ARRL Field Day 2023 Wrap-Up

Compared to some of the past decade's winter field adventures, both as Winter Field Day and as the MCARA's Ham Camps, this was actually a pretty sedate and put-together event.  We showed up in Battery Park (Apalachicola) with gear and the Franklin County Emergency Management's go-trailer at 10am Saturday, were on the air a couple of hours later, and into full-on contest mode by the 2pm start time.  Two main operators, lots of visitors, and a handful of hands-on participants.  As usual there are lessons to be learned from these events.

Didn't Work Items:

• The go-trailer's battery needs replacing.  It  cratered as soon as the sun went down and the trickle of solar power went away.
• A tent with big screen windows is needed for sleeping.  Even though it's a 24 hour event, face it, nobody's going to make it that long.  Naps are unavoidable, but mosquitoes can be blocked.
• Logging software and router would  be a nice-to-have for  next year.
• Needed trash bags and paper towels.  How did we forget those?
• Better workstation lighting, 12v style.
• Computer monitor mount is needed in the EOC's go-trailer.

Worked Particularly Well Items:

• A pre-charged LiFePO4 backup battery stepped in when the go-trailer's lead-acid batt faded.  BTW two HF stations plus one VHF station only went through 21 A-H  total on it, so we had plenty of reserve.
• The 140 watt solar panel worked, and seems enough to run the three radios plus lights, etc.  A 100 watt might be enough, but it's good to have the spare capacity for lights, cell phone charging, etc.
• The VHF radio, its push-up pole, and antenna worked great.
• Both HF rigs and their wire antennas went up easily and worked like champs.  (side note: got to my other portable HF radio talking with its tuner, dunno what's going on there)
• The 12v lighting worked well enough.  LED rope lights under the canopy would be nice, as seen at the Santos Fat Tire Fest back in March.
• The canopy tent & trailer worked well enough for shelter on that dry night.  Might want some extra tarps etc. if rain is forecast.
• Food & drink were plenty.  Having nearby restaurants made things easy.
• Battery Park worked as a location.  Some of the midnight traffic and the boat being hauled out at 3:30 am were kind of weird though.  The bathroom was great.
• Publicity worked, both through The Times and WOYS.  We can improve on this for next year though.

Pics?  Too busy.  Hopefully some will be in either this week's or next week's Times.  Anyway, a big thanks to all who participated, and especially to Franklin County Emergency Management for their support and participation, and the City of Apalachicola for the use of a small part of Battery Park.

Stay tuned for the upcoming fall and winter camp-outs.  For now though, high summer in North Florida has arrived and the go-gear is cleaned and readied and re-packed in case of hurricanes.