[HCRA] FD 2003 Planning

[Jim Mullen]

Hi everyone,

FD 2003 is rapidly approaching. June 27th to 29th is just about one month
away. The FD committee is in full swing to get this years event organized.
As we move forward with the planning I'll keep repeating some of the FD
information here to the list and on the web so everyone knows how things are
shaping up.

If you would like to be included in the FD committee mailing list please
drop me a note and I'll add you to the group. I didn't want to start
dropping group stuff to everyone without some warning!

I'm expecting even better participation than ever this year. The club has
grown, the Venture Crew has grown and we have over a dozen newly licensed
hams, many whom seem eager to participate. The GOTA station should be a
great place to start someone's Field Day experience.

Field Day is ham radio's big chance to demonstrate how well we can provide
emergency communication service to our local communities. Plus it's a lot of
fun. If you're new to Field Day you might want to check out these links for
information, rules, etc. At the very least it's a great way to get outdoors,
enjoy your hobby, talk with your friends (both local and around the world),
eat food that's probably not good for you and have an excuse to take the
following Monday off from work because you're 'too tired'. What more could
you ask for? And promote the hobby at the same time - priceless!

Here's a few links with more information:

http://www.hcra.org/field_day.htm

http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2003/rules-fd-2003.html

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/02/06/3/?nc=1

As always HCRA will keep the most up to date information about our FD on the
web and on this list.

So don't make any other plans for the end of June except for FD and I
guarantee you a great time. Dufresne Park is also a nice place to take the
family. It's got a big outdoor play area, a pond, hiking trails and is both
easy to get to but not extremely crowded. you play radio, the kids go
hiking/fishing and your spouse (significant other?) can relax. Can you beat
that?

Stay tuned and see you June 27-29!

'73...

Jim


Here's a copy of the first FD Steering Committee email. Let me know if you
would like to be included with the planning or just want to be added to the
list to keep up with everything. The choice is your!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi everyone,

FD 2003 is getting close, it's probably time to start a modicum of planning!

As a help to keeping things on track I've created a small group consisting
of the FD Committee and the Band Captains. As we pick up more participants,
especially band captains I'll add them  to the list. I will also post a
request out to the HCRA mailing list asking if anyone out there would like
to be included in the FD 2003 Steering Committee group.

Considerable planning has already been done at this point, I'm hoping this
group will become a vehicle to tie up all the loose ends. Lots of you have
already done a considerable amount of work to get us to this point and
that's greatly appreciated. The N1FD people had some good ideas last month
that could possibly be used in our effort this year.

I thing we need to get together in person at least once before FD. I'm open
to suggestions. In the past we have met at least once at the site to make
final determinations and that might be a good idea again this year. Maybe
that could be our actual meeting also, but it's a bit off the beaten path
for some of us. Immediately prior to or after this month's tail gate party
might be a good way to tie up some of the loose ends.

Here's a few open issues that come to my alleged mind. You might want to
reply back to the group with your thoughts on these issues as well as the
ones I've missed. They are presented in no particular order or importance,
just rambling.

1.  We need more band captains. Especially for CW. Earl, KD1UU has committed
to 40 SSB, but will not be on the mailing list.
2.  Steve has done much work with antenna planning. Steve, could  you send
me your spreadsheet with the 7A info on it?
3.  I think we still need a 20M beam. I have not heard back from MTARA about
theirs. I'll put a request on the HCRA list.
4.  Housing, looks OK but we need confirmation on some of the "shacks"
5.  Food, Andy has planned well but needs money. Andy, how much and when do
you need it?
6.  Rigs, a list of available rigs sent to the list would be a benefit.
7.  Feed line, do we need more?
8.  ICE filters, do we need more?
9.  Dufresne Park, did the letter go out? How about the deposit?
10.  Logging, I'm spinning my wheels on this. Should we allow anyone to use
what their comfortable with as long as it writes to ADIF? There is a nice,
simple windoze program out there for $6, what's your thoughts?
11.  GOTA station. I think we need to do this. Should we use one of the crew
calls, maybe one of Peter's new graduates?
12.  Do we need some additional wire antennas built?

That's enough to get started. I'm looking forward to your comments. I'll try
to keep the web page current as changes are received.

'73...

Jim