[TenTec] Field Day Drill

Tue Jul 10 17:55:04 PDT 2012

I agree. The great thing about Field Day is that it can be approached in 
many ways. Some groups operate it as a high-pressure contest, like an 
outdoor version of the ARRL Sweepstakes. Other groups treat it as an 
emergency deployment exercise. The two approaches are very different.  
One group may set up a day before and put up big beams and towers. For 
EMCOMM purists, it's a grab and go setup. Some like to operate QRP on 
batteries and solar panels. In my mind, the most fun is in the setting 
up the equipment and sharing outdoor meals with friends. Making lots of 
contacts is fun, but incidental.

My advice is to find a group with similar interests to your own. Or, 
just get one or two friends together and do a low profile, low pressure 
Field Day. Keep it simple and start simple.

                 73,

                     Bob WB2VUF

On 6/27/2012 12:46 PM, Kris Merschrod wrote:
> Stephen,
>
> Do not give up on field day - go with the family, do the BBQ, bring a
> comfortable chair and just help out in the fresh air.
>
> Or pick the odd band w/o much action and enjoy a rag chew.  I took 160 one
> year - not much action but we shot the breeze.
>
> It is a chance for an outing with the crowd.
> 73,
>
> Kris KM2KM
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Stephen Roberts" <steverob at shoreham.net>
> To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec at contesting.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 8:46 AM
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Field Day Drill
>
>
>> Hi Folks,
>>
>> I've been following this thread and thought I'd chime in. As a new ham (4
>> months now) and a 100% CW op, I didn't really know what to expect when I
>> went to my first field day this year. The old salts of our club had spent
>> the day before setting up stations and had everything ready to go when I
>> arrived at the site. It was all very organized and pretty impressive. The
>> 3 CW ops (myself included) were set up in a member's RV which proved to be
>> a really excellent place to spend field day.
>>
>> To backtrack a bit, before the event, I asked one of the guys just what
>> the purpose of fleid day was and he said "To test our emergency
>> communications system and train other hams to do the same". Well, I can
>> tell you that was NOT what happened. Like many have said, the whole event
>> was set up and run as a contest. The guys I worked CW with have been at it
>> for many decades...not just a couple of months, so it was pretty daunting
>> to sit down at a strange radio with a stranger's keyer and have them say
>> "Well, the rig is set at 26wpm if that's ok with you".
>>
>> I wrote out the typical exchange on a cheat sheet and sat down and had a
>> go at it. I was a bit tentative at first, but since the exchanges weren't
>> conversational (too bad really) and stuck to a pretty strict format, I got
>> into the swing of things pretty quickly. The first hour I was op, I got 25
>> contacts, the second hour the band (40m) fell apart and I got about 15
>> contacts.
>>
>> For me the actual ops were boring and pointless. I see it as a wasted
>> opportunity. For a new guy, it was clear that while folks were operating
>> you certainly didn't want to ask them a question or interrupt them for
>> fear of lowering the Q count.
>>
>> I'm undecided whether I'll do it again next year. I might just get
>> together with a couple friends on a mountain top somewhere and have my own
>> field day.
>>
>> I didn't get into ham radio to be a competitor and I'm not keen on the
>> idea of being a human memory keyer. It just doesn't fit into my idea of
>> what being a ham is all about.
>>
>> Best 73,
>> Steve
>>
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------
>> Steve Roberts-W1SFR
>> Sudbury, VT
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jun 27, 2012, at 8:28 AM, chacuff wrote:
>>
>>> Changed the Subject line...hope no one minds.
>>>
>>> Funny that should come up.  We had a visitor to our site that asked the
>>> same
>>> question of all of our radio gear...
>>>
>>> And yes if there were an EMP event you could throw all your transceivers
>>> in
>>> the trash as well as the generators with solid state regulators and
>>> engine
>>> controls, your solar power system regulators, all your computers and
>>> network
>>> gear and the car you arrived in.
>>>
>>> Only answer I had for him was I would get back to the house and pull out
>>> my
>>> R390A/SP-600 and my Johnson Ranger (not to mention my AR-15 and a side
>>> arm)
>>> and start stringing a bunch of batteries together in hopes of getting a
>>> signal out to some far flung place that had not been effected.
>>>
>>> I don't think anyone drills for a doomsday event.  Probably should
>>> though...
>>>
>>> Would be a sad end to my Ten-Tec gear though...
>>>
>>> Cecil
>>> K5DL
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Richards" <jruing at ameritech.net>
>>>> Stuart...  a serious question here...   Will all of that, especially the
>>>> MESH system, work after a big EMI pulse type incident?  If  not, what
>>>> would be the fallback plan?
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> TenTec at contesting.com
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