RTTY FD Disaster
from
Doug Foos, KT4XF
on
June 11, 2004
View comments about this article!
This story starts in Toledo, Ohio circa June '71. I was WN8GHI, 15 going on 16, licensed 14 months. My friend WB8FPL was already 16 & had his own car, a '63 Mercury Comet. He petitioned our club, W8HHF about setting up a RTTY station for Field Day. The old heads winked at each other & nodded yes. Our disaster was OK'd!
WB8FPL had an Apache TX1 (100lbs,100W), K8QPW loaned us his NC303 (75lbs) & a home brew tube type terminal unit plus a Model 15 teleprinter (???lbs). WN8HNV (N8DST) loaned his TA-33jr & pushup pole. We needed a table strong enough to hold all this so we took the bedroom door from WB8FPL's room & stopped by a grocery store to grab 10 milk crates to set it on.
As we headed to the FD site in the now low-riding Merc, our disaster was beginning! We unloaded & set up in a few hours, plugging into a 1KW generator used by several operators. The huge current draw from our station caused the generator to groan, irking the old heads. They told us to wait till later when the old heads went to sleep.
I think it was WB8EAV or WB8GMN (AL7GI) who bought us beer with a fake ID (Michigan was 18 then). Our disaster was assured!
Some time well after midnight we tried to get the station on the air. WN8LWB was running to the cooler to get more beer in total darkness & tripped over the guy wire bringing down the beam & breaking the drive element. Our disaster was complete! Oh well, none of us knew how to type anyway!
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RTTY FD Disaster
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by KU4UV on June 11, 2004
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It seems like every year you hear about someone being killed or seriosly injured in a Field Day accident. My brother and i are planning to operate Field day from a farm that our family owns in southern Kentucky as a 1B operation. We'll probably be drinking a little bud light and Jim Beam too, but after the sun goes down and it's not so hot. Don't drink and drive on Field Day gang, and be carefull. Most of all, have fun!
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A Near FD Disaster - Heads UP Everybody!
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by KT8K on June 11, 2004
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Is this the repository for FD disaster stories? This one was only a near disaster, but it could have made national headlines - we were SOOOOO lucky.
It must have been in the late 80's, and we were really going for it - a high hilltop county park site and a 13A category. There were many funny and entertaining stories I will save for now, but, as usual, we all pushed ourselves into various states of exhaustion (a frequent, key ingredient for disasters).
At 6AM or so Sunday a bunch of us decided to put up a 6 meter vertical someone had brought, and we still had one more telescoping mast, so we assembled it and carried it out to some open grass near the road. With several people holding onto guy ropes, three or four of us lifted the mast and pushed it up to vertical, only to hear a loud ZANGGGGGGG sound. Looking up, we realized we had pushed it up directly between a pair of what appeared (from the nearby pole insulators) to be 4800 volt power lines which, thankfully, were not energized (otherwise I would definitely not be typing this). Instantly frozen in terror, we carefully, carefully lowered the antenna and mast back to the ground and stumbled off in a state of shock to sit down and mull over what had just happened. I still get the shivers when I think about it.
Lesson to all - set up your antennas when you are still bright eyed and bushy tailed, and it's light out. And beware of seemingly bright ideas to put up new antennas in the wee hours. Above all - Always LOOK UP before putting anything up in the air.
Have a safe Field Day, and be sure to work W8UM or W8PGW (our GOTA station) if you hear us.
73 de kt8k - Tim
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RTTY FD Disaster
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by WB2AZE on June 11, 2004
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After reading some of these 'disasters' or near disasters, maybe it would be a good idea to have one person act as a safety officer to keep an eye out for hazards...
WB2AZE
ARRL DEC
Hunterdon County, NJ
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More on the Near FD Disaster
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by KT8K on June 11, 2004
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I should have added that, for many years, we have used a Field Day site with NO overhead wires of any kind!
A safety officer IS a very good position for a Field Day team to have.
Be safe, everybody. 73 de kt8k - Tim
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RE: RTTY FD Disaster
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by KC8VWM on June 11, 2004
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>>> maybe it would be a good idea to have one person act as a safety officer to keep an eye out for hazards... <<<
This is a great idea...
