Winter Field Day 5 Basic Winter Survival Tips

Most radio operators already know Winter Field Day 2017 is just around the corner. Winter Field Day is an opportunity to test your gear and personal effectiveness is cold weather conditions. So I thought to take a moment to share 5 tips for more effective winter field operations with your amateur comms gear.

Lots of people might be wondering what’s the point of such basic guidelines for winter operating. Well when I moved to 65N, I also assumed cold weather field communications was a no-brainer. That is until I nearly lost a few toes, with wrong ideas, and poor equipment. The thing about winter field ops is success or failure starts long before you ever get outdoors. Whether or not your winter field op is successful, depends on choices you make at the time you are building or buying your gear. Considering what type of antenna to buy or build.
Some considerations might be: How easy is it to deploy in cold weather, if you cant take off your gloves? Can you operate your radio with gloves on? Is it possible to untangle that counterpoise while wearing mittens? Can you operate your VHF/UHF radio while wearing gloves? Will the frequency display work in minus temperatures? These are all things we take for granted during fair weather operations.

Successful winter operations starts long before you ever get cold.
Just food for thought
de OH8STN
#wfd2017