[MRCA] Gilbert Meet Critique

[B. Smith]

I've had some problems with email etc but offer these comments and critique
items:

First when we left for  Mount Pocono and the Field Exercise on Friday we
all most left Joe Munson behind, I mean I am talken Joe Munson. I spotted
him returning from the flea
market as the convoy was pulling out, I am glad I was tail end Charlie--- I
mean leave Joe Munson behind, good grief. Lets get real. He had to ride  on
my tailgate of the war wagon in order  to catch up with the convoy.  Joe
Munson. Next time gentlemen have a roll call and then mount up. Haste makes
waste. No one left behind on my watch.

During the field exercise on Friday I am happy to say that
I established the MRCA URC-4 distance record, I finally got to
set a new MRCA field exercise radio record that Mark, KD3ZK had not all
ready accomplished.

I spent a lot of time talking to Bill Fizette who is the "Receiver" author
for AWA and past president . He brought two HRB receivers to show and also
brought me some 832's for my ARC-1 project and then Rob Flory talked me out
of two of them. But I caught the HRB fever and am now working on one.

I enjoyed making my first contacts with the BC-474 and on 80 and 40.(very
easy conversation to 40 and reversible) my tiny switching power supply
survived the meet and worked perfectly.
I enjoyed watching  folks crank the CRT-3 at my URC-4/CRT-3 display.
The CRT-3 was modified to transmit on 570 Kcs on the Broadcast band and
was also 7160 Kcs able.
The "Wag-A-Talkie" worked flawlessly on CW  and I finally found out what the
loud squeal was when I was on phone, the switch was on A2, duhhh.

Unique accomplishments at the meet:
Rob Flory ground his CR-1 crystal on site to adjust the frequency of his
ARC-1, I mean took the crystal apart and ground it using # something
sandpaper.
He also modified his son's crystal set so that it would cover 75 meters and
his son could listen to the HQ station on 3885Kcs. Rob has a lot of patience
with his son and I watched him carefully explain what he was doing. A+

Best War Stories were from Joe Munson, he had lots of stories about burst
keying from Thailand.

Best hands on working display was Joes'  WA2EJT.
Best foreign radio display was by Chuck, WD8AXA
Most useless radio award went to K4CHE for his CRT-3 on the broadcast band
and also on 40 meters 7160 Kcs.

Personnel Observations:

The most patient:  Ted, W3PWW, especially durin the Field Excercise on
Friday.
The most polite: Dean, KK1K
The most energetic Dale, Kw1I
Most reserved, calm, and methodical Al, N3FRQ
Most helpful  during the field exercise was John, K1KHP

Also I would like to thank Al, N3FRQ for turning out that "light".
Thank you Steve, Al, Dale, for the event.
The best buy at the military flea market was GRC-39B's for $20 a pair.

I enjoyed the meet and has usual I returned to Chickenland with a hundred
new ideas for projects. That's all I need is another project.

Z