2023 Summer ARRL Field Day

All,

I wrote the email below and then followed up with a call to Charles.  I genuinely feel bad at the timing of all of this, but Kathy and my participation at Field Day will be limited at best due to American Airlines scheduling my training right up to Field Day.  There is also the very high likelihood that what is currently on my schedule will not be the final piece.  The end result is that we, all of us, need to give the matter some serious thought.  We are genuinely presented with a “Field Day” type exercise where people are going to have to improvise, participate and anticipate issues.

Please read my note below and then if you can offer up a suggestion, please do.  Most urgently, if you have a trailer with ramps that will handle a 4000 pound scissor lift, please let us know.  If you have an RV that can be brought out for a cooling station; Kathy and my experience has always been that everyone is always super neat and nice and the RV provides a welcome break from the heat.  I told Charles that our ladder is really more like 28′, but I will have to measure it.

I will be posting more on this topic, emailing all of you, coordinating with Club leadership and supporting Charles in every way possible.  Please raise your hand and tell Charles how you are willing to help out.

Thanks,

Phillip (W5EBC)

From: Phillip Beall (phillipbeall@beallz.net) <phillipbeall@beallz.net>

Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2023 1:39 PM

To: Charles Penry [WA5VHU] <wa5vhu@penry.us> <wa5vhu@penry.us>

Cc: officers@wb5rdd.org; admin@wb5rdd.org; Kelly Collins [W5KJC] <W5KJC.PARIS@GMAIL.COM> <W5KJC.PARIS@GMAIL.COM>; Johnny Thomas (WB5JT) (1wb5jt@gmail.com) <1wb5jt@gmail.com>; Jerry Keisler [WA5KZA] <wa5kza@suddenlink.net> <wa5kza@suddenlink.net>; Mel Toye [K5KEY] <meltoye@yahoo.com> <meltoye@yahoo.com>; Randy Holland (N5DDS) (docdrill@aol.com) <docdrill@aol.com>

Subject: Field Day

Charles,

I am writing to you in your capacity of Club Field Day Coordinator to inform you that we have some logistical issues that have suddenly arisen as the result of my returning to AA.  On Thursday I was finally assigned a training schedule.  It is not a total disaster for us yet, but it is rapidly shaping up to be one if we do not start addressing the complications this imposes.

I start classroom and simulator training on June 14.  I am supposed to finish on Thursday, June 22.  That is two days before Field Day.  All good, right?  No.  Immediately following that period my schedule has “OE” on each day for the balance of the month.  I called and asked what that meant and they said that I require a “line check”.  These are required once every two years and normally it is accomplished by them putting a check airman (think instructor) in the cockpit jumpseat on a flight segment.  He observes that I do things as I am supposed to, makes an entry in the computer and I am good for another two years.  Well, mine expired while I was out.  So, they will have to schedule me for a flight and have a check airman go with me.  I cannot fly following training unless they have a check airman in the cockpit with me.  I don’t know if they will assign me a turnaround, a two-day, a three-day or what.  And I for sure do not know when that assignment will be on my schedule.

What I do know is that they normally wait to put something like that on your schedule until you finished what I will complete on June 22.  The reason is in case a simulator breaks, you have some issues (much as I could due to being off for so long) and so the pilot asks for another day or two of training.  They want to make sure no “glitch” causes you to not be operationally ready for the flight with the check airman where they then have to cover the flight with a couple of reserve pilots.

I could get done on June 22 and they give me a trip on June 23, or June 24 or any other day on the calendar.  They may just tell me “Go home and we will call you when we get one.”  Several of those variations completely blow me out of the water for Field Day.  Might I be able to be there?  Yes.  Might I not be able to be there and learn that fact very late in the game?  Yes, that is very much the case and even the likely case.  So, we are going to have to do some advance planning as though I won’t be there and if I am, great.  If not, then we will have at least mitigated the damage to the degree possible.  As I see it, some but perhaps not all of the issues and options are:

Food Service:

Saturday Morning:  We never do breakfast per se, but for the last several years Kathy and I have gone to FD, dropped our RV and trailers, set the coffee urn to brew and then run for ice, water and donuts.  We will need to get someone to volunteer to take over those duties.

Saturday Lunch:  Next week I will call Dos Maria’s and get a price on the buffet that they laid out for the Chamber of Commerce Tour de Paris meeting that Mark Johnson and I attended.  I can make arrangements for that, then rather than planning on me going to pick it up myself we will need to line someone else up.

Saturday Supper:  We will need to get a volunteer lined up to order Domino’s on Saturday night.

Sunday Breakfast:  We will need to get a volunteer lined up to order and pick up breakfast burritos from one of the at least three local options.

If I can’t make it the RV won’t be there, our coolers won’t be there, our power cords and our RV generator won’t be there.  I can loan my trailer mounted welder generator to someone (user manual attached) and let the Club use it, our power cords, our coolers, etc., we will just need to find a responsible person to take possession of all of that, keep it all safe and in good order and then we coordinate my picking it up following FD.  Kathy and I have always just donated the fuel that the RV generator uses while we are there.  If the welder generator is used, I think it is only fair to ask people to chip in for some cans of gas to keep it operational.  It holds 12 gallons of gas and it uses 1.5 gallons an hour running on high, which is the way you will want it running for continuous use.  I will send it full of gas, but it will probably have to be fueled twice in 24 hours.

