[PPRAANet] PPRAA/MARC Field Day 2004 results!

[Al Penney]

Hello everyone,

Field Day 2004 was a great success!  Despite a fierce thunderstorm that
delayed setup on Friday, and another that cost us almost 4 hours of
operating time on Saturday, we very quickly established an excellent
communications center with outstanding antennas.  In doing so, we
demonstrated that we are quite capable of supporting municipal, state and
federal government agencies in time of emergency, be it a natural disaster
or a terrorist attack by cowards.

I have to go through the logs in more detail in case a few duplicate
contacts slipped through, but the approximate score looks like this:

Station	# QSOs	Points
SSB		1118 		1118
CW		923		923
VHF/UHF	439 fone	439
		3 cw		6
GOTA		229		229
		Total 2712	Total 3638 points x 2 (power multiplier) = 7276 points

Bonus Points
Emergency power		200 (2A)
Media coverage		100
Public location		100
Public Info Table		100
Message to SM		100
Alternate power		100
W1AW message		100
Demo modes			300
Elected official visit	100
GOTA 100 QSOs		100
Message handling		 30
				Total 1330

Our overall score is 7276 + 1330 = 8606 points!

By way of comparison, last year we had 1708 QSOs, and a total score of 5778
points, so this year's effort was a substantial improvement.  Well Done to
all those who participated!

Special thanks must go to our station captains, Mike K0TER, Dan KB0PPM, Tom
N0NTX, Tom K0GIE, Brian KC9EMW, and Rick K0SU, to our food organizers Joanie
KC0GMI and Jerry AD0A, our demonstration mode organizers Jeff K0RM and Lee
K0QED, alternate power provider Wes K0HBZ, MARC equipment coordinator Dean
KA0PII, and to all those who assisted with setup, teardown, cooking,
operating, fueling generators or any of the thousands of things necessary to
set up a Field Day operation.

I will compile our official entry for submission to the ARRL in the next
week or so, and I really want to get a picture of out operation published in
QST!  I know that a lot of pictures were taken (none by me - I was just too
darn busy!), so please forward your photographic masterpieces to me (not by
e-mail please - my provider is too slow for that!).

As well, I am putting together a list of lessons learned to assist us not
only for future Field Days, but also for any emergency that we may have to
respond to.  A lesson learned could be major (train operators to use logging
program), or relatively simple (don't run over radio with a truck!).  If you
have a lesson learned, please send it to me!

Once again, Bravo Zulu to all those who played a part!

73
Al VO1NO / W0