[TenTec] OT: Field Day Drill

[Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP]

Me!  I used an Eagle in the European FD.
Loved it MUCH better than an OMNI VI.... because I had to carry it up the
steep hill to our summer house.

Summer "House" is a bit exaggerated.
It has a roof, windows on one wall, and the other 3 sides are fully open and
exposed.
So one of the key benefits when working like that is being able to pick  up
the radio and run with it if it really pours down raining!

FIELD DAY here in Germany has become the KEY family event of most clubs.
Even MY XYL comes along to Field Day, and that's the only ham radio event
she will attend with me.
DON'T TOUCH THE FORMAT.

FD is not another "simulated emergency test", but rather a chance to go to
the field, [hopefully] in nice weather, test the equipment, or new antennas,
etc., AND SOCIALIZE.

The best way to measure the effectiveness of your portable station is in a
contest because you pretty much have stations on the air in all corners of
the country.  This enables you to see which areas your seem to work into
well, and compare your own results from one year to the next to sort of
measure how well your equipment is performing.

In a real emergency, I don't think the emphasis is on covering every corner
of the country, but rather on efficiently transferring information in the
form of messages from the stricken area to a few other point locations.
(Unless the NTS has changed a lot since I was active in it).  Of course it
probably has and that was probably a dumb thing to say - hi!

Stuart, you commented earlier on seeing how well the Ten-Tec gear compares
to the imported gear.
I couldn't help but wonder what measurement you use for that!  ;=)

73
Rick


On 7/11/2012 5:04 PM, Stuart Rohre wrote:
> But trying to get back on Ten Tec topics, how many used an Eagle at 
> Field Day, and what were your experiences in operating it?
>
> -Stuart Rohre
> K5KVH