We have big plans for the scissor lift.  From hanging halyards to elevating antennas, it is planned for use.  My trailer is very iffy and I do not have a suitable ramp.  After Field Day last year I spent some time looking at ramp options and started constructing one and I planned to continue working on it over the next couple of weeks, but I never finished fabricating one.  And the deck needs to be replaced AND it does not have brakes.  I planned to put some plywood down to spread the load over the decking, but now I think it would be better if we locate someone with a drive on trailer that will handle the 4000 pound weight of the lift.  We will need to coordinate them bringing the trailer out here, we load it and then they take it to a secure location until FD, then take it there, unload it so that it can be used, ensure that it is secure throughout the event so that is not stolen, and then reverse the whole process at the end of FD.  This is not a small undertaking.  It was a big deal when I loaded it up and took it out there last year.  We left it on the trailer then, but this year its use for the halyard install requires that it be taken off the trailer.  If you decide to forgo the effort, we are happy to loan our 20’ extension ladder to the effort.

My sincere apologies.  Off for only a week shy of nine months when I start training in June, this was a concern.  But, I have had and continue to have zero control over the circumstances.  First the FAA and now AA’s scheduling department; neither cares one whit about how their actions affect me.  Normally I can use my seniority to bid for things and control my schedule.  When you have been off for as long as I have been you are a square peg going back to a round hole and you just have to be flexible.  I hate it.  I am used to having a lot of control over my schedule.  But in June I am going to have little or none.  We will need to put our heads together and figure out how to solve the issues above.  If by the grace of God, I finish up the training center stuff and they tell me that they won’t have me fly until the week following FD or even later, then I can plan a more active role.  But we have to plan for the worst – that I 100% will not be there – while hoping for the best.

I am copying the Club officers, admins, Trustee and some senior members so that the leadership knows what we are up against.  I am genuinely sorry to have to tell you this stuff, but it literally just came together on Thursday.  After you have had the chance to mull this a bit let’s talk about options.  Hopefully some of the Club leadership may have some advice too.  One bright spot – Maybe someone in the Club needs to use a scissor lift for a week or two.  They can use ours for free so long as they support the Club’s needs for FD.

Take care,

Phillip

Yes I know some of the audience here knows the following
So No insults intended.

Looks like you are going to have Five stations

All Phone ????
That pretty much means one Band per Station
and I would recommend use of Band Pass Filters if anyone has them ?

One for each station.

Keep in mind even on different bands you will need to stay away from the fundamental harmonics

For example

a Station on 14.175

Would interfere with a station on 28.350 easily and visa versa
To the point that some radios will be useless
Better radios with great rcvr out of band rejection will still get hammered if within 25 KHz of the Fundamental frequencies

I visit a lot of FD sites as the Section Manager each year and very few have more that 3 stations on the air
Because of the Rcvr overload issue, those that do have a large park with multiple covered areas
and the antennas are all pretty far apart (multiple wave lengths)

This problem is emphasized when Like design antennas are used

Within one wave length of each other
especially if they are parallel to each other
Offset by 90 degrees is much better.

Also Horizontal polarity versus Vertical polarity
means less interface potential between the two antennas

Severe cross “Talk”
Can harm most radios
So coordinate with who is on what band and Never should two rigs be on the same band
One possible exception is one rig on CW and the other on Phone.

Just some food for thought (SAFETY)

Use Gloves when touching Metal that has been laying in the Sun.

Hydrate, Hydrate and Hydrate
If you ain’t peeing often, you are too dehydrated !!!
Keep an eye on each  other for signs of Heat stress.

I look forward to seeing the few, the proud, the weary ones that are still there Sunday Morning
after my Road trip to at least a half dozen other North Texas Field day sites.

Cheers!

Steve
KG5VK

Some dimensions I took in 2019.

FIELD DAY LUNCH: IF CATERED, HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL ATTEND?

All,

Each year the officers have to make decisions as stewards of our funds.  One of those decisions is whether to cater for Field Day lunch or not and if so how many people to provide for.  This year we wanted to see if we could get a ballpark idea of how many people might participate.  For a poll/survey on the question, please click here and select yes or no on whether you will join us if lunch is catered.

73

RRVARC Officers

Tilt trailer or Heavy Duty (non-angle iron) Trailer Ramps Needed

Kathy and my trailer is an unsafe mess and I will leave it at that.  We are planning to loan our scissor lift to the Field Day effort, but we need someone to help us out with transport.  We have a line on a Club member with a standard 20′ trailer, but his ramps are like ours, angle iron.  When we got home from FD last year and tried putting 3/4″ plywood on our angle iron ramps, one of the tires on the lift broke through the plywood.  It was a precarious setup that required us using a tractor front-end loader to resolve.  So, we need some help with suitable transport since I won’t be trailering it there this year.

Does anyone have a tilt trailer that will handle 4000 pounds?  That would be one with two axles instead of one.  Lacking a tilt trailer what about heavy duty ramps that are not made out of angle iron?  A pair of something like these RecPro trailer ramps is along the lines of what we need.

Do you have a little project in your shop or garage where using our scissor lift would be helpful?  Great, just bring your tilt trailer out to our place, or we will coordinate you and your ramps being trailered out here, and we will load you right up.

Come get it sometime prior to FD, take it home and use it for your needs.  Then take it to FD and help unload it there.  Charles will use it for hanging some stuff and to raise some VHF/UHF antennas on conduit (Kathy and I will provide that too.).  On Sunday help load it back up and we will coordinate getting it back to our place sometime after that.

Hopefully someone in the Club has a tilt trailer or some heavy duty ramps that are smoothish, as opposed to angle iron ramps.  Anybody?

Thanks,

Phillip

Charles,

While I can’t be there, I can do the media piece remotely.  So, please mark me down for the “Media Publicity” and I will get some press releases generated and sent out leading up to the event.  Those will include contact info so if there is any follow up from the media types we will make someone available for interviews before, during and/or after.

Phillip