[SMCARA] SMCARA Field Day 2011 wrap-up comments

[petebutt at comfac.com]

All,

  Field Day 2011 is now in the history books!

  Thanks to you, this was a very successful event and one that the
membership of the SMCARA should be proud of.  I took a few moments to
write down some thoughts and facts about this year's event:


General notes:

- Weather was great

- Best attendance ever

- Most non-ham visitors ever

- Longest visit by a public official (Cindy Jones, St. Mary's County
Commissioner) and her family who stayed about 3 hours and actually made
several on-air contacts using the HF GOTA station.  They purchased a
license guide and plan to study together to get their licenses.

- Best advanced publicity ever (article and community calendar
announcement in Wednesday's edition of the Enterprise newspaper; flyers at
multiple locations throughout the county; advertising for two weeks on the
HVFD road side electronic sign; annuncements on multiple county web sites;
and on the ARRL.ORG web site FD locator)

- Most food & drinks ever consumed (no one should have gone home hungry or
thirsty)

- Nicest FD location to date

- Easiest setup and teardown ever


Specific notes:

- Many stations around the US were worked during the event (detailed
report forthcoming once we download and consolidate the computer logs)

- On-site license exams resulted in six (6) new Technician Class
licensees; two upgrades from Technician Class to General; and one upgrade
from General to Extra.  Several other examinees missed getting a license
or upgrade by only a few points (try again soon!).  Pictures of all the
lucky new hams were taken and will be posted to our club web site
(www.qsl.net/smcara) by 8 PM this evening... take a look.

- The Saturday evening picnic at 6 PM featured cheeseburgers, hot dogs,
fried chicken, peeled shrimp, baked beans, salads and fruit dishes, vegie
platters, chips & dips, apples and a variety of deserts, etc.  It should
be noted that the hungry crowd consumed at total of 48 cheeseburgers, 64
hot dogs, a bunch of bratwurst sausages, an entire tray of shrimp and much
more.  A total of 160 bottles of Deer Park water, 96 bottles of Gatorade,
3 cases (48 bottles/cans) of soda and one case of apple juice were
consumed (whew!)

Acknowledgements:

  While there were many volunteers and organizations that helped with this
year’s event setting up tables, sweeping the floor, donating radios and
accessories for use during the event, installing antennas, putting up
signs, etc. (thank you all), I’d like to take a moment to specifically
recognize several in particular:

- The Hollywood Volunteer Fire Department for providing us with a new FD
venue (Bingo Hall) at no charge and directly saving the club a total of
$450.00 that we would otherwise have had to pay for the tent rental

- Gene (N3NO) for his coordination assistance with the Fire Department and
providing the multi-band beam and tower

- Dan (KB3UUN) for ‘volunteering’ to be our FD chairman and doing a
fabulous job organizing and planning this year’s event

- Scott Edmondson and Pete Weiskopf (WA4EIO) for providing the generators

- Tom Shelton (AB3IC) for setting up our very first ‘Get On The Air’
(GOTA) station and doing an incredible job all day getting a number of
families and youngsters ‘on the air’ and excited about the hobby.

- Eric (N3UH) and his fine VE team assistants (N3NO, N3NV, N8HTG, KG3BOZ)

- Ray (KB3FWW) who provided and maintained the four computer wireless LAN
for logging contacts throughout the FD operating period

- Steve Speer (N3SCS) for his cooking skills on the grill
 he personally
cooked just about all of those 48 cheeseburgers, the 64 hot dogs and a few
bratwurst sausages to boot.

  Did you get to our Field Day this year?  If so, I hope you enjoyed it...
please post an email to the SMCARA reflector (SMCARA at mailman.qth.net)
and let us all know what you liked and what you would like to see us do
next year).

  If you didn't make it... you missed a great time.  I hope that you can
make it next year.

  Thanks again and enjoy the rest of the summer.

  Vr, Pete (WA3UMY)
      President, SMCARA