(Len Over 21) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Steve Robeson, K4CAP) writes:

You really need to read what YOU write, Lennie.

Can read as writing. Multi-task. No problem.

Think me bi-lingual. English as first language and english as second
language. Hi, hi.

How I do?

Ryan, KC8PMX wrote:

"Steve Robeson K4CAP" wrote in message
...

Subject: Field Day Plans?
From: "Ryan, KC8PMX"
Date: 6/24/2004 11:20 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

Will be running KC8PMX on 50Mhz-450Mhz bands.

I was thinking a shorter call would help, but I ran those phonetics

thru

my mind a couple times, and "PAPA MIKE X-RAY" seems to me to be rather
prominent.


It's not too bad, although I wished I would have gotten a different call
when originally assigned. I might purposefully go for the vanity call of
K8KEA, just to be a pain in the ass because our club call is W8KEA. hi hi




Decided to run on my own as a
matter of passive resistance to the local club's field day planner.

Field

day is supposed to be an emergency preparedness scenario, and there is
nothing close to that from what I see of the plans locally here.

How's that, Ryan...??? Too much of the picnic-in-the-park thing?


No, just a kind of passive resistance thing. I seriously do not agree with
the person who is our field day planner and club vicepresident. I am not
the only one boycotting the club field day either.... It has been chosen
solely by him to be placed at one of the high schools out in the county (as
opposed to the city) where there is little traffic on the weekends (passing
by the school that is).

That you disagree is one thing. No problem there. But field day is for
your club, and it seems that there is an "if things aren't done my way,
I'm not going to play. Not too teamlike.

And if you all seriously want to do it differently, vote the dude out!

Of course, will someone step up to the plate and run field day in his
absence? Is there a clamor and a rush of people wanting to be FD Chairman?

Field Day should be at least 50% PROMOTIONAL as well as 50% emergency
simulation. Since it is not an actual emergency simulation since we all
clearly know when it is going to be, AND of course get to chose where we set
up, just how does that qualify as emergency planning/communications. Yes
there is the PREPLANNING but on our fire department we dont get to know when
our next medical call or car accident or house fire is, we just respond and
deal with it as best as we can.

In a real emergency, we may be required to set up in an area less that to be
desired, such as a parking lot. Or an open field without those natural
antenna supports..... Also, we would not normally know when that emergency
would occur.......

Sure. You may need to be operating while ill from something or be
putting your life at serious risk at the time. You may be up for several
days without sleep. You may be injured.

Heck, even the person you are trying to communicate with may only have
a CW rig. So you can't even begin to simulate truly accurate emergency
condx.

Under most real emergency circumstances, some emergency personell is
going to tell you to go to a certain place, and operate a certain
transciever. You won't set up a tent or put together a station or anything.

The purpose of FD is to in large prt get peopl simply *thinking* about
emergency ops, and *doing* some simulated ops. Dunno where tha hyper
accurate emergency scenario that I hear about came from.



Maybe, at least if it was changed to where we DO know the weekend it is
gonna be, BUT each countie's EC/RO or emergency services director decides
the location??? I still believe that the PR value of Field Day far
outwieghs any other aspect of field day.

Best way to control where the site is is to become an EC. The you can
do as YOUR philosophical desires dictate. Are you willing to do that?


Related item. I was in a club years ago where I was in charge of our
biggest fund raiser. Some of the club members didn't like how I was
doing things (specifically, my methods required some work) But we made a
LOT of money for a small club. So they led a revolt against me,
supported by the club prez of refusing to help me or work for me. My
only option that didn't make me look like an idiot was to resign from my
position and chairmanship and the club. I was ironically the Vice president.

The result? Remember how they thought that my working demands were too
much? I wanted 4 hours of work per year per club member. Well, no one
wanted to work even after they got ride of the ******* - me, so they
ended up hiring three people to do my job (keeping in mind, I did it for
nuttin'), subbed out the most lucrative part of the job, and now make
absolutely no money on a fund raiser that was bringing in a lot of money
every year. They are actually in money trouble now. Smart people weren't
they?

