and JS8Call on 20M and 40M. AA1F stuck to SSB on 40M and 80M, which is what he both knows and enjoys. We also get points for being an outdoor station and for using emergency power. I would be surprised if we were not in the running for the number one slot of 2-Oscar stations in ARRL section EMA despite the small number of contacts. We stayed on the air with only one dinner break from around 3pm to 11pm, with set-up beginning around 1pm.

There are so many ways to learn and grow with ham radio, especially with portable operations. Even as just a backyard adventure! All that is required is desire and effort.

And operating portable in adverse conditions really tests your mettle when it comes to survival. I know as a New Englander, that there are several things I do not want to be without. Here is my own modern day gear list of some useful but somewhat obscure items perhaps you never thought of.

• Rain Gear: Everyone should own a lightweight, packable, waterproof outer shell consisting of pants and a jacket. This keeps you dry, acts like a vapor barrier for warmth, and is a good wind break. Great garments for not just rain, but cold and snow. And who wants to bother with an umbrella?
• Microspikes: Slip and falls are exquisitely dangerous. These slip-on footware traction devices can save your life both on a mountain pass, as well as walking to your mailbox.
• A Darn Good Sleeping Bag: A sleeping bag rated below the lowest temperatures your area experiences is great insurance for keeping warm if the power ever goes off. You cannot skimp here, not all sleeping bags are equal! And not all temperature ratings are accurate! Do your homework!
• A Portable Propane Heater: Again do your homework here. A portable propane heater is one of the only ways that I know of to sufficiently heat a space like an ice fishing tent without resorting to a wood (or coal) burning stove without electricity. Ours is a Massachusetts-compliant Portable Buddy Heater. In a real pinch, you could find a way to cook with it. Or at least melt snow for water.
• An Insulated Ice Fishing Tent: Hear me out. We tend to not ever lose power in Boston, in part because our electricity is underground. But, if we did, I would probably set up the ice fishing tent in the living room. Why? It is MUCH easier to heat up a small insulated space than it is an entire house. I would camp inside with it. The Clam ice tent stays WARM! It is an amazing design and by now we’ve thoroughly tested it in many situations. It is NOT waterproof though, keep that in mind!
• A Headlamp: I have used a Black Diamond headlamp for as long as I can remember. A decade and a half? Two decades? A good quality headlamp and replacement batteries is the only emergency lighting you need.

So, Winter Field Day 2022. Yet another adventure, and this time only steps from our house. A bit of a test of blizzard survival with a hot dog and hamburger intermission! Time now to go shovel out the van…

Always Yours,

KM1NDY