Field Day 96

[Zack Widup]

Well, I think I successfully got quite a few young hams interested in 
contesting this year at FD. Now if I can just convince them that 6 QSO's 
an hour isn't a great rate! (Well, it's a START!)

I was dismayed at the lack of interest in CW in the local club operation. 
I got to work 20 CW for a bit and made about 60 QSO's in an hour, paper 
logs on a notepad :-(  I was the only one who worked CW there, to my 
knowledge. But quite a few of the new contest ops were amazed, and I 
think they went at it with more energy after that.

>Charlie's (age 9) Field Day Hints:
>
>1. Don't give up if signals are weak.

Hey, this is what we weak-signal types/DXers (both HF and VHF) thrive on!

>
>2. Don't drink too much beer before or during the contest.

Well, FD is the only "contest" where I'll allow myself to drink beer! 
Guess it's sorta the tradition - to have a few cold 807's at FD!

>
>3. Get on the air any chance you get.

Of course!

>
>4. Don't drink too much coke.

I don't usually use much sugar and soft drinks with lots of sugar tend to 
send me into "sugar shock". Also doesn't mix well with the beer (see #2 
above :-)

>
>5. Get at least one hour of sleep.

During a contest?   :-)

>
>6. Don't eat too much food.

FD food is OK to "sample" usually but I wait for a bit to see if the 
first to eat it survive it!

>
>7. It's Field Day - Have fun!!!
>
>8. Make sure no wires are near water and make sure nothing is in
>a dangerous position.
>
>9. Make as many contacts as you can.

I like to strive to make MORE contacts than I can, if possible!

>
>10. Don't get _too_ much sleep.

No problem, I NEVER get "_too_ much sleep".

>
>11. Ignore your wife's complaints.
>
>12. If another contester comes on the frequency, get him off. Keep
>on talking/sending!
>
>13. Put up a "No Smoking" sign.

Especially for the rigs!

>
>14. Eat _Something_.

I think a few various insects fell into this category (and my stomach).

>
>15. Try to set an alarm to wake up.

Or don't bother to go to sleep!

>
>16. When somebody tries to steal your frequency, press the button! (the
>CQ button on the voicekeyer - LL)
>
>
>Dave, K6LL
>k6ll at juno.com

I hope you all enjoyed yourselves. It was fun and we only had a brief 
thunderstorm here.

73, Zack W9SZ
Twin City ARC, K9CW in FD
Champaign, IL

>From w2vjn at rosenet.net (George Cutsogeorge)  Tue Jun 25 02:19:31 1996
From: w2vjn at rosenet.net (George Cutsogeorge) (George Cutsogeorge)
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 96 01:19:31 GMT
Subject: Signal to Noise Ratio.
References: <19960624.171741.4951.4.k6ll at juno.com>
Message-ID: <M.062496.181931.72 at ppp048.rosenet.net>

K6ll wrote:
    > Now this morning, as I was perusing the July issue of QST, I was
    > very surprised to see figure 7 on page 39, which apparently shows
    > PACTOR II copying error-free 96 wpm, at a signal to noise ratio of
    > zero, in the presence of selective fading and multipath distortion.

A good CW operator has a built in audio tracking filter with a bandwidth of 50 
Hz or so.  He usually listens with a receiving bandwidth of 500 Hz.  Thus, he 
can copy fairly easily a signal that is 10 dB below the receiver noise floor.  
This he can do even as the signal drifts around in the 500 Hz pass band.

I have not seen the July QST yet as it takes them a while longer to find 
Umpqua, however I would guess that Pactor requires 500 Hz of bandwidth.  That 
possibly would be reduced if operation was at the same speed that manual CW is 
copied.

George
----
George Cutsogeorge,  W2VJN
Umpqua, OR.


>From ac6ef at usa.pipeline.com (Terry Dunlap)  Mon Jun 24 19:31:03 1996
From: ac6ef at usa.pipeline.com (Terry Dunlap) (Terry Dunlap)
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 18:31:03 GMT
Subject: Trams/Trolleys/Pulleys
Message-ID: <199606241831.SAA16240 at pipe4.la1.usa.pipeline.com>

This whole thread is great but I'm having some difficulty visualizing some
of these systems.  Anyone have any pictures/diagrams stashed anywhere? 
 
73 de Terry AC6EF 
ac6ef at pipeline.com 

>From k0wa at southwind.net (Lee Buller)  Mon Jun 24 19:52:42 1996
From: k0wa at southwind.net (Lee Buller) (Lee Buller)
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 13:52:42 -0500
Subject: No code and new hams
Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19960624185242.0068cfd4 at southwind.net>

At 10:57 AM 6/24/96 -0400, you wrote:
>To me, the only reason new hams are not up to the snuff that old hams want
>them to be is :
>THE OLD HAMS HAVE FAILED TO ACULTURATE THE NEW HAMS.
>
>Old hams (smoked or plain) simply must put in more time helping new hams
>and wanna-be hams into the culture of hamming--i.e., teach the LORE of ham
>radio, the mystery, the fun, and HOW TO OPERATE on HF with ease.  I don't
>care if a ham knows Morse code or not so long as he/she can responsibly
>operate his/her rig.  Lots of those loudmouth bigots on 75m know the code,
>but who wants them to be hams?  
>
>It is in our hands to bring into the fold--through education--the kind of
>operators we want:
>we do the license testing ourselves, for gosh sakes.  de K4VUD
>
>
>
I agree with every thing that was mentioned above.  Some of us have
attitudes that would send the heartiest of souls packing.  I have been
guilty of just that too.

Maybe its time to get down from our lofty towers and mix with the common
folk.  An author once wrote in a novel, that "...ham radio operators were a
collection of weirdos, misfits, and malcontents."  I think that describes
the group very well...and some of us don't want to mix with
commoners...cause we have spent time with the king.

Maybe it is time to open our shacks up to those people who we would not
rather have in our house...no matter how stupid they seem...or how they
act...or what they wear....or how they smell...or what ever stops us from
showing off our hobby and teaching them the "lore" of how we got there.

Not only can we help people become adept at the hobby, but we can help
someone learn something on the way too.  Without the help of my Elmer and
the encouragement I received from him, I doubt that I would have gone to
college.  Do we dare touch another life with our own rich experience?

There are a lot of ways to do this.  For example:  help someone with a
project.  Show a two meter nop-code ham how to actually build a ground
plane.  Build it and show them how it works.  Encourage them to learn more
about the hobby and they weill not only do so, but learn about themselves.

I am interested in ways that all the hot shots can grab hold of these people
who want to upgrade and help them into the hobby.  What ideas do you have?
Lee Buller
k0wa at southwind.net



>From rlboyd at CapAccess.org (Rich L. Boyd)  Mon Jun 24 19:42:27 1996
From: rlboyd at CapAccess.org (Rich L. Boyd) (Rich L. Boyd)
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 14:42:27 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: FD is not a contest
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91-FP.960624144132.8603B-100000 at cap1.capaccess.org>


I like to use the "judo approach" (use their inertia against them) 
approach to the "FD is not a contest" logic:

"All right, FD is not a contest.  In fact, there ARE no contests; they're 
all operating events."

Rich Boyd KE3Q