Point is, be good to the volunteers, and if you don't like what they
are doing, do better.

- Mike KB3EIA -

In article ,
(William) writes:

(Len Over 21) wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Steve Robeson, K4CAP) writes:

You really need to read what YOU write, Lennie.

Can read as writing. Multi-task. No problem.

Think me bi-lingual. English as first language and english as second
language. Hi, hi.

How I do?

Two good to be true. :-)

Two? The deuce you say!

Len

In article , Mike Coslo
writes:

No, just a kind of passive resistance thing. I seriously do not agree with
the person who is our field day planner and club vicepresident. I am not
the only one boycotting the club field day either.... It has been chosen
solely by him to be placed at one of the high schools out in the county (as
opposed to the city) where there is little traffic on the weekends (passing
by the school that is).

That you disagree is one thing. No problem there. But field day is for
your club, and it seems that there is an "if things aren't done my way,
I'm not going to play. Not too teamlike.

Comes down to "do you plan FD for what will bring out the most people, or what
will make the most points, or what will be the most realistic emergency
simulation. or what will get the most publicity?" Or any of a bunch of other
goals.

And if you all seriously want to do it differently, vote the dude out!

Of course, will someone step up to the plate and run field day in his
absence? Is there a clamor and a rush of people wanting to be FD Chairman?

Classic "bell the cat" problem.

Field Day should be at least 50% PROMOTIONAL as well as 50% emergency
simulation.

That's your vision of it, Ryan. Others see FD very differently.

The good thing is that FD has many facets and can be done many ways. That's why
it's so popular - brings out more hams than any other domestic operating
activity.

The bad thing is that FD has many facets and can be done many ways. That's why
it can be such a source of disagreement.

Since it is not an actual emergency simulation since we all
clearly know when it is going to be, AND of course get to chose where we
set
up, just how does that qualify as emergency planning/communications.

It's fundamentally a skills and planning exercise. It's one thing to talk about
setting up a station quickly in an unprepared location, and another thing to
actually *do* it. Operating skills get practiced. Teamwork and learning to deal
with volunteers, both as a leader and as a team member.

Yes
there is the PREPLANNING but on our fire department we dont get to know
when
our next medical call or car accident or house fire is, we just respond and
deal with it as best as we can.

But you guys have training sessions, right?

In a real emergency, we may be required to set up in an area less that to
be
desired, such as a parking lot. Or an open field without those natural
antenna supports..... Also, we would not normally know when that emergency
would occur.......

Sure. You may need to be operating while ill from something or be
putting your life at serious risk at the time. You may be up for several
days without sleep. You may be injured.

Heck, even the person you are trying to communicate with may only have
a CW rig. So you can't even begin to simulate truly accurate emergency
condx.

You can't simulate all of them by any means, but FD simulates some of them.

Under most real emergency circumstances, some emergency personell is
going to tell you to go to a certain place, and operate a certain
transciever. You won't set up a tent or put together a station or anything.

Maybe. Or it might go the other way - you may be asked to go to a certain
location and bring everything you need along.

The purpose of FD is to in large prt get peopl simply *thinking* about
emergency ops, and *doing* some simulated ops.

Bingo!

Dunno where tha hyper
accurate emergency scenario that I hear about came from.

Maybe, at least if it was changed to where we DO know the weekend it is
gonna be, BUT each countie's EC/RO or emergency services director decides
the location??? I still believe that the PR value of Field Day far
outwieghs any other aspect of field day.

The trick is to balance all the different aspects.

Here's a scenario for ya:

Months in advance, everyone who wants to participate is required to fill out a
form listing what equipment, time, and skills they can volunteer for FD.
Everyone is responsible for keeping their FD forms updated of changes
(equipment /schedule changes, license upgrades, etc.)

The forms are collected and the FD committee of no more than 3 people puts
together a Field Day master plan.

