[BARC-List] FD 2002 post mortem

[Mark J. Dulcey]

Michael Ardai wrote:
> 
> - Once again, Dave was amazing on CW.  Did you take any breaks?

A few. I operated the CW station for the first half hour, getting us the 
natural power contacts, and did another short stint as operator sometime 
in the early morning hours. Howard ran the station for about an hour. 
And Dave and I were away from the radio for about an hour and a half for 
meals, plus shorter breaks for bathroom stops.

> - 2M did very poorly.  6M wasn't much better.  220, 440, and 1.2
>   got us nothing.  What's wrong here?  Just because nobody was
>   manning those stations?  Because CEMARC never announced a common
>   2M freq replace 146.52 so we never got all of the usual mobiles?
>   All the mobiles now have HF in the car and were on 40M? 
>   Propagation?  Next year, I'd drop everything above 6M except for
>   2M talkin unless there is a concerted effort to get contacts on
>   2 from 1C/1D non-active participants out there.  It's just not
>   worth hauling all that stuff for that miniscule return.

I'd be more concerned about the miniscule operating effort that seemed 
to go into those stations. If there are people who are eager to run 
them, even if the QSO count is low, they're worth having. But I didn't 
see evidence of that; I saw stations that were idle most of the time.

> - The 40/80 dipole worked OK (except the feedpoint problem) but 
>   resonated a bit low.  It needs to be trimmed.

The SWR on that dipole was bad enough to cause the K2/100 to reduce 
output power. My AEA tuner wasn't up to the challenge of matching that 
particular load. The radio, however, soldiered on without any problems 
other than the reduced output power.

> - Setting up in the pergola and new shelter worked out very well.
>   Not too cramped, easy to see what was going on.  Even if we
>   have the whole area next year, we may want to stay there.  The 
>   tents get cramped and hot, and are not too inviting for the 
>   public.

The downside was the insects. I got bitten a LOT. I'll be itching for 
days. To be fair, insect bites don't bother everybody as much as they 
get to me. Sensitivity to such things varies. It also was difficult to 
concentrate some of the time at the CW station, because the neighboring 
digital station attracted such a crowd of onlookers, all of whom wanted 
to discuss things at great length and volume. It didn't seem to faze 
Dave, though.

> - OK, I guess it is time to give up trying to network computers.
>   It just doesn't work and isn't worth the effort.

It wouldn't be all that tough if you got an actual networking geek on 
the job. Alas, I can't be that geek; I won't be free on Field Day again 
until 2007. If I had known that you wanted it this year, I would have 
made it happen.

Before committing to networking, though, I'd want to do some field 
testing to make sure that the network didn't cause interference to the 
radios! My home network doesn't seem to be a problem (and it's quite 
extensive), so I don't think there are any insurmountable problems.

> - We had a lot of people who didn't operate.  I hope that was what
>   they wanted and not because they did not get a chance.

So do I. Dave and I certainly would have made room for anyone who wanted 
to get in some CW operating.

> - We were able to keep 4 HF stations running most of the time -
>   2 phone, 1 CW, and one digital.  Now all we need are better
>   antennas.  Any ideas for next year?

A tribander may be possible again next year, once all the real estate is 
available again - assuming that somebody can come up with an antenna and 
a tower. Wire beams don't really look very feasible at that site; the 
trees aren't in the right places.

> - Next year I will work 1E from my home QTH.  FD in the field is
>   way too much work...

A middle position may be possible; operate in the field, but don't take 
it upon yourself to try to run everything! (I reiterate, I'm NOT 
volunteering... and you can't have my chairs next year, either, because 
we'll need them for the party.)