[Ipg-smz] The Post Field Day Wrap-up

[Tom Henderson]

Fellow Guilders,

There were tornadoes in our area, just 500y from our radio Field Day 
site one week ago, businesses whose buildings were ripped apart, 
shredded. The debris will take weeks to clean. Several buildings will be 
torn down completely.

We put up four radio stations, including one for the general public, 
called a Get-On-The-Air station. We used a variety of equipment, and 
I'll not bore you with the details of what. There was a WiFi network 
that allowed us to log our radio contacts as we made them. We made 
several hundred national and international contacts using voice, and an 
additional 50+ using digital contacts (like modems).

There was a great storm AFTER we got the stations going and antennas up. 
Then, advancing radar told us of a huge storm, so just before the end of 
the event day, we hastily tore down EVERYTHING. We had had pizzas 
delivered. As the new storm passed through, it would take six guys ten 
minutes to get the pizza delivery napkins and paper plates that blew 
around for 100y or so. Our other gear had been secured. Every year we 
learn something new. We will bring bricks coated in plastic to hold 
stuff down.

We had breakfast and coffee at 6am and continued to make contacts, and 
chili + pork chops the evening before, along with lots of snacks-- many 
of them low-carb as I'm now the prez of the localclub. I tried to 
contact Wayne Rash's station to no avail, but there were thousands and 
thousands of us trying to make contacts. The bands were crowded, and the 
frenzy prevented us from doing so.

We had fun. Now it's time to shower and rest.

73 Tom W9YW

-- 
Tom Henderson
ExtremeLabs, Inc.
+1 317 250 4646
Twitter: @extremelabs
Skype: extremelabsinc