"NM5K" wrote in message
...


But I really don't care for contest/field day type of
operating all that much.
snip

But generally, my idea of "field day" is kicking back in
one of my lawn chairs, sipping on a cold adult beverage,
and talking to all those good ole buoys on 75 or 40... :/

I'm headed that way, myself. This FD was no fun. I used to look forward to
it.

I was so busy making sure that I met all my responsibilities, I found only a
few hours to actually operate. This came after all the prep work, worry and
concern, including getting an all-electronic network log running. (That our
network logging worked perfectly in no way makes up for my having had
trouble sleeping for weeks leading up to FD.)

Next year, this job goes to somebody else.

"Sal"
(KD6VKW)

On 7/3/2012 6:15 PM, Sal M. O'Nella wrote:
"NM5K" wrote in message
...


But I really don't care for contest/field day type of
operating all that much.
snip

But generally, my idea of "field day" is kicking back in
one of my lawn chairs, sipping on a cold adult beverage,
and talking to all those good ole buoys on 75 or 40... :/

I'm headed that way, myself. This FD was no fun. I used to look forward to
it.

I was so busy making sure that I met all my responsibilities, I found only a
few hours to actually operate. This came after all the prep work, worry and
concern, including getting an all-electronic network log running. (That our
network logging worked perfectly in no way makes up for my having had
trouble sleeping for weeks leading up to FD.)

Next year, this job goes to somebody else.

"Sal"
(KD6VKW)



FD can be a lot of work. I know dragging a tower and beam
out there got to be a tad strenuous.
And I rarely used the thing myself..
I string up dipoles for me, which is pretty easy to deal with.
But even with an easy setup, I still don't care for contest
type operating all that much. Just not really my cup of java..
I skipped this year again. Too busy with work, even if I wanted
to go.
If I do any more in the future, like I say, I'll probably just
hang out on my own property. That way I can operate at a leisurely
pace, and if I get burned out, I can just quit and go do something
else for a while.

"NM5K" wrote in message
...



FD can be a lot of work. I know dragging a tower and beam
out there got to be a tad strenuous.
And I rarely used the thing myself..
I string up dipoles for me, which is pretty easy to deal with.
But even with an easy setup, I still don't care for contest
type operating all that much. Just not really my cup of java..
I skipped this year again. Too busy with work, even if I wanted
to go.
If I do any more in the future, like I say, I'll probably just
hang out on my own property. That way I can operate at a leisurely
pace, and if I get burned out, I can just quit and go do something
else for a while.


Amen to that!

Last year, I put up three 30-foot poles to support a 20m dipole at its
optimum height. This year, I thought I was gettting off easy with just one
pole. Maybe so, but with the top section having a crossarm and the extra
weight of the elements and tethers, getting that sucker up the same 30 feet
was still an adventure. I'm thinking of something simpler next year and not
ruling out being a home station for the first time ever.

"Sal"

On Wednesday, July 4, 2012 2:55:03 PM UTC-7, Sal M. O'Nella wrote:
"NM5K" wrote in message

...







FD can be a lot of work. I know dragging a tower and beam

out there got to be a tad strenuous.

And I rarely used the thing myself..

I string up dipoles for me, which is pretty easy to deal with.

But even with an easy setup, I still don't care for contest

type operating all that much. Just not really my cup of java..

I skipped this year again. Too busy with work, even if I wanted

to go.

If I do any more in the future, like I say, I'll probably just

hang out on my own property. That way I can operate at a leisurely

pace, and if I get burned out, I can just quit and go do something

else for a while.





Amen to that!



Last year, I put up three 30-foot poles to support a 20m dipole at its

optimum height. This year, I thought I was gettting off easy with just one

pole. Maybe so, but with the top section having a crossarm and the extra

weight of the elements and tethers, getting that sucker up the same 30 feet

was still an adventure. I'm thinking of something simpler next year and not

ruling out being a home station for the first time ever.



"Sal"

This is Sal again. I don't know where my login data went.

I dropped out as club FD Chairman. It wasn't fun any more. I was so happy when I assembled the last of the material I needed to report to ARRL.

"Sal"

On 9/10/2012 12:14 AM, wrote:


This is Sal again. I don't know where my login data went.

I dropped out as club FD Chairman. It wasn't fun any more. I was so happy when I assembled the last of the material I needed to report to ARRL.

"Sal"


A man has to know his limitations.. :| chortle...

