> > I think you've come up with a wonderful idea in which I would
> > participate. The goals of 1) getting lots of hams involved in a
> > 'demonstration' emergency/competitive event which would raise the
> > visibility (and hopefully desire to participate in contests) to
> > lots of hams and B) raise the awareness to the non-ham community.
> > I think the recent national coverage of the PCSAT proves that
> > there are news and PR angles to some ham activities.
> >
> > The problem? It's a BIG JOB with lots of hard work that will take a
> > bunch of people a lot of time to do it all. It makes our WRTC events
> > (which take typically one year of intense work and LOTS of
volunteers
> > to make it happen) seem small by comparison. And someone has to
drive
> > the thing. Would that be you?
> >
It's called 'Field Day'. It happens every year in June. What it needs
in many areas is more emphasis on PR and less on just getting a bunch of
OT's together for a weekend of playing a bit of radio and drinking beer.
Add more of an incentive to pass meaningful traffic and better
recognition to clubs that get real public exposure and you are almost
there.
Maybe there is a place for a computerized message passing contest, but
adding lists of handlers and scoring on accuracy of dumping files over
the air won't impress anyone but those who already know how hard it is
to do the same thing properly by hand.
Think about this, then contact the ARRL with ideas for next year's FD
rules to make it happen: Add a sign near a table of your FD operation
that is in a well traveled public location that reads something like
this and you may catch someone's attention: "Test the operators! In
times of emergencies like the WTC disaster Hams often transmit messages
on behalf of survivors and those seeking information about friends and
family. To help us practice please fill out one of the forms on the
table with a short message to someone you know outside the local area."
Include forms for people to write out short messages.(right next to the
'how to become a ham' leaflet of course) Include request for delivery
receipt. Give extra points for delivering incoming messages to local
recipients, forwarding of messages through your station, and when you
get back receipts for messages you originate(more points if the receipt
comes back during the fd period). If you can get the local Red Cross or
Emergency Management Agencies involved its even better.
If something like this counted for more than just a few bonus points in
the FD score it might get more attention. Add extra awards for real
public demonstrations and it would make it much more meaningful and
provide a real test of the NTS and local operators all over.
David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt@arrl.net
web: http://www.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
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