[TowerTalk] Wire Antennas Only For Field Day

Sun Jul 9 00:57:16 EDT 2017

FD is an emergency test of sorts, with rigs antennas "thrown together" 
in a what ever is available and the operators have the ability to put up 
and use. Leave it like it is.

The only thing that "might" make it more realistic would be, no more 
planning ahead than you'd have in a real emergency.
FD is a demonstration of emergency preparedness, be it flood, hurricane, 
earthquake, CME, EMP, power grid failure for many reasons, widespread 
civil unrest....and the list goes on. As the saying goes (more or less). 
The best of plans only work until first contact with the enemy.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-damage-could-be-caused-by-a-massive-solar-storm-25627394/
We've been fortunate that the enemy has been nature, though nature can 
be quite a formidable foe.

73, Roger (K8RI)

On 7/6/2017 Thursday 1:43 AM, Jim Thomson wrote:
> Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2017 17:51:23 -0700
> From: Grant Saviers <grants2 at pacbell.net>
> To: Tom Osborne <w7why1 at gmail.com>, towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Wire Antennas Only For Field Day
>
> <A good point, "it's not a contest", but every club has different goals
> <as does the ARRL beyond "emergency test".  Our primary club goals are
> <increased participation, learning, and promoting ham radio.  So
> <operators range from coaching newly minted, never spoke on HF to hard
> <core contesters, one cw and one ssb stations plus a GOTA and VHF/UHF.
> <Every operator has a different style/goal & skill/experience level.
>
> ##  The results are still listed as contest scores... which is good.  It provides
> a bench mark for each  group.   IE: they can then compare their...score  from one
> year to the next to the next... and see at a glance if they have improved ..or not, and
> what works and what doesnt work.  They could also try various setups, and evaluate
> both the ants, any interstation interaction,  gen issues, and all other issues..and do all of
> that well before hand, like 1-3 months ahead of FD.   In any real emergency, like NK
> dropping nukes on our heads, the stations would be required to be on the air for a
> heck of a lot longer than 24 hrs, more like weeks.   So you really require a plan B for
> longer term, sustained operation. And if the real emergency is in NOV, in the middle of
> storm season,  you had better be ready for that scenario.  Or worse yet, in middle of winter, at
> 3 AM, with a blizzard and an ice storm.   Setting up ants and stations in June is a walk in the
> park by comparison.   You may not be able to use your favourite mountain top FD site in winter.
>
>
>
>
> <However, making it really hard for newbies with QRP or poor antennas,
> <won't bring many back when they find just the QRM and logging challenges
> <pretty daunting.   It is easy to forget how well experienced ops hear,
> <run short and fast Q's, and multitask the logging work vs newbies.
>
> <So, keep the "rules" as they are is my vote.  Keep FD a big tent for ham
> <radio.
>
> ## agreed. Poor ants,  compromise ants, + QRP = a frustrating disaster.   Its
> not reliable for   emergency coms. QRP is not for newbies, its a specialized art form.
> 100 watts + lousy ants = reduced effectiveness.   With a kw, you are in and out in seconds.
> Even 500 watts is  7 db stronger than 100 watts..and thats a bunch.    500 watts is what I
> would consider the bare minimum for any mobile steup..to be effective, esp on 80 + 40m.
>
>
>
>
> <And FD is a "gateway drug" to real contesting for some newbies I've
> <coached. :-)
>
> <Grant KZ1W
>
> ##  and here I thought the 813 tube was a .. gateway drug.
> What might well work better for a real emergency, is having
> a gen set, or UPS power, solar, wind, batteries etc....for home stations.
> Any home station is better built, already built, pre-tested, and ready to go on
> the air at a moments notice.... provided you have AC power to run stuff.  Or run everything
> on 12 vdc, or have at least one 12 vdc xcvr for emergency use.  In a pinch, one could run coax
> from home station ants....  to your car in the drive way.   Grants  2 el 80m yagi would work a lot better
> than any 80m mobile ant... in his parked vehicle.
>
> ##  Solar cycle sucks.   The emphasis should be on 160-80-60-40-30m..and maybe 20m.   Any home station
> with a reasonably good low band setup + kw,  would be way ahead of any  FD setup in the bush with a TA-33 jr,
> operating on a dead 20-15-10m band.   During the daytime,  if 20-10m is a dead loss, the lower bands may well fare even worse,
> which puts  40+30m at the fore front.   Of course this all depends on  where you are trying to talk to..across town, the
> next town over,  or 1-4 states over, like 100-1500+ miles away.   The 15M stack, fixed on JA... if you are on the west coast,
> probably wont do you much good.
>
> Jim   VE7RF
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-- 

73

Roger (K8RI)

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