[SMCARA] Some comments on FD and beyond

Mon Jun 24 17:01:51 EDT 2013

When I shut the generator off at 3:30am it still had a little less than a
half a tank of gas. That is 13 hours of run time on a half a tank. I will
be sure to take care of it so it can be available for next year.

On Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 4:58 PM, Clarke, Tom AIR4.0P NATOPS <
frederic.clarke at navy.mil> wrote:

> Absolutely a great time.  The healthy food option is terrific, even Kae
> was impressed! Maybe some gluten free items next time as there a growing
> number of folks developing gluten issues.
>
> Thanks to Ray, our resident IT guy.  The network logging program worked
> great for me.  Usually I hit a wrong key and send it off into
> "never-never" land. It just worked this time.
>
> The "swap" idea sounds like fun.  We may run into issues with the HVFD
> if we charge an entry fee. Perhaps a 10 percent "donation to the club
> for any items sold or something of that nature. Whatever the outcome, we
> want to stay on the "good" side of the Fire Brigade!
>
> Hey Dan,  that genny ran forever!  Did you ever refill it?  It burned
> less gas just loafing along as opposed to the club gen that would be
> straining the whole time.
>
> Tom/W4OKW
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: smcara-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:smcara-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of petebutt at comfac.com
> Sent: Monday, June 24, 2013 4:39 PM
> To: smcara at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [SMCARA] Some comments on FD and beyond
>
>
> Dan,
>
>   Thank you for reminding us that there is, indeed, life after Field
> Day!
> BTW, I thought the event went pretty well:
>
>   - The weather was excellent for Saturday.  The rain on Sunday morning
> was a surprise but kept the dust down so I guess we can't complain.
>
>  - Amazing work by Eric on coordinating an outstanding set of licensing
> sessions during the day at FD (1 Commercial GROL and 2nd Class... Radio
> Telephone AND Radio Telegraphy licenses, 13 Technician Class licenses, 3
> General Class licenses and 1 Extra Class license) - quick... someone buy
> Eric a beer for actions above and beyond the call of duty.
>
>   - A ton of great contacts all over the place by a number of folks.
> Steve Dagey (KA3WAP) has already come over to my house and we downloaded
> a slew of pictures he took to my computer.  I will be uploading all of
> them to our club web site this evening (Monday).  Take a look later
> tonight to see them.  BTW, if anyone else took pictures, could you
> please call me (301-862-2214 at home tonight or 301-904-8401 on my cell
> most anytime) and let's arrange for me to get a copy of them to post on
> the web site.  I am always looking for pictures, stories, etc. that we
> can share with the rest of the membership.
>
>   - The antenna-building project during FD was a highlight and I hope
> that
> everyone had an opportunity to at least watch how to build a
> tape-measure antenna out of, well... tape measures and PVC pipe from
> Lowe's.  Good stuff and well worth doing.
>
>   - Great demo's from John Johnston and crew showing all the
> capabilities
> of the Civil Air Patrol.  Also, what would we have done without all the
> knot typing demonstrations.  If you didn't go over and learn how to tie
> up your boats to the pier correctly, shame on you.
>
>   - Good food.  Hey, I hope that we hit the mark in that department.  I
> tried something new this year by providing some healthy snack
> alternatives... e.g.,  yogurt, sugar-free gelatin, fresh fruit cups, and
> Navel Oranges.  I noticed that most of you gravitated over the chocolate
> chip cookies and chips containers anyway... what is with that?  We did
> consume 64 hamburgers, 72 hot dogs, entire crocks of meatballs and mac &
> cheese, at least ten types of salads, Lumpia, chips and a boatload of
> cookies of all descriptions.   That doesn't include the 128 bottles of
> Deer Park water, 48 bottles of G2 Gatorade and lot's of sodas.  BTW, if
> anyone has any feedback on food selections, etc., please post them to
> the reflector so we can document them for next time.
>
>   - We learned once again that unless you've been a chief in the Navy
> for
> ten years, you don't know how to make coffee!  At one point, we had at
> least five people working on the puzzle of how much water to put in the
> coffee machine and we still couldn't get it right.  Now you know why I
> don't drink the stuff.  I guess everyone has migrated over to the use of
> K-Cups :)  Luckily, the man of the hour... Mr. Potato Gun himself
> (Richard  Bozovich, KG3BOZ) was a Navy Chief and he came to the rescue
> and showed us all once again who holds all the power, wisdom and
> knowledge in the Navy!
>
>   - Tom & Dan... we probably should craft up a nice letter of thanks to
> the President and Officers of the Hollywood Volunteer Fire Department
> thanking them for letting us use the Bingo Hall and facilities free of
> charge again this year.  Without that donation, we probably could not
> afford to use the Hollywood site due to cost considerations.
>
>   Now, a couple thoughts on the swap fest:
>
>   - I think we might be able to use the Bingo Hall again for a
> multi-county swap fest if we talk to Gene Talley.  See my note above
> about sending an appreciation letter to the HVFD membership which might
> go a long way to having continued use of the site.  The nice thing about
> the Hollywood location is that it is convenient to all three of the
> counties, the bingo hall can serve as the central focus for any
> displays, etc. and there is plenty of outside space to set up tailgating
> that wouldn't block or hinder fire department operations.  For food, we
> might be able to get Bear Creek BBQ or one of the other local food
> vendor trucks to come in and set up if we can give them a rough
> magnitude of total anticipated attendees.  That would reduce our
> workload and allow more of us to participate in the swap fest
> activities.
>
>   - I would vote for a late Saturday morning time frame to start (e.g.,
> about 9 AM) to give folks from out of county time to get here and run it
> from 9 AM to about 3 PM.
>
>   - Definitely invite all the other clubs from both sides of the rivers
> to
> participate and perhaps even let them help sponsor it.
>
>   - Consider inviting some of our local businesses like AJ Farmer
> (JefaTech) to set up shop and market their wares.
>
>   - We should consider doing some of the same activities we had during
> Field Day... e.g., offering license exams, project building, equipment
> demonstrations (how about a radio controlled potato gun?)
>
>   - If we want this event to be successful, we have to start planning
> for
> it ASAP.  It takes some work to stage a successful mini-hamfest/swap
> fest but it might be worth it.  Suggest we also look at whether it might
> be possible to either charge a small fee to tail gate (not sure if
> that's any option) or at least have a donation box to allow us to help
> defray some of the costs.
>
>   That's all... keep the ideas coming!
>
>   R/ Pete (WA3UMY)
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> SMCARA mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/smcara
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:SMCARA at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> ______________________________________________________________
> SMCARA mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/smcara
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:SMCARA at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

-- 
Dan Metcalf -- KB3UUN
c. 301 769 1111
Amateur Radio has something for everyone. Even if it is just peace of mind
that no matter what happens your message will get through.