48-72 hours before FD, everyone who is signed up gets their "sealed orders"
which detail where they are to go, what they are expected to bring with them
and what they are expected to do for FD. It could be as simple as "show up at X
on or before time T and operate station S" or as complex as "head the team
running station S, bring a this list of equipment..."

Included could be things bringing like foul-weather gear even though the
forecast is perfect. You don't have to wear it but you have to have it with
you. Could also simulate equipment breakdowns and unavailability - although
that sort of thing often happens anyway.

Except for the FD committee, nobody knows what they're going to be doing until
shortly before FD. To more realistically simulate, some very good resources
(rigs, antennas, generators, etc.) might be left completely unused while less
than perfect substitutes are pressed into service.

You'd probably love a Field Day like that, Ryan. Would be a great learning
experience for all. But I can guarantee you that more than half (probably more
than 3/4) of the FD regulars in your club would walk away if the club tried
such a plan cold turkey.

Best way to control where the site is is to become an EC. The you can
do as YOUR philosophical desires dictate. Are you willing to do that?

And if you are, how will you deal with the inevitable disputes that will arise?
Remember, these folks are all volunteers, bringing their own equipment with
them.

Related item. I was in a club years ago where I was in charge of our
biggest fund raiser. Some of the club members didn't like how I was
doing things (specifically, my methods required some work) But we made a
LOT of money for a small club. So they led a revolt against me,
supported by the club prez of refusing to help me or work for me. My
only option that didn't make me look like an idiot was to resign from my
position and chairmanship and the club. I was ironically the Vice president.

The result? Remember how they thought that my working demands were too
much? I wanted 4 hours of work per year per club member.

You said the big bad C word - commitment.

Well, no one
wanted to work even after they got ride of the ******* - me, so they
ended up hiring three people to do my job (keeping in mind, I did it for
nuttin'), subbed out the most lucrative part of the job, and now make
absolutely no money on a fund raiser that was bringing in a lot of money
every year. They are actually in money trouble now. Smart people weren't
they?

bwaahaahaa - great story, Mike.

Point is, be good to the volunteers, and if you don't like what they
are doing, do better.

Most of all, understand that FD is very different things to very different
people.

73 de Jim, N2EY

"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article , Mike Coslo
writes:

No, just a kind of passive resistance thing. I seriously do not agree
with
the person who is our field day planner and club vicepresident. I am
not
the only one boycotting the club field day either.... It has been
chosen
solely by him to be placed at one of the high schools out in the county
(as
opposed to the city) where there is little traffic on the weekends
(passing
by the school that is).


Perhaps he/she couldn't get permission to set up anywhere else. Although if
that was the case, they should have communicated better.

That you disagree is one thing. No problem there. But field day is for
your club, and it seems that there is an "if things aren't done my way,
I'm not going to play. Not too teamlike.

Comes down to "do you plan FD for what will bring out the most people, or
what
will make the most points, or what will be the most realistic emergency
simulation. or what will get the most publicity?" Or any of a bunch of
other
goals.


Absolutely true. To me FD is mainly can you actually get a GOOD station or
stations set up at a location that has no existing facilities? Everything
else is a secondary function of FD.

And if you all seriously want to do it differently, vote the dude out!

Of course, will someone step up to the plate and run field day in his
absence? Is there a clamor and a rush of people wanting to be FD
Chairman?

Classic "bell the cat" problem.

Field Day should be at least 50% PROMOTIONAL as well as 50% emergency
simulation.

That's your vision of it, Ryan. Others see FD very differently.

The good thing is that FD has many facets and can be done many ways.
That's why
it's so popular - brings out more hams than any other domestic operating
activity.

The bad thing is that FD has many facets and can be done many ways. That's
why
it can be such a source of disagreement.


As I said above, for me it's all about getting a good station setup and then
verifying (through the contest portion) that it is indeed a good station.
Now we do some other things too. For example, we have people assigned to do
advance promotional work (publicity), people assigned to handle food, etc.
But without stations, there's no FD.

[big snip]

Under most real emergency circumstances, some emergency personell is
going to tell you to go to a certain place, and operate a certain
transciever. You won't set up a tent or put together a station or
anything.


