From Newsgroup: alt.ham-radio

Had a pleasant time at a volunteer event, as a
radio operator.

The net control guy thanked me for attending, and
treated me with great kindness.

The non radio guy where I was assigned counter-
mandeed my orders, telling me not to keep track
of boats leaving and return, that I should ask
his clerk secretary wehn I needed information. My
boss stopped by, I explained the clash of orders.
He said to go with the other guy's directions.

Sadly, there was pretty much no where in the shade.
I borrowed a folding chair from the boat house, and
the chair feet kept settling into the soