2006 ACS Field Day Exercise a Success!!

This year ACS participation in the 2006 ARRL Field Day was proclaimed a success by all those who attended!!  We got started a little late but thanks to a lot of hard work and improvisation, we pulled it off!!  I’d like to extend special thanks to those who participated and in particular the following people for their enthusiasm, support and personal contribution:

Our guests and visitors especially Walt Neimi, Dale Sherrow, Ruth Ethelston (from the City of Seattle) and Kevin Runcline.

Barb Graff for visiting and extending her appreciation and well-wishes and giving us a most appreciated gift card for lots of Starbucks coffee.  Thanks Barb!

Seattle Parks and Recreation for extending us a use permit that accommodated our special requirements.

The SPD officers who dropped by during the night to check on things; it was nice to know we were on their radar.

Alex Bertea for an outstanding job as Logistics Chief handling myriad issues around planning and setup and hanging in there while feeling lousy. 

Lee Bond for his awesome helium balloon antenna and completely silent solar powered station and steady contest operation.

George Boswell for serving as our Safety Officer.  George has a can-do and upbeat approach to what we do.  He ran a solid station and was good natured when confronted with front end overload from a nearby station.  None of this stopped him from producing contest results.

Paul Boswell for his support and interest in becoming an amateur radio operator.  We need you Paul!!

Sandy and Dave Cook, Boone & Gail Barker, Steve Monsey, Paula Weir and other members for their presence and support during the day and their friendly outreach to other members.

Bill Dockstader as our PIO, gracious host to visitors and senior stabilizing presence and influence.

Linda Dockstader for help schlepping equipment and supporting Bill during his intense involvement in Field Day Planning.

Jim Fenstermaker and his wife for representing ARRL and stopping by early for to give us a most appreciated starting cheer.

Dave Holdsworth for his local knowledge and help setting up and experience with prior ACS field days.

John Lever for help in setting up the site Saturday morning.

David Mann for the spirit of EmComm portability with his nifty setup and extensive video coverage of our event.

Mat Marcus for demonstrating that digital really can work and teaching us the fundamentals.  And for racking up PSK and APRS points!

Hal Mueller, in absentia, for sharing some helpful hints from Mike & Key’s field day operation.

Mark Sheppard for his support of our Field Day plans and good work getting us an outstanding site at Magnuson Park.

Matt Thomas for his enthusiasm as a newer operator and his willingness to learn and try new things.  And for his slinky antenna demonstration.

Sharon Doub for her help with organizing the potluck and support of me.

Here’s how we did in meeting our goals

Exercise our 72-hour kits.

Everyone came with the necessary equipment and personal gear to more than operate for the 24-hour period.  There was minimal “I’ve got to run to Radio Shack for…” and we had enough equipment to enter class 7A (seven stations, emergency power).  Alex did run out for locks to secure our Porta-Potties from the post-processed beer of the nearby 200 bikers.  

Exercise as many bands and modes as possible.

We operated all HF phone and CW bands, VHF and UHF and digital modes that were active during Field Day.  We were able to track and listen to the Space Station but could not work it due to pileups.  We actually operated in “contest mode” for periods of time with George Boswell and Lee Bond being our poster child die-hards.

Involve the public and government representatives

We had a number of visitors at all times of the day and night.  Bill Dockstader was our PIO and presented a good image to these people who were seeing amateur radio in action.  We decided at the last minute to not issue a press release and invitation to come visit (for logistics reasons) but had a nice representation none the less.  We had a biker club outing at the site next door and had good public relations with them also..

Involve as many ACS members as possible.

It was very gratifying to have so many ACS members and their families drop by at all times and just hang out with us.  The potluck was a success too with good food and fellowship.  Next year I’m sure that we will have even more participation for the overnight portion of the event once word gets out as to how much fun it was!

Have Fun

The most common comment heard by those attending was how much fun it was and how good it was to get to spend time with each other doing what we love doing. 

Things that went really well

• We learned a lot from each other.
• Lots of stations, antennas and other hardware was present.
• Good, relevant goals that were met or exceeded.
• Great support from Seattle DEM and Parks and Recreation.
• Relaxed yet productive atmosphere.
• Everyone helpful and supportive of each other during setup, operation and takedown.
• We were safe and had no injuries or accidents.
• We got a chance to try out an ICS organizational structure.
• We were able to field test our new safety policy.
• We professionally represented amateur radio and ACS to the public.
  

Things to incorporate next year

• Repeat all the things that went well this year.
• Review and streamline the safety policy.  Consider substituting LED or fluorescent lighting for any open-flame camp lighting.  Also needs an ATF section although this was not a particular issue. 
• Roll out a logging software package in advance.
• Develop some signage to identify stations, bands and organizational functions (IC, PIO, etc).
• Get started in the fall for next year’s field day.  Spread the workload out over more people and a longer time.  With more time this should be easier
• Come up with a setup/teardown sequence (e.g. IC tent up first, down last to provide shelter from elements)
• Make sure everyone checks/signs in and has a name badge.  Enforce physical site access based on badge type.
• Develop a band plan and physical station and antenna layout in advance and make sure it solves the multi-station interference problem.
• Consider a couple of training sessions on field station setup, especially things like power and grounding considerations.
• Develop an incident staffing plan to make sure that stations are staffed around the clock.