Maybe or maybe not. Depending on how much the local EC knows about hams and
their abilities, he/she may just say set up stations that will cover area X.
It would be more common that the EC talks to the leader of the ham group and
then puts that ham in charge of communications.

Maybe. Or it might go the other way - you may be asked to go to a certain
location and bring everything you need along.

The purpose of FD is to in large prt get peopl simply *thinking* about
emergency ops, and *doing* some simulated ops.

Bingo!


Also to me it is to see what can you do with the resources available to you
or your group. Small groups for example may not have a lot of resources.
In past years, our club set up, from scratch, 3 towers of 50 feet each with
beams in about two hours plus some wire antennas and ran 4A. This year, due
to illness of several members and the possible poor turn out due to last
year's poor band conditions, we put up one tower with beam and a couple of
loops and ran 2A. It worked out very well despite the fact that some of us
had our reservations about it (me for one).

Dunno where tha hyper
accurate emergency scenario that I hear about came from.

Maybe, at least if it was changed to where we DO know the weekend it is
gonna be, BUT each countie's EC/RO or emergency services director
decides
the location??? I still believe that the PR value of Field Day far
outwieghs any other aspect of field day.

The trick is to balance all the different aspects.

Here's a scenario for ya:


[snipped long description of scenario]

Here's another possible scenario. You are in a county with a low population
perhaps you are the only ham in the county and there is no emergency
coordinator. A disaster has smashed everything flat including your home and
YOU and only YOU are even a possible source of communications. It will be
up to you to salvage the equipment from the rubble and get it set up and on
the air. Don't say this scenario can't happen because it or something
similar has happened.

Point is: You can't duplicate real emergencies that ham radio would be
involved in. Who would have expected the WTC to be attacked and their
subsequent collapse?

As amateurs, our FD exercise (to me) is to learn what we can and cannot do
as individuals and as a group.

Actually it is probably good to try something a little different each year.
Next year I and the OM may choose to try a FD by ourselves NOT because we
don't want to participate with the club but just to do something different
and see how well we can do without the larger resources available through
the club.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

"Ryan, KC8PMX" wrote in message ...
"Steve Robeson K4CAP" wrote in message
...
Subject: Field Day Plans?
From: "Ryan, KC8PMX"
Date: 6/24/2004 11:20 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

Will be running KC8PMX on 50Mhz-450Mhz bands.

I was thinking a shorter call would help, but I ran those phonetics
thru
my mind a couple times, and "PAPA MIKE X-RAY" seems to me to be rather
prominent.

It's not too bad, although I wished I would have gotten a different call
when originally assigned. I might purposefully go for the vanity call of
K8KEA, just to be a pain in the ass because our club call is W8KEA. hi hi

Can't we all just get along?

Decided to run on my own as a
matter of passive resistance to the local club's field day planner.
Field
day is supposed to be an emergency preparedness scenario, and there is
nothing close to that from what I see of the plans locally here.

How's that, Ryan...??? Too much of the picnic-in-the-park thing?

No, just a kind of passive resistance thing. I seriously do not agree with
the person who is our field day planner and club vicepresident. I am not
the only one boycotting the club field day either.... It has been chosen
solely by him to be placed at one of the high schools out in the county (as
opposed to the city) where there is little traffic on the weekends (passing
by the school that is).

Let me guess. He's an Extra?

Field Day should be at least 50% PROMOTIONAL as well as 50% emergency
simulation. Since it is not an actual emergency simulation since we all
clearly know when it is going to be, AND of course get to chose where we set
up, just how does that qualify as emergency planning/communications. Yes
there is the PREPLANNING but on our fire department we dont get to know when
our next medical call or car accident or house fire is, we just respond and
deal with it as best as we can.

Should be points for real emergency locations rather than setting up
at KOA.

In a real emergency, we may be required to set up in an area less that to be
desired, such as a parking lot. Or an open field without those natural
antenna supports..... Also, we would not normally know when that emergency
would occur.......

Hmmmm.

