 |
Field Day 2008 |
> > > < < < |
|
FIELD DAY MEETING: Next Meeting - After Field Day!
|
ARRL Field Day Rules |
Meeting Log
25-Jun: Things
are looking good for shelters. We expect to pay for all those nice
weather field days of years past this year as the weather is likely to
be at least wet. Severe thunderstorms are also possible so safety will
be emphasized during setup and operation. Although setup may be delayed due to weather we probably won't know until the last minute so don't just assume that we are not doing it. The repeater will be monitored on Friday and you can check up on the situation there. 19-Jun: Still need another shelter but we have good leads on a couple of options. Anthony thinks his van is possible if the tow bar works OK. We won't know for a couple of days. Rotor brake delay is installed in the Ham IV rotor control box and works great. Dave Filing is going to get us a loan of some heavy extension cables that we can run up to the pavilion for Sunday breakfast (and other purposes). 16-Apr: Nothing much new. STILL looking for two more shelters for CW stations. 19-Mar: We're still looking for shelters. The purchase of the ladder was approved but will wait until after the Hamfest. 20-Feb: Nothing new about station captains. The rules for Field Day 2008 are now published and there are changes in the bonus point area. New this year is the "education" bonus (which replaces non-traditional mode demonstrations). This sounds interesting as we can use it to teach techniques related to ham radio - things like how to solder a PL-259 or any other such item. There are lots of opportunities here. Ed, N8EQJ, will not be able to do our satellite contact this year. Bill, KA8WTK, has not been contacted. We're still looking for somebody if we can. More discussion on our "exclusivity rule". We now have a plan and it will get published in the next newsletter. Basically we are going to try out a more lenient policy this year, the details of which will be published in the next newsletter. About the generator, Bob, K8RJM, had not yet contacted AJ. The group has encouraged Bob to do so sooner than later. Bruce, AK8B, has prices for ladders - around $75 for a 300 lb. commercial ladder. It will be brought up at the next meeting for approval. Art, N8RKA, sent the letter to Stow. No response yet but none really expected for another month or so. Bruce, AK8B, WILL get the brake delay kit ordered. 15-Jan: Station captains have been established for the following: 10/15/20/75 SSB - W8EZT, 40 SSB - WA3JAT, 10/15/20/80 CW - unknown (K8ZT?), 40 CW - N8EW. Jim, WA3JAT, has offered to possibly also captain a VHF station. The possibility of a GOTA was discussed but we need a station captain. Also a Digital station was discussed but also would need a station captain. We need to make sure we take advantage of all the bonus point opportunities. The Satellite bonus was discussed and we will approach Bill, KA8WTK, and Ed, N8EQJ about doing it this year. We discussed our "exclusivity rule". This says that if you operate at another Field Day that you don't at ours. The rules concerning this are somewhat strict and it would be easy to end up violating them without even knowing it. For this reason we will keep our rule as is. The Generator was discussed. There are some problems (muffler, stand) and we suggested that we offer to do some of the repairs if AJ would let us. Bob, K8RJM, will handle the food and the picnic again this year. We have also decided to look into getting a 6 foot ladder. It turns out with the tower section (shortened) that we don't really need an 8 foot one and the 6 foot one we had worked just fine. Bruce, AK8B, will investigate. Art, N8RKA, will handle the Field Day letter to the Stow parks department. Bruce, AK8B, will handle getting the brake delay kit for the Ham-IV rotor controller. This will prevent damage to the rotor. 10-Jan: We will be taking notes and reporting on our activities concerning Field Day. We haven't been too open in the past with information and decisions made at the Field Day meetings. It was never our intention to keep things secret. That changes now and we will be reporting on Field Day happenings here. |
If you have any comments or suggestions for Field Day 2008, please send an E-Mail to