Doug Grant noted:
>
>There are two local clubs in my part of SOuthern NH. ONe of them is a
smallish club, with mostly older VHFers, and a few younger ops. THey do FD
every year, >each time worse than the last. This club cannot do much right.
They usually >put the tribander together wrong, and end up using a tuner so
get a rig to >load into it. They do not know how to use most of the knobs on
the radios. I do not think they enjoy the competition in FD, and they treat
it as a social >event. No problem...they're having fun. I just think they
would have more fun if they took the time to learn how things work.
>
>Then there's the Nashua Radio Club. This is *the* happening FD in the
Northeast. >They were N1NH this year...29A! The enthusiasm grows every year.
Every club member knows his/her role, and tries to do better every year.
they up a lot of antennas (4/4 on 20 SSB, 2/2 on 40 SSB), but everything
belongs to the club or is quickly available. The towers are stored
(disassembled) on site, and they have a well-oiled drill to install
everything. >
>Would this group perform in an emergency? You bet! DO they have fun? Yup.
If there is a emergency I would certainly like to have groups like the
Nashua Radio Club (I worked them on 40 from our little 1B effort). Good
sigs, good ops.. The first club needs help but given the right guidance
could contribute also.
I grew up with the Old Natchez Amateur Radio Club using W5KHB from 1957
until about 1970. We won 3A three times and altho never had the the team
the nashua club has we had 15 or so people with a good plan, decent
equipment, and knowledge to get the job done. We had 3 towers that were
assembled, put on the Rohn 25G concrete base plate (great for temp use)and
up in about 1 hour. 3el beams on 10 and 15, a beam on 20(my old Gonset
tri-bander for awhile) plus wire antennas on 40 and 75/80. We did some CW
(important today if you want to win). This same group performed very well in
Hurricanes Betsy and camille and in several tornadoes....
Long live FD.
Dave K4JRB
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