Maybe, at least if it was changed to where we DO know the weekend it is
gonna be, BUT each countie's EC/RO or emergency services director decides
the location??? I still believe that the PR value of Field Day far
outwieghs any other aspect of field day.

Elevate this idea to ARRL. County EC selects operating locations.
Keeps secret. Makes the assignment 2 hours before test starts.

Extra points, of course.

N2EY wrote:
In article , Mike Coslo
writes:


No, just a kind of passive resistance thing. I seriously do not agree with
the person who is our field day planner and club vicepresident. I am not
the only one boycotting the club field day either.... It has been chosen
solely by him to be placed at one of the high schools out in the county (as
opposed to the city) where there is little traffic on the weekends (passing
by the school that is).

That you disagree is one thing. No problem there. But field day is for
your club, and it seems that there is an "if things aren't done my way,
I'm not going to play. Not too teamlike.


Comes down to "do you plan FD for what will bring out the most people, or what
will make the most points, or what will be the most realistic emergency
simulation. or what will get the most publicity?" Or any of a bunch of other
goals.

Sure. And will the local mall allow you to run ops all night?

I'm a firm believer in a balanced approach. Our FD site is in a
stunningly beautiful field with plenty of trees and a million dollar
view. There is a picnic area about 1500 feet away, and ball fields
tennis courts and soccer fields east and west. It's a huge site,
probably bigger than a square mile. We get a fair amount of onlookers
that were out for a walk with the family or boyfriend/girlfriend. We
could possibly get more exposure by running it downtown or in the City
high school parking lot, but no thanks.




And if you all seriously want to do it differently, vote the dude out!

Of course, will someone step up to the plate and run field day in his
absence? Is there a clamor and a rush of people wanting to be FD Chairman?


Classic "bell the cat" problem.

Yup.



Field Day should be at least 50% PROMOTIONAL as well as 50% emergency
simulation.


That's your vision of it, Ryan. Others see FD very differently.

The good thing is that FD has many facets and can be done many ways. That's why
it's so popular - brings out more hams than any other domestic operating
activity.

The bad thing is that FD has many facets and can be done many ways. That's why
it can be such a source of disagreement.


Since it is not an actual emergency simulation since we all
clearly know when it is going to be, AND of course get to chose where we
set
up, just how does that qualify as emergency planning/communications.


It's fundamentally a skills and planning exercise. It's one thing to talk about
setting up a station quickly in an unprepared location, and another thing to
actually *do* it. Operating skills get practiced. Teamwork and learning to deal
with volunteers, both as a leader and as a team member.


Yes
there is the PREPLANNING but on our fire department we dont get to know
when
our next medical call or car accident or house fire is, we just respond and
deal with it as best as we can.


But you guys have training sessions, right?


In a real emergency, we may be required to set up in an area less that to
be
desired, such as a parking lot. Or an open field without those natural
antenna supports..... Also, we would not normally know when that emergency
would occur.......

Sure. You may need to be operating while ill from something or be
putting your life at serious risk at the time. You may be up for several
days without sleep. You may be injured.

Heck, even the person you are trying to communicate with may only have
a CW rig. So you can't even begin to simulate truly accurate emergency
condx.


You can't simulate all of them by any means, but FD simulates some of them.


Yeah, and it's also fun. Want people to come out? let 'em have some
fun. That's why so many clubs have picnics for FD. That isn't a
realistic emergency scenario for sure!


Under most real emergency circumstances, some emergency personell is
going to tell you to go to a certain place, and operate a certain
transciever. You won't set up a tent or put together a station or anything.


Maybe. Or it might go the other way - you may be asked to go to a certain
location and bring everything you need along.

The purpose of FD is to in large prt get peopl simply *thinking* about
emergency ops, and *doing* some simulated ops.


Bingo!


Dunno where tha hyper
accurate emergency scenario that I hear about came from.


Maybe, at least if it was changed to where we DO know the weekend it is
gonna be, BUT each countie's EC/RO or emergency services director decides
the location??? I still believe that the PR value of Field Day far
outwieghs any other aspect of field day.


