TO: ALL WOOD COUNTY ARES MEMBERS (OFFICIAL)
ALL ARES AND NON-ARES AMATEURS ANYWHERE (INFORMATION)
FROM: KEN HARRIS WA8LLM ARRL DISTRICT 3
EMERGENCY COORDINATOR WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INC.
WOOD COUNTY ARES BULLETIN NR 18.29 DATE: July 22, 2018
SUBJECT: CHANGES FOR 2019 FIELD DAY
Even though Field Day 2019 is almost a year away, now is the time to start planning. There will be one major change with the 2019 Field Day, and that's the layout of operation. Plans are being made to have all of the radio operating positions located under the main canopy. There will be several advantages and some disadvantages setting up this way. In a major incident or disaster it may be the way communications will need to be set up.
Some of the advantages of this set up will be: fewer power supplies will be needed, networking of logging computers will be easier, being able to see what positions are active and to coordinate what bands and modes to operate, protecting the operating positions from the weather elements better, not having to travel so far to fix little problems that just happen, easier to find interference between operating positions, and less antenna structure hardware. There may be other advantages that haven't been brought up.
Some of the disadvantages will be: needing headphones for each operating position, and running longer coax leads to keep the antennas separated as far as possible to reduce interference.
It looks like the advantages out weight the disadvantages. The only way we'll know if it works is to give it a try. Start planning for next year, but a Field Day set up may be needed tomorrow for a disaster.
Ken Harris WA8LLM
WCEC
Wood County WV