My focus, my understanding of the focus this field day, is to score more points: more butts in seats at radios, more of the time, with antennae that function as advertised.
I've been reading and pondering these emails all weekend long. I appreciate all the input, the legwork, and web searches that have ensued. I plan on visiting alternate locations tomorrow, when it's warmer.
Some thoughts and responses in no particular order, from this operator:
To achieve the goal of more points, I don't think we need to reinvent the wheel.
We've put up the 160 over the field behind and we can put up more antennae there since we now know that it belongs to the Legion. We can drive on and park on the grass, within reason. Think crank-up tower.
The Legion Hall is a known quantity and quality: 1 phone call, 1 check, and 2 visits to pick up and return the key. Value pricing.
I like the sanitation of running water and restrooms. I have a radio there that strangers are touching.
We need power for more than just the operating radios: several operators used monitors, laptops, the wifi for the reporting system. the reporting monitor, and food preparation and storage.
As for noise, take the party outside. The only people down the steps into the hall should be the operators and visitors to see the operators and radios. Set up tents and tables outside to serve the food, to dispense water and sodas,
to mill around and socialize, to sign into the guest book. 6 radios, a few of them doing FT-8, and the others with headphones, should not be making enough noise to disrupt each other-it's the party on the other side of the room that's noisy. Are cicadas, crickets,
and traffic easier to manage, noise-wise, than people? No one complains about the acoustics or noise when it's just radio operators at 2 am.
I don't want to spend the first 2-3 hours of my 30+hour run counting on the seamless erection of tents and shelters. Let's spend that time and energy on the antennae, radio set-up, and operating. We can have radios and everything
operating inside and still be organizing food service, tents/shelters outside. Radios/antennae need to be functional by 1400. Food can wait until 1700 or 1800. Same with teardown.
Weather... we keep getting lucky. Can we count on that luck continuing?
A/C.
Before filter purchases, let's configure what antennae we'll be using and where we'll be placing them.
If we are working off multiple antennae, as we have discussed, we can split up the filters we have differently and re-consider how we set up radios inside. If we split the filters/duplexer/triplexer we have, run the coax in from
the back door instead of the window, we can separate the operating stations and reduce the concentrated noise level inside. Or run one coax for one set of filters in the window and one feed from the back door, commandeer what is now the food/social table area
for radios and give the operators more individual and separated space.
My 2¢
KD8SLG/Nick
Silvercreek Amateur Radio Association
kd8slg@gmail.com
412-779-1717
W8WKY FM analog 147.390+ PL114.8 /Allstar #48496
W8WKY FM digital 442.275 + D-Star, C4FM, DMR #311070
Wires-X room 80134 / 40557
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