[BARC-List] Field Day 2003 ideas

[Bill Ricker]

Mike and all,

I would encourage SATERN to staff both Berkley St and Sharon in the new
1F EOC category or higher (does 1F get free VHF?), but would like to see
BARC take advantage of the changes at Larz that we suffered through last
year.  

> - It seems that interest is down, especially interest in planning and
>   doing the work of FD. 

There's never been a lot of interest in the more serious aspects of
planning (scheduling operators) and working (setup and tear-down).  I
don't see a lot of change.  

> I (N1IST) will not be heavily involved in FD this
>   year and will probably work 1E from home.  It's time for someone else
>   to step in and run FD,

Since I'm no longer ARES DEC, I can be more involved in some ways, but I
am going to bring less of my gear, since I'm tired of getting
heat-stroke during set-up and tear-down. But I'll still be paying
attention to my daughter first and club second. I plan to put a lot more
energy into the VHF contest this June and much less into FD.

> - This year's goal should be simple, easy to set up stations.  In heart,
>   FD is an emergency drill and we should be using typical emergency stations.

My  plan is to camp out at some FD site that has camping; Larz Andersen
would be my first choice, but there are other clubs that take the
camping seriously.  If BARC does nothing, joining Frank's crew at Sharon
would be more interesting than an urban site to my family.

> - 6A is ridiculous.  We should operate 2A or 3A.  We don't have the
>   manpower for the higher station count.

It is true we don't have the manpower to keep 6A+2free running at a good
Q-rate the full 24 hours. Are we contesters? We have had that many on
the air for short periods, and been over our stated 4A or 5A some years.
Spreading demand for operating stations throughout the period would
help. Our attempts at improved transmitter control have helped. But at
3A, adding PSK31 means taking something else off air.

> - VHF and above is a waste of time (unfortunately).  

As a contest station in the city, yes. As a emergency drill, it's a very
good thing to do.

> Too much gear and time to set it up, 

Yeah, I'm not doing it this year.  I got chewed out for not making
enough use of what I brought last year.

> and only 5 or so contacts. 

Staffing is an issue.   I'd like to see VHF Simplex come back to life
...before we lose 222MHz completely.

>   Maybe it will be better if the ARRL and MA ARES *finally*
>   decides to recommend a 2M simplex freq, but I'm not holding my breath.

I tried ... they gave us a frequency plan instaed of a single
coordination freq.  If BARC and SATERN have 3 small stations, we can set
our own standard if EMA section ARES doesn't -- maybe set up a
county-hunters net on 147.42= and move people onto 6m, 220, etc from
there.

>   home stations and people driving around,  I recommend a 2M mobile rig
>   into a groundplane or magmount.  No beams, nothing above 2M.  6M?  Maybe
>   a vertical or a beam sitting on top of the pergola (no tower) and
>   armstronging it, but it may not be worth it.

I'd be happy to loan my 6m Halo again (and 2m stacked halos if desired).
 
> - Camping out on a station is fine if nobody else wants to work it, but
>   we keep getting complaints from people who either can't get a chance
>   to operate or don't want to bounce the veteran operator.  

This brings us back to scheduling ... volunteers for station captain /
scheduler has been our weak spot in prior years.  I get the feeling as
non-contesters, we're more spontaneous than that.

Having a signup sheet on site for the stations with a suitable
slogan/instructions might encourage people to sign up for the next 0:30
or 1:00 slot onthe staion the veteran is running because it was vacant.

> We aren't
>   in it for the points; BARC's goal is to give everyone who wants a chance
>   to try out something new.

We need either to agree on this and embrace it, or embrace its opposite.
If we're not in it for the points, what's wrong with having stations
that don't "produce"?  (Overly Elabaorate setup is a valid issue.)
 
> - Try to limit what we haul out to the site.  Last year I dragged a few
>   hundred pounds of stuff, some of which never left its crate.

Me too. I'm bringing a LOT less. Only what I'm CONVINCED will be needed.
Which means someone else tells me they plan to use it. 
 
> - It will rain on FD.  We MUST make sure whatever shelter we are using
>   can be made rainproof.  Preferably without that very ugly mishmash of
>   tarps I put up last year.

The wrap around the grape-arbor was cute and effective, but after the
rain lifted it didn't look so great.  Another solution might make that a
great space again.
 
> - When we shut down to refuel (yes, every time) check each antenna with
>   an analyzer.  That will catch problems before they totally screw us,
>   even if the autotuner has hidden them for us.  With a long enough
>   coax, the autotuner will match a short.  Nobody else will hear us,
>   however...  Doing it during shutdown will keep the other transmitters
>   from confusing the situation.

Good idea.  This is an argument for SEVERAL analyzers (which the
membership do have, me included).

Is someone making a list?

73

bill