Amateur radio buffs will ham it up at field day
Public can learn from Mesa Verde Area Amateur Radio Club
Tuesday, June 24th 2008
By Emily Ketterer | Journal High School Intern
Ham radios can provide worldwide communication during emergencies - or just for the fun of it......
The above quote is a cut and paste from a local newspaper regarding our Cortez Radio Club Field Day......Field Day is almost her again......well almost.....6 month's is just time enough to start getting ready if you start now!
Lot's of things to think about, build, download and install, do a dry run, etc. Research is an important part of preparing for Field Day and it starts now, not 3 days before FD. What type of antenna's do you want to use? Which radio will serve you best or are you roughing it and want to pick low power and minimum antenna system? How about power/ Battery? What size/AMP Hour? Brand? Weight vs distance to carry and hours of operation/lenth of weekend? and the list goes on simply use your imagination but start NOW! I hope that your not one of those that use the same antenna and equipment from year to year...honestly that's not the spirit of Field Day. FD is about - emergencies, band condition, terrain, weather, season's, Mental status, etc. and change all the time so changing ourselves and equipment according to the new experience will benefit you and I the most as excellent communicator's and a HRO.
Practice, Practice, Practice....I understand that if an emergency occurs, (and that is what Field Day is all about - learning to deal with the unknown) and certainly emergencies are never planned to happen, that we just might have to abandon all previous plans and simply fly by the seat of our pants as communicator's. Unfortunately you still have to know how to fly before the seat of your pants are even considered as a safe viable option to consider, experience or do. In our case as communicator's learning to fly comes through self education , trainings and practicing. But when was the last time you picked up and read a ham book (not just a popular magazine) to learn something new, or even just to review and refresh knowledge?) .
The challenges that practicing provide gives a catalyst to understanding, growth, accurate knowledge and clear knowledgeable application. You've heard the old saying, "Practices makes perfect!"? Well in the case of Amateur Radio operator's (I still can't resonate with that title - it should be "Ham Radio Communicator" but things are as they are for now...so another Blog, another day.) practice does make perfect, or at least as close to what technology, experience and personal understanding and growth provides at this present date. Never be ashamed to let others know you are "practicing" because the wise person will see that you are willing to struggle, learn and ultimately apply the learning just so you can be a better communicator with them. Practicing also announces and informs others that you are working on being the very best communicator and Ham Radio operator that you can possibly be. Folks that is good! It helps that one of the core principles of ham radio is "provide emergency communications to the community when called upon by authorized agencies." It assists in giving us Ham's a reason and justification for what we do as Ham Radio Operator's and Field Day Practitioners.
You cannot practice something unless your actually doing it...that simply means you must not let anything, including negative self talk, keep you from get busy, making your mistakes and improving. What I am saying translates into actually going out in the field BEFORE Field Day and setting every thing set up, working at least an hour or so of communicating and keeping notes on things you could do different or could improve. "But baby it's cold outside!" ya ya I know but did you know that emergencies happen in cold weather too? Sure you did! It is very difficult to experience what to do in a Winter emergency in the middle of Summer with blue skies and 100 degree weather. You do want to be the best communicator all season's 24/7 don't you? Well then put your parka's and snow boots on and get busy. Keeping logs and notes are vital to being a excellent Ham Radio Operator. When making an important life decision many people will make a two column page of pro's and con's. We can do that by just using a different column title...
"Works : Didn't work"
:
:
What works can be carried forth to the future and implemented and what did not work remains for improvement and future testing on our next pre-Field Day practice! When you mix and compare your logged contact's with the works - don't work list you begin to see a clearer picture of what to do to make technology and personal progression bring you to the ultimate communicator that everyone wants to talk to.
Things change - equipment goes down, is sold, bought, etc. Technology also changes from year to year. Call signs and QTH's change also. Friends move away further than they are now, some friends move closer but non-the-less things do change from year to year and sometimes from day-to-day...this adds a factors to fine tuning our "stuff" while taking these changes into consideration and experiences. We must be ready for changes at all levels. Each season is unique and different from each other and the year(s) before, every season of our lives are different and as excellent human beings and solid communicators we must adapt to the season and moments of our lives, times and surroundings. Just paying attention to our equipment is not enough....are you tired, exhausted, wide awake and in good mood? Your personal health, wealth and mental/emotional being plays a big role on how successful as an excellent communicator and emergency communication provider.
Friendship, cooperation and team work are an important part of Field Day and must be developed before that most important date in June. It takes two or more to develop cooperation and team work so take a friend or two, even 3 or more with you as you practice Field Day. It will also multiply the fun exponentially and give input to things you never thought of, or noticed before. In the midst of it all the bonus is your friendships will deepen. Struggles and the unknown always brings human's closer, especially when there is cooperation,team work and experiencing entwined with friendship.
So what have you learned?
Practice, Practice, Practice - makes a better communicator and Ham!
You cannot practice something unless your actually doing it - Getting started is doing!But baby it's cold outside! - Don't let anything stop you, not even weather or your self talk!
Keeping logs and notes - Are vital to learning and success!
Things change - Don't get locked in to there's only one way, be flexible!
Friendship, cooperation and team work - are a vital part of living, learning and ham radio!
73 Johnny KD5LWU
kd5lwu@beyondbb.com
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