I was up at the dirt patch a couple of weeks ago, and my 80/40 antenna
is pretty much trashed.. And the coax was pretty much gone..
It started raining, so I left before I could do more investigating..
At first I thought someone stole it.. But then I noticed random
pieces of coax laying on the ground.. I think critters, probably
squirrels, must have ate it.. I'll have to look more when I'm
back up there later..
But I know I'm going to have to redo everything, including new
coax if I want to continue to jibber jabber on the radio when I'm
there.
I plan to go back up there around the end of October.
One reason I think it was squirrels, is they had been eating off
areas of coax jacket in the past.. I'd have to wrap chewed up areas
with electrical tape to keep the water out.
I may have to coat my coax with something squirrels don't like.

On 9/10/2012 1:25 AM, NM5K wrote:

I plan to go back up there around the end of October.
One reason I think it was squirrels, is they had been eating off
areas of coax jacket in the past.. I'd have to wrap chewed up areas
with electrical tape to keep the water out.
I may have to coat my coax with something squirrels don't like.


Coat it with dead squirrels.

"NM5K" wrote in message
...
On 9/10/2012 12:14 AM, wrote:

... the coax was pretty much gone..
It started raining, so I left before I could do more investigating..
At first I thought someone stole it.. But then I noticed random
pieces of coax laying on the ground.. I think critters, probably
squirrels, must have ate it.. I'll have to look more when I'm
back up there later..
But I know I'm going to have to redo everything, including new
coax if I want to continue to jibber jabber on the radio when I'm
there.
I plan to go back up there around the end of October.
One reason I think it was squirrels, is they had been eating off
areas of coax jacket in the past.. I'd have to wrap chewed up areas
with electrical tape to keep the water out.
I may have to coat my coax with something squirrels don't like.

Depending on the distance (which might mean an unacceptable
added expense), you could run PVC. I put in a 10 ft satellite dish
in the mid 1980's, running all the cables in PVC because they
needed to be buried for appearance. (The stuff was called "direct
burial, but ... I'm a skeptic.) The point is that it was still fine after
about two decades when I decommissioned it about five years
ago in favor of digital cable. Both ends opened down to keep
moisture from dribbling in but yet letting the inside "breathe" with
temperature changes.

One caution: Just because the cable fits into the coax, you may
not be able to pull the whole length due to internal drag friction.
I had to cut my PVC and thread the cables throught the first
section, then a PVC union and then the second section. Finally,
I glued the cut ends into to the union. If you use big enough
PVC, you won't have my problem.

"Sal"
(KD6VKW)
"Vicious Killer Weasel"

On 9/12/2012 6:54 PM, Sal M. O'Nella wrote:

Depending on the distance (which might mean an unacceptable
added expense), you could run PVC.

I don't think that would work.. The coax is not running to
a building or anything. I was feeding 80/40 dipoles, with
the feed point between two oak trees, and the coax led over
to one of the trees. I'd just run it out to wherever I was
operating, usually my stone bench. I had about 100 feet of
RG-58..
When I left, I'd just roll the coax up and hang it on a tree
branch. I got about 5 years out of that setup before the
coax went kaput.
One thing I might consider is installing a box or something
to store the bulk of the rolled up coax away from critters.
They still would be able to eat on the part leading to the
antenna, but at least the bulk of it would be fairly safe.
What was weird this time was none of the rolled up coax
was hanging on the tree, and it was broke or unconnected from
the antenna, and only a few little pieces on the ground.
Some varmint might have dragged it off into the woods, but
like I say, it started raining. So I left, and will have to
look for other pieces when I go back up there.
Someone may have stolen the bulk of it..

But I expect it's all basically ruined, so I will be needing
to replace it all. Luckily I use only the thin stuff there,
so cheaper than buying the usual 213 that I use here at the
house. 213 is direct burial.. But it's too heavy for what I'm
doing up there. Too pricy to leave out also, being it's basically
thief bait hanging on the tree branch.
I haven't bought any coax in a few years, and expect sticker
shock due to the price of copper these days.
I've got lots of spare runs of RG-8, but not sure if I have
any rg-58 left or not.. Like I say, the RG-8/213 is too heavy,
even if I wanted to risk leaving it there.
I'd also have to rewire the antennas with thicker wire to support
that heavy stuff and be able to keep tension on the antenna
wires to avoid the droops.

