[HCRA] Field Day 2010 Survey

[Jim W]

Here is my two cents worth----- Jim  k1jaw/QRP

ON THE GOOD SIDE

Food - There was a more than ample amount of non-meat items to make 
me put on a pound or two.  That is without touching the cake, pie, or 
other luscious looking items. The tuna/macaroni salad was awesome, and my favorite. I did sample too many fig cookies but they were sooo good!

Network - I liked the network and enjoyed watching the contacts adding 
up "real time". Heard some were passing traffic but I didn't get to use that feature.  The adding of this technology to FD was definitely 
positive.  


Experimentation - For me, a non-contest ham, this is what it is all about.  I had four new items
 this year. The best was a simple stand for the K1 made from a CD case. 
 It worked flawlessly and cost nothing.



A antenna for 15-40M was next.  It also cost nothing. Although I have not figured out how to 
make 40M work, 15-20-30M bands work well.  For FD, I only needed 15M so this was ok. This project will be evolving significantly before next year. Besides fixing 40M, it is too bulky. 

A simple solar controller in a pill bottle was next.  Worked great on the bench  but in practice could only get 12.9V out of it with 19V in.  Have since found the problem. This one qualifies for a MQE.  I'm sooo embarrassed.

Battery - The NiZn re-chargable battery was a great disappointment.  I will keep working on this during the summer, but I don't expect to provide a rave review.

ON THE FLIP SIDE

2. Location - Front end overload and local audio QRM made the gazebo a less than acceptable site than the lake front location of the past two years.  I would not do this again. However, I must admit that I did enjoy the increased activity and interest.

My planned relief operator never sat down - - at my station!  He did enjoy himself at other stations and that was great.  He had fun and will probably become a member after the summer is over.  (I did get some relief near the end from Bob when I needed it the most.)  

Well, that's a wrap for this year.  Like other years I have no idea how many points I made but someone needs to bring up the bottom, don't they?  I had fun and I will be back if invited - but not to the gazebo.!!  haha

73 to all
Jim k1jaw/QRP