Hey, you over there reading this message on this message forum.... your in violation of the message board safety rules because your not resting your wrists on that gel wrist pad to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome.
Oh... and sit straight when typing those replies or I will have to cite you for a safety violation...
Charles - KC8VWM
(Forum Message Board Safety Officer)
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UFO's and near disaster
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by N5EG on June 11, 2004
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Near disasters are a lot more fun to reminisce about!
(too) Many years ago, us teenagers were tasked with the 80m SSB FD station. We put up the traditional droopy dipole, but of course wanted to make something a bit more impressive -- a 5/8 wave vertical (on 80m!) would do the trick. The solution of course was a helium baloon to hold up the wire.
Along about 10 PM the wind picked up and so did the SWR. So out came the flourescent battery powered flashlights. Our baloon was 8-foot diameter aluminized mylar (the very silvery reflective stuff). We saw the 'vertical' move from about 70 degrees almost down to the horizon and back with the wind. We were on a hilltop in Southern California. After about an hour the police showed up, pretty annoyed and asked us what the heck we were doing.
Seems they had received over 1000 telephone calls that (Saturday) night reporting UFO sightings in our vicinity. After some persistent negotiations - we were restricted to operating the dipole only.
In order to pick up the rate we tried a stunt - variable phonetics. Everytime we worked someone, we signed with different phonetics. Managed to work the entire rest of the contest with (hardly) any duplicate phonetics. May not have been good operating procedure, but was amazingly effective in pulling out stations that would otherwise not have worked us ( > 500 Q's as I recall). The police were still not amused the next morning on their followup visit (but they decided to "pardon" us once the phone call rate dropped).
-- Tom
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RE: UFO's and near disaster
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by WB9NJB on June 11, 2004
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Safety Officer? Give me a break. What ever happened to individual responsibility, not to mention common sense? Use your brain, your own common sense, and be careful. We don't need no stinkin' officers!
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RE: RTTY FD Disaster
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by K8LEA on June 11, 2004
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Well, I can't match the disasters, but....
First off, one of the really dangerous things that should be avoided (and I did, of course) is using a charcoal grille for heat inside a tent....
Fortunately, the tent wasn't particularly airtight. DO NOT DO THAT! Charcoal grilles give off Carbon Monoxide. Lots of it. Makes you dead....
One of the guys, back when I was about 16, spent the previous night building a transmitter for the 6M position. Two toggle switches to go between transmit & receive. Get 'em wrong and watch the final plates turn red.
Or spark, which is what happened when I got picked to be the operator.
(I'd have given him a relay if he'd asked....)
During one Field Day Weekend I finally decided that the time was right to rip out the PTT switch in my old Clegg 99'er and replace it with a relay. Mechanically difficult, but not too terrible. Came home from my turn at the 6M position, and started hacking the radio. Got it all done about 2200 and tried to call the 6M position to give them a contact, and see how things worked. Well, they heard me, but it wasn't too great, and I couldn't hear them very well either.
I thought I'd trashed the radio - in those days, $150 worth of Clegg was a LOT of money.... After a tired look-through, I gave up and went upstairs and got into the shower. Well, I didn't pull a Euclid and run out of the shower naked, but almost. I got dried off, grabbed a bathrobe, and ran back downstairs and double check. I'd managed to wire things so that the antenna was tied to the transmitter when receiving, and to the receiver while transmitting.... 3-watt radio, so no damage. Sure sounded better though.
Stu K8LEA
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RTTY FD Disaster
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by N0RTU on June 12, 2004
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Hello All
Well, I'll not wade into the fray about a safety officer or no, but let me say this.
Even with a safety officer, EVERY SINGLE PERSON who is participating in any field day event should be thinking about safety!
Not only electrical and RF safety, but every aspect of safety!
Careful attention to station layout, stringing of coax and other cables, and mechanical things need attention too!
If your makeshift tent or awning won't stand a healthy gust of wind, DON'T set it up! Don't create tripping hazards by stringing cables carelessly. PLAN your setup guys!
Above all, DON'T EVER for any reason get near a power line!
Even the 120/240 volt service that runs to your home can kill you instantly given the proper conditions.
Most overhead distribution power lines (along your street or in your back yard) are energized at 7200 to 25,000 volts and fused heavily! To come close to these is tempting immediate death! To contact one of these lines is most surely LETHAL.............