"NM5K" wrote in message
...
On 9/12/2012 6:54 PM, Sal M. O'Nella wrote:

Depending on the distance (which might mean an unacceptable
added expense), you could run PVC.

I don't think that would work.. The coax is not running to
a building or anything. I was feeding 80/40 dipoles, with
the feed point between two oak trees, and the coax led over
to one of the trees. I'd just run it out to wherever I was
operating, usually my stone bench. I had about 100 feet of
RG-58..
When I left, I'd just roll the coax up and hang it on a tree
branch. I got about 5 years out of that setup before the
coax went kaput.
One thing I might consider is installing a box or something
to store the bulk of the rolled up coax away from critters.
They still would be able to eat on the part leading to the
antenna, but at least the bulk of it would be fairly safe.
What was weird this time was none of the rolled up coax
was hanging on the tree, and it was broke or unconnected from
the antenna, and only a few little pieces on the ground.
Some varmint might have dragged it off into the woods, but
like I say, it started raining. So I left, and will have to
look for other pieces when I go back up there.
Someone may have stolen the bulk of it..

But I expect it's all basically ruined, so I will be needing
to replace it all. Luckily I use only the thin stuff there,
so cheaper than buying the usual 213 that I use here at the
house. 213 is direct burial.. But it's too heavy for what I'm
doing up there. Too pricy to leave out also, being it's basically
thief bait hanging on the tree branch.
I haven't bought any coax in a few years, and expect sticker
shock due to the price of copper these days.
I've got lots of spare runs of RG-8, but not sure if I have
any rg-58 left or not.. Like I say, the RG-8/213 is too heavy,
even if I wanted to risk leaving it there.
I'd also have to rewire the antennas with thicker wire to support
that heavy stuff and be able to keep tension on the antenna
wires to avoid the droops.

I agree. However, you might approach "droop" in other ways.

Depending on the height at which you want to place the feed,
you could potentially add a non-conductive span of nylon line
above, supporting the weight of a heavier coax. (I have several
"quick rigs" for dipoles; one of them includes a span line with
pulleys along the line. One I get the span line up, I can begin to
haul conductors aloft with other line. Reduced element stress.)

The success of this depends on how tall the trees are and how
easy/difficult it is to get into them.

73,
"Sal"

I was reading this post, and I am not going to put down this post, but just comment on it.

I'm not sure where any of you got your education from, or how knowledgeable you are about Amateur Radio.
Most people studies the questions and the answers long enough to regurgitate the answers just long enough to pass the test and then quickly forgets everything that they should know.

Some people might join the ARRL - just to reaffirm the fact that they are licensed amateur radio operators - kind of to validate their license.

The fact is - no one posting in this post actually understands the purpose of FIELD DAYS...

FIELD DAYS is a non contest contest.
It has very little to do with collecting points, making contacts, and operating.

If you read the rules - it states that you must operate in a place that you do not normally operate and you cannot assemble towers and then leave them there for the purpose of Field Days Operations.

To go one step further - Field Days is to be operated in a Public Place, that means in your basement or in your field is not a suitable FIELD DAYS SITE.

The purpose of FIELD DAYS - is to get more people to operate.
You get points for putting up a GOTA - Get On The Air station, you get points for having someone under the age of 18 operate, you get points for getting someone who does not have an amateur radio license to operate.

You get extra points for operating CW

You get extra points for inviting public officials.

You get extra points for inviting someone from the law enforcement field - even if it is just the Dog Catcher.

You get extra points - just for having a public information officer and putting up a booth - questions and answers and giving out paraphenelia.

You get extra points for operating QRP and using battery power.

You pretty much have to run off of a Generator or other alternate source of power for your points to county.

You get penalized if you operate from your local EOC..

You get penalized if you operate from at home.

You get penalized if you operate off of Commercial Mains.

You can make more points - just by going after all the 50 points bonuses then you can by sitting there and operating.

The problem is - no one knows how to read anymore and most people do not like handling the logs, and most people don't even bother to send in their logs anymore - because it all involves WORK!

I belong to 5 clubs.

One club - doesn't do field days, because their membership is old and lazy and they choose not to do field days, and instead they operate from the main street of their local town during their towns once a year street festival.

Their problem is - they don't have any ambition, and they do not realize that they could make more contacts and promote their town better - had they operated on Field Days when everyone else was operating - hence more people on the air to make contacts with.

I think in 3 days this year, they made 150 contacts and blamed their misfortunes on the fact that their antenna was not very good ( G5RV ) and the band conditions are poor.
When in fact, they didn't understand that you cannot use a non resonant antenna and expect it to do much - other then 20 meters...