The trick is to balance all the different aspects.

Here's a scenario for ya:

Months in advance, everyone who wants to participate is required to fill out a
form listing what equipment, time, and skills they can volunteer for FD.
Everyone is responsible for keeping their FD forms updated of changes
(equipment /schedule changes, license upgrades, etc.)

The forms are collected and the FD committee of no more than 3 people puts
together a Field Day master plan.

48-72 hours before FD, everyone who is signed up gets their "sealed orders"
which detail where they are to go, what they are expected to bring with them
and what they are expected to do for FD. It could be as simple as "show up at X
on or before time T and operate station S" or as complex as "head the team
running station S, bring a this list of equipment..."

Included could be things bringing like foul-weather gear even though the
forecast is perfect. You don't have to wear it but you have to have it with
you. Could also simulate equipment breakdowns and unavailability - although
that sort of thing often happens anyway.

Except for the FD committee, nobody knows what they're going to be doing until
shortly before FD. To more realistically simulate, some very good resources
(rigs, antennas, generators, etc.) might be left completely unused while less
than perfect substitutes are pressed into service.

You'd probably love a Field Day like that, Ryan. Would be a great learning
experience for all. But I can guarantee you that more than half (probably more
than 3/4) of the FD regulars in your club would walk away if the club tried
such a plan cold turkey.

That would be kind of fun. But you're right, too many people would hate it.


Best way to control where the site is is to become an EC. The you can
do as YOUR philosophical desires dictate. Are you willing to do that?


And if you are, how will you deal with the inevitable disputes that will arise?
Remember, these folks are all volunteers, bringing their own equipment with
them.

Yaknow, those disputes are part of the training too! The frayed nerves
are part of the training, even. I note a short frayed nerve session
about 10 minutes before FD or any other big event. Player a gets a
little irritated with player B. Knowing about that allows us to smooth
it over before it gets big.

There are so many things about FD that are training us without us even
consciously thinking about them.


Related item. I was in a club years ago where I was in charge of our
biggest fund raiser. Some of the club members didn't like how I was
doing things (specifically, my methods required some work) But we made a
LOT of money for a small club. So they led a revolt against me,
supported by the club prez of refusing to help me or work for me. My
only option that didn't make me look like an idiot was to resign from my
position and chairmanship and the club. I was ironically the Vice president.

The result? Remember how they thought that my working demands were too
much? I wanted 4 hours of work per year per club member.


You said the big bad C word - commitment.


Well, no one
wanted to work even after they got ride of the ******* - me, so they
ended up hiring three people to do my job (keeping in mind, I did it for
nuttin'), subbed out the most lucrative part of the job, and now make
absolutely no money on a fund raiser that was bringing in a lot of money
every year. They are actually in money trouble now. Smart people weren't
they?


bwaahaahaa - great story, Mike.

Zey haz no money to buy zee toyz they dezire no more!

I'm not one to gloat, but this was such a case of poetic justice and
Karma that I have to, just a teeny tiny bit. But I have to balance that
with sympathy for their plight now. They were willingly stupid, and are
paying the price.

I did want to note that there were a few people in the club that *were*
willing helpers. They were my core supporters. And when I left, they
left too. So all that were left were the lazy ones. Evolution will
extrat it's price eventually.

Point is, be good to the volunteers, and if you don't like what they
are doing, do better.


Most of all, understand that FD is very different things to very different
people.

73 de Jim, N2EY



- Mike KB3EIA -

Subject: Field Day Plans?
From: (William)
Date: 6/28/2004 11:20 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

"Ryan, KC8PMX" wrote in message
...

It's not too bad, although I wished I would have gotten a different call
when originally assigned. I might purposefully go for the vanity call of
K8KEA, just to be a pain in the ass because our club call is W8KEA. hi hi

Can't we all just get along?

"WE" can.

You and your mentor are the one's bantering in baby-babble.

Should be points for real emergency locations rather than setting up
at KOA.

What KOA had a Field Day set-up?