Choose your FD site carefully and live to tell about the fantastic experience that Field Day really is!
Linemen say "Look up and Live", hams would do well to adopt this motto also.
A thought from a power lineman and Ham who Lives for Field Day.
Best 73 to all
de
Mike
N0RTU
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RE: UFO's and near disaster
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by N3ZKP on June 12, 2004
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<< Safety Officer? Give me a break. What ever happened to individual responsibility, not to mention common sense? Use your brain, your own common sense, and be careful. We don't need no stinkin' officers! >>
Actually, it is a very good idea. The safety officer does not relieve the individual of his or her responsibility, rather he makes sure that people are paying attention to their responsibilities.
Unfortunatly, common sense quite often goes out the window when a bunch of folks are gathered together.
IMHO, alcohol has NO place whatsoever at a FD site. Save it for relaxing at home after all is taken down and packed away.
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RE: UFO's and near disaster
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by K1CJS on June 12, 2004
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"Safety Officer? Give me a break. What ever happened to individual responsibility, not to mention common sense? Use your brain, your own common sense, and be careful. We don't need no stinkin' officers!"
No, what you'll need is a six foot hole and a pine box.
A person designated to oversee field day setup and the safety aspect of the field day site is always prudent--it should be mandatory! There is no need for fancy titles, but everybody should be aware of the one person who will be doing so at the field day site, the person who can REQUIRE that hazards be eliminated and safety comes first.
As far as those who say baloney, better have your will made out--NOW.
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RE: UFO's and near disaster
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by G6HVY on June 12, 2004
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My abiding memory of VHF National Field Days with the Plymouth Radio Club -- we took over a field near Okehampton, on the side of Dartmoor that meant we had a chance of working the rest of the UK instead of a bunch of sheep -- was when the generator got a little too enthusiastic and abandoned the world of 240v to head north, towards the giddy heights of 300v and beyond.
I'm not sure what was going on inside the banks of 4CX250s that our linear used to coax the full legal limit into the ether (a mere 400w for us Gs, and certainly not a milliwatt over. Goodness me no. That would have been wrong), but they coped better than the HT electrolytics. There was a mighty BANG, the tent filled with the smell of freedom -- in this case, the suddenly liberated contents of 32+32uF dustbins -- and the lights went out.
We had torches, of course, and the beams were soon shining through the chemical fog. The homebrew amp looked almost normal, if you ignored the large dents in the top of the case.
Miraculously, the radios survived unscathed (although what it did to their MTBF I cannot say), which is more than can be said for our emergency stash of brandy for nerve calming. I was a mere teenager, but I learned valuable lessons that night. Take adequate backups of anything that might fail (we had a spare amp), remember that there are plenty more variables than when you're sitting in your home shack, and for heaven's sake don't understock the medicinal restoratives.
I also learned that sitting in a cold tent for 24 hours in a rain-sodden, windy field, yelling myself hoarse and going deaf from constant white noise in the headphones, was a very great deal of fun.
R
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RTTY FD Disaster
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by PAUL-NN7B on June 13, 2004
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Ah, yes. The things that could have killed us when we were young... ;) Field day and a little alcohol is a nice mix if done responsibly in the proper context.
For those serious about organizing a 'club' type field day, I highly recommend the ICS organization model. It leave nothing out and can be sized up or down to suit your particular event.
Take a look at:
http://ema.arrl.org/fd/FD_ICS.html
Bill Ricker, N1VUX, has done a nice job of updating this outline to be functional for the 2004 event.
73, Paul Cavnar - NN7B
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RTTY FD Disaster
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by W4CX on June 14, 2004
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Reminds me of the time our 40M FD dipole was supported at 30' by two 8" oaks. Because we had no center support and were feeding it with RG-8, we had to really create some tension between the trees to get the dipole up.
That dipole performed so well we were up all night doing QSOs. When the contest was over, we were all so tired all could think of was to throw the gear in the car and get home to our comfy beds.
I shinnied up the oak to remove the dipole, armed only with my snips. Clip! Zaang! Can you say "slingshot"?
I forgot about the tension and instantly became airborne. Luckily, no permanent damage, but it sure was funny to the guys watching me. I think they knew what was gonna happen. Oh to be young and foolish again.
