Treating this year’s Field Day setup as a dry run for an actual EmComm deployment rather than just a contest weekend. The goal: everything fits in two cases, runs on battery and solar for 24+ hours without a generator, and can be on the air in under 15 minutes from a cold start.
The kit
- QRP HF transceiver (5–10W class) paired with a low NVIS dipole on a push-up mast for 40m/80m regional coverage, plus a separate resonant antenna for higher bands
- Laptop running FT8, JS8Call, and Winlink Express, configured and tested offline-first so nothing depends on finding internet on site
- LiFePO4 battery pack sized for a full 24-hour operating period, with a small folding solar panel for top-up charging during daylight
- 2m/70cm HT plus a mag-mount antenna for local coordination and APRS beaconing from the site
- Printed copies of frequencies, net schedules, and ICS message forms — because batteries and laptops die, and paper doesn’t
What Field Day actually tests
Beyond the contest score, this is the once-a-year forcing function to confirm the whole kit still works together: does the battery actually last as long as spec’d under real digital-mode duty cycle, does the antenna go up as fast as you remember, is the Winlink config still pointed at gateways that still exist. Treating it as a drill instead of just a contest is, I think, the actual point.
Logging it properly
If you’re operating with — or just want your contacts credited to — Phil-Mont Mobile Radio Club or the Warminster ARC, make sure your log actually says so. Phil-Mont’s own newsletter has had to remind members more than once: submit your Field Day score under the full club name, not an abbreviation like “PMRC” — abbreviated entries don’t get matched to the club and the contact doesn’t count toward their total. A small thing, but it’s the kind of detail that’s easy to forget in the middle of an exhausted Sunday-morning teardown.