Elevate this idea to ARRL. County EC selects operating locations.
Keeps secret. Makes the assignment 2 hours before test starts.

Well, well...Brain manages an idea that doesn't insult anyone and actually
has some merit.

Put THIS day on the calendar!

Steve, K4YZ

In article , (Steve
Robeson K4CAP) writes:

Subject: Field Day Plans?
From: (William)
Date: 6/28/2004 11:20 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

"Ryan, KC8PMX" wrote in message
...

It's not too bad, although I wished I would have gotten a different call
when originally assigned. I might purposefully go for the vanity call of
K8KEA, just to be a pain in the ass because our club call is W8KEA. hi hi

Can't we all just get along?

"WE" can.

You and your mentor are the one's bantering in baby-babble.

Poor nursie imagining things again. Must have day off in
nursieland and nothing to do.

"Short-talk" just style for quick communication. Like "CW"
abbreviations...which, when written verbatim, look like
childish almost-gibberish to anyone. Tsk. That statement
offends nursie? Too bad. Is true. Been so long time.

Nursie want no age limit on ham radio license? No age limit
now. Why Jimmie argue and diss on age limit suggestion of
five years ago? No real reason. Nursie and Jimmie wanna
do FIGHT over newsgrope suppremacy?

Nursie babble stuff on aerospace in other thread. Nursie not
understand mass ratios, specific impulse, planetary system
characteristics like "Lagrange Point." Nursie big on emotion,
short on smarts. Nursie work in aerospace? Think all simple,
big boondoggle? Nursie nuts, no knowledge or experience in
spaceflight, just wanna-be ace in military-sounding civil air
thing.

Nursie should TRY to listen to those with more knowledge
than he. Nursie doesn't do that. Nursie overrides dumbness
with EMOTION writ large. He thinks will-and-idea will conquer
all problems, not understanding that emotional desires don't
mean squat to physical world.

Typical, when nursie confronted with ANY opposition, he gets
angry, yells and disses without thinking problem through. When
others make fun of yelling and sissing, nursie goes berserk.
Not normal behavior. Nursie have sick-iatry credentials? If so,
he not recognize his own aberrant behavior. Tsk.

Should be points for real emergency locations rather than setting up
at KOA.

What KOA had a Field Day set-up?

Matters not. Field Day always touted as "emergency exercise"
by League. Seldom so. Most have field day in park, do CONTEST
FUN. Real emergencies no fun. Hypocrisy of League saying FD
is "emergency exercise."

Kampgrounds Of America (KOA) is a combination trailer park and
motel for those with RVs. Some have parkland adjoining, some not.
Not in midst of urban centers. City park better. Central. Easy to
get to to hold CONTEST. Field Day is really a contest thing. Admit
it, be man.

Nursie now goes into rage saying bad things of those not considering
Field Day to be patriotic thing, showing how ham radio is ready for
all emergencies! [predictable] Nursie gets offended to the max at
others not touting hum raddio as super patriotism, homeland security,
etc. Nursie get fruitcake.

Elevate this idea to ARRL. County EC selects operating locations.
Keeps secret. Makes the assignment 2 hours before test starts.

Well, well...Brain manages an idea that doesn't insult anyone and
actually has some merit.

Put THIS day on the calendar!

Snarl, nursie, snarl. Nursie manages to sneer insults at others
with ideas. Good boy. Sic 'em.

Nursie have problem playing well with others. He demand all others
think like him. Not think like nursie? Bad. Do ethnic cleansing,
using scrub brush of nastygrams, mean dissing and cussing.

Nursie wanna commit all who not think like him. Nursie think
he sane. Probably not. Old fruitcake.

Not good PR for hum raddio. Nursie not learn what means
phrase "let it be."

Temper fry...

LHA / WMD

"Dee D. Flint" wrote in message ...
"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article , Mike Coslo
writes:

No, just a kind of passive resistance thing. I seriously do not agree
with
the person who is our field day planner and club vicepresident. I am
not
the only one boycotting the club field day either.... It has been
chosen
solely by him to be placed at one of the high schools out in the county
(as
opposed to the city) where there is little traffic on the weekends
(passing
by the school that is).