73, Darrell W4CX
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RTTY FD Disaster
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by NK7J on June 14, 2004
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I have no FD disasters to report but will comment on the safety officer idea.
Here is the problem with the "safety officer" as far as I see it. Usually the only person you can get to fill this position is someone totally Obnoxious and wants to prove how great they are. The whole time the person is on a mission to make everyone else miserable, whether they mean to or not. If you can find someone with some common sense about things that would be fine but almost everytime I have been involved with volunteer safety officers you get the guy who tries to save everyone from EVERYTHING even down to slivers in your hand.
This is not just with hams either, I have seen it at my work, at other clubs and at the fire department where I volunteer.
I guess I have a different attitide about things like this, I say let natural selection occur and things would be a whole lot simpler!
73
Jack
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RE: RTTY FD Disaster
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by NN6EE on June 14, 2004
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Ah YES!!!
FD/1972 on Mt. Diablo (EBay sect.)
I had just bought a NEW Volkswagon and had it parked in the lot cluster with everybody else and had put up a Vertical on a short mast for HF tied to the side of the NEW car. The FD Chairman's kids were running around near the car and happened to run into one of the guy-wires that I had stretched out BROUGHT down the whole damn mess and to add insult to injury it landed on a part of the vehicle's roof putting a DENT in it!!!
The only good thing about it was that our FD-Chairman did pay for having it fixed!!!
At Fielday, as everyone should know by now, EVIL lurks everywhere and his name is "MURPHY"!!!
BEWARE!!! :-)))
Jim/ee
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RE: UFO's and near disaster
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by KC8VWM on June 15, 2004
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>>> Safety Officer? Give me a break. What ever happened to individual responsibility, not to mention common sense? <<<
Hmmm, what ever happened to common sense?... Good question..
All the more reason to have a Safety Officer present at these events.
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RTTY Budweiser Drinkers
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by KC6OOE on June 16, 2004
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Nice to see the old RTTY folks coming out of the closet on this humorous topic. My call is KC6OOE and being an ex-NAVMARS Chief Op and a sailor, the uncanny habit I have had of wetting my whistle while working the radio has never diminished (of course this was never done on board a naval vessel!)
But in defense of all you beer lovers everywhere, I have to say that the only "accidents" I've ever had didn't occur when I'm drinking beer. They usually occur when I am perfectly sober and am so jazzed about a new piece of equipment that I break something in the rush to put it together, (probably too much coffee).
But referring to the comment about "..after the sun goes down.." - I agree 100%. Do not drive after you've been drinkin all day.
I solve this by doing my RTTY work "in the field" out of my trailer while camping. In fact, I'll be doin it for this years' ARRL Field Day. Go to my website at www.kc6ooe.com and you'll not only see what I have planned for Field Day but you'll get links to photos of a full-blown remote RTTY station in the Cuyamaca Mountains above San Diego, (and a peek at the ol' beer guzzler).
Enjoy Field Day 2004, enjoy the drink of your choice, enjoy my website, and most important - don't drink and drive. Thanks
Chip Jarman
San Diego, CA
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RE: RTTY FD Disaster
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by KE2IV on June 19, 2004
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You said:
"After reading some of these 'disasters' or near disasters, maybe it would be a good idea to have one person act as a safety officer to keep an eye out for hazards...
WB2AZE
ARRL DEC
Hunterdon County, NJ"
Hopefully, the REAL question can be answered in the negative when queried: "Are you an official of the ARRL duly authorized to answer in its name?"
I am a Life Member of the ARRL and do not want self-appointed "do goodies" placing me in a liability situation.
KE2IV
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RE: RTTY FD Disaster
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by KF4JZD on June 26, 2004
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one disaster a few years back, i was cooking for our group. we set up on friday evening, when we were finished for the evening i left my kitchen site that was in a petting zoo. i wasn't awhere that the animals had the run of this place. but to my surprise the deer came by to see what was going on! as i was leaving for the evening i looked and saw the deer sucking on the drink cooler full of lemonade. the next morning i found that the deer had learned to push their noses up to the spout, and take a drink. to make this story short , don't leave the site unsecured because you'll not know who will visit your site at night. kf4jzd tom
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