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Field Day in CT and High Speed Code!
A Journalistic History of The Life and Times in Amateur Radio of George Hart, Wl NJM
by George Hart, Wl NJM
e're not through with Field Day just yet. When the
rules changed to allow a 27-hour instead of a 24hour
period of on-the-air operation we opted to
operate the entire 27-hour period, as we had operated the 24hour
period previously. The only restriction was that lhe 2-/
hours included set-up time. Where previously we had arrived at
the site at least a day ahead of time and some of us two or
even three days ahead, now we could not start setting up at
the site before 2 p.m. Saturday; however, if we followed this
rule, we could start operating as soon as we could get a rig on
the air. So a totally new approach was in order. The plan was
to be prepared to set up a "temporary" position with a "temporary"
antenna and start operating almost immediately at 2
p.m. while the rest of the crew would be setting up the "permanent"
facilities according to a plan that would get us fully
operational within an hour, thus giving us more than two hours
more operating time than those who took their time getting
set up and were restricted 1o 24 hours. The idea was to
encourage amateurs to have equipment prepared to go into
operation as soon as possible after an emergency communication
situation occurs. I use the above words in quotes because
everything about Field Day operation is temporary.
We would gather on Saturday morning at Dick Smith s
(W1FTX) place, which was only about a mile from the Field Day
site, and start getting our equipment ready and loaded into
cars. When everything was ready and everybody fully instructed
we would proceed to the FD site in a caravan, arrive there perhaps
an hour before the 2 p.m. start. Someone with a receiver
in his car would monitor WWV so the drill would start on the
second. Then we would walk around the building, decide
where and how we would erect the antennas, how to bring
feedlines into the building, where to place the "temporary"
operating position and its antenna, where to place the generator,
etc. Everything was talk and planning at this point. No
actual installation activity could begin until 2 p.m. By 1:55
everyone would be gathered around the loaded vehicles listening
to the countdown.
When the long beep from WWV would signal exactly 2 p.m.
we would "charge" the site carrying equipment, get the "temporary"
position set up and on the air, start putting up antennas,
installing "permanent" operating positions. When the first
"permanent" position started operating we stopped using the
"temporary" position and its personnel went about assisting in
getting the other "permanent" positions "radioactive." We
called it the "Chinese fire drill. " Everything was hurry, hurry,
hurry, often with considerable confusion, until all the "permanent"
positions were set up and active. Then things started to
settle down as operators started their scheduled shifts while
others lounged around, shot the bull, drank beer or occasional-
ly stronger liquids, and the FD chairman prowled around checking
operations, notifying persons of their shifts, posting hourly
results and progress compared to previous years, the chef (Joe
Moskey or Tony Dorbuck usually, but others occasionally had a
shot at it, including myself) banging pots and pans in the
kitchen getting ready to feed the crew. All positions continued
operating the full 24+ hours. Occasionally if a piece of equipment
failed it was quickly yanked and replaced. lt was a highintensity
operation. The FD chairman would decide on bandchanges
or mode changes whenever operation on a particular
band or mode would begin to slacken; but all positions would
remain in operation full blast until 5 p.m. Sunday.
On our first "Chinese fire drill" we had the temporary position
operational within 30 minutes, all permanent positions in operation
within 1-1/2 hours. ln subsequent years we improved on
this by having one or more of the cars equipped with portable
rigs and operational immediately at 2 p.m. so that more of the
people could be used to get the permanent positions operational;
so temporary operation began immediately at 2 p.m.
and full FD operation started within 45 minutes. ldon't have
the exact figures without detailed research, but we must have
won our class at least 5 times from i951 through 'l 980 and
placed within the top ten a majority of those years. We also
challenged several club groups elsewhere in the country who
had bested us or placed near us - challenged them to a private
competition with agreed-upon rules outside the rest of the
field. To the CWA, the object was winning. Preparedness for
operating in emergencies was secondary. Also, there was very
little picnic-type activity. Women and children were not a part
of our FD, although occasionally some would show up. We
wanted nothing to distract from our chance of winning.
At Haddam Neck, Dennis Hill and some of the other places
from which we operated we used gasoline-powered generators
as a power source. At no time did we ever use the commercial
electric lines, even when available, as they were in most places.
The generators were usually borrowed, sometimes rented, and
at one time the club owned a second-hand generator, which
never worked well. The biggest multiplier was for not using
commercral power at the site for any purpose before, during or
after the FD operating period (from 5 p.m. Saturday to 5 p.m.
Sunday, later from 2 p.m. Saturday to 5 p.m. Sunday). A lesser
multiplier could be applied if no commercial power was used
just during the FD period. Other multipliers were available for
other simulations of emergency conditions. The rules were very
complicated, often poorly written-up and therefore sublect to
interpretation in loudly voiced debates. I always contended that
it was impossible to use the biggest power-source multiplier if
the site used had commercial power available, but the rest of
CWA interpreted it differently and always claimed this multipli-
44 QCWA Journal . Winter 2Oa7 . \ ^Aw.qcwa.org