Perhaps he/she couldn't get permission to set up anywhere else. Although if
that was the case, they should have communicated better.

Getting a site has become more difficult around here, mostly because
of development. Running generators all night requires some room. What
were once open fields are now McMansions. There's also the liability
issues.

In the '80s, radio club I belonged to did FD at what used to be a Nike
missile radar site. Off Delchester Road and West Chester Pike. Lots of
ready-made ham antenna structures and shelter. All gone now.

Good times.

To me FD is mainly can you actually get a GOOD station or
stations set up at a location that has no existing facilities? Everything
else is a secondary function of FD.

Yep. What constitutes a "good" station varies all over the place.

As I said above, for me it's all about getting a good station setup and then
verifying (through the contest portion) that it is indeed a good station.
Now we do some other things too. For example, we have people assigned to do
advance promotional work (publicity), people assigned to handle food, etc.
But without stations, there's no FD.

"Without stations, there's no FD." That's a keeper quote!

[big snip]

Under most real emergency circumstances, some emergency personell is
going to tell you to go to a certain place, and operate a certain
transciever. You won't set up a tent or put together a station or
anything.

Maybe or maybe not. Depending on how much the local EC knows about hams and
their abilities, he/she may just say set up stations that will cover area X.
It would be more common that the EC talks to the leader of the ham group and
then puts that ham in charge of communications.

And it all depends what kind of comms are needed. In some cases, the
need is strictly local. In others, it may be long-distance.

Also to me it is to see what can you do with the resources available to you
or your group. Small groups for example may not have a lot of resources.
In past years, our club set up, from scratch, 3 towers of 50 feet each with
beams in about two hours plus some wire antennas and ran 4A. This year, due
to illness of several members and the possible poor turn out due to last
year's poor band conditions, we put up one tower with beam and a couple of
loops and ran 2A. It worked out very well despite the fact that some of us
had our reservations about it (me for one).

One thing that I've seen way too much of are the groups who try to do
too much with too little. Somebody gets a bug in their ear to do 5A,
and it doesn't matter to them that the site isn't big enough for 3A,
or that there won't be enough ops to keep 5 rigs on the air full
time. Or even most of the time.

Here's another possible scenario. You are in a county with a low population
perhaps you are the only ham in the county and there is no emergency
coordinator. A disaster has smashed everything flat including your home and
YOU and only YOU are even a possible source of communications. It will be
up to you to salvage the equipment from the rubble and get it set up and on
the air. Don't say this scenario can't happen because it or something
similar has happened.

All sorts of variations. Maybe your area is untouched except that the
power is off and land communications out. Or maybe a critical bridge
is washed away.

Remember the San Franscisco earthquake of some years back, when that
upper roadway section of the Bay Bridge partially fell? It took a
bunch of telco cable with it. Very little long-distance capacity was
left, and most of that was needed for emergency comms. So hams handled
a lot of health-and-welfare traffic. Which doesn't sound like a big
deal unless you have a loved one there and haven't heard from them in
a few days, and the TV news shows their neighborhood on fire or the
multilevel freeway they use twice a day has collapsed....

Point is: You can't duplicate real emergencies that ham radio would be
involved in. Who would have expected the WTC to be attacked and their
subsequent collapse?

Exactly. Or that a shuttle would burn up on reentry and scatter itself
over thousands of square miles?

As amateurs, our FD exercise (to me) is to learn what we can and cannot do
as individuals and as a group.

Yep. And to expand our skills.

Actually it is probably good to try something a little different each year.
Next year I and the OM may choose to try a FD by ourselves NOT because we
don't want to participate with the club but just to do something different
and see how well we can do without the larger resources available through
the club.

Good advice. I've done big groups, medium groups, small groups and
singlehanded. All kinds of sites, too. Lots of fun. Don't think I've
missed one since 1968.

364 days till the next one...

73 de Jim, N2EY