One other club - didn't do FIELD DAYS AT ALL - because I quit their club, after I found out that their 501 C 3 had expired and they were no longer a non profit corporation and that they had not filed a tax return in 20 years.
Without me to operate - they didn't have a club anymore.

I did Field Days for them last year, did all the paperwork, and then the secretary failed to file the paperwork on time - did not send it in, so it was as if I never operated in the first place.

The Third Club - I planned to operate for a while on 20 meters, then let a new club member operate 3rd party on my equipment.
We had a power struggle the year before, where the club member that was operating on 20 meters said that was HIS BAND AND TO GO SOMEPLACE ELSE AND THAT NO ONE WAS GOING TO BLOW UP HIS RADIOS EXCEPT HIM!

( The funny thing is - my family is involved in communications and repairs microwave transmitters and if something was to get broken, all I would have to do is make a telephone call and it would be repaired - better then new )

Not to mention the fact that I have been involved in Communications since 1970 myself and probably have more experience operating electronic's equipment then this once a year ham - with the best radio and no technicial knowledge will ever have!

All Three of these clubs are a spin off of the 4th club.

The Fourth Club started the club scene around here in the early 1970's
They started out having their meetings and Field Days - in one location.
They had good leadership and lot's of members.
Then someone got the bright idea that the meetings should be held on a rotating basis in each of the towns.

What ended up happening was that each town had their own little buddy group and dropped out of the main group and started their own club.
Although none of them actually knew how to run a club on their own.
They started out with large groups of people - the origional core group, and through the years dwindled down to about 1 - 3 origional members, some clubs not even having that many origional members left.

This year - The Origional Club, with the Origional Founder, put on a real Field Days operation - with advice given by me.
They made real contacts and had 12 people operating.
Although they only made 700 contacts between them - lack of good antenna's and poor place to operate - a Fair Grounds - they made lot's of points - because they understood the points multipliers and all the bonus points to be had by doing the extra things necessary to get those points - such as INVITING THE MEDIA, HAVING AN ARTICLE PRINTED IN THE NEWSPAPER BEFORE HAND AND GIVING TOURS OF THEIR FACILITIES AND GETTING THE PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND CHILDREN ON THE AIR.

The Fifth club - was a club I had known about.
They did not have much fanfaire, hoopla, or members.
I think there was 5 of us trying to operate.
The core group was centered around one person that did digital.
The problem was - it was not organized very well.
No one did any publicity work.
They did not make very many points.
The digital operator kept jumping around the bands - interfearing with the other club members efforts - trying to cherry pick the contacts.
The digital club member did not allow anyone else - except his one friend to operate beside him and he did not allow anyone to plug into HIS GENERATOR.

The other club members struggled to put up their antenna's and get their stations on the air.
They struggled to make contacts because their antenna's either didn't work or were not high enough in the air.

I myself brought 100 feet of tower for anyone to use.
I brought coax and extra coax.
I brought an extra antenna for anyone to use.
I brought an extra power supply and extension cords.
The two things I did not bring was a generator and a Solorcon A99 Vertical antenna.

You are kind of wondering - why this particular antenna?
Because it is a simple antenna to construct, it does 10 / 12 / 15 / 17 meters with the internal antenna tuner in my transceiver and because it works!

I myself did 690 contacts, also logged and duped.

The guy that did the digital modes only did about 480 contacts and when he found out that he was Bested by someone that didn't even belong to the club, he refused to turn in his electronic log and he threatened to turn in the club for cheating - if they turned in my log - because I was hooked to commercial mains - and was using their call sign and their 5A status.

Which one of these clubs actually got it?

Which one of these clubs actually understood what Field Days was all about?

Field Days is about working together, using new hams and people who have never operated before - getting them some exposure and exposing the public to amateur radio.

It has nothing to do with Beam antenna's or making contacts and getting your call sign in QST magazine or earning a award for making the most contacts or what ever.

It has nothing to do with AMPLIFIERS, and it has nothing to do with owning the best equipment.

It teaches you one thing - if there is a emergency - can you put together a emergency station and can you make that station operational, and can you log the calls you make and receive correctly and can you keep that station in operation for 48 + hours.

If you are by yourself - you will not get a lot done and you will not accomplish much - besides make yourself tired and loose interest.

Its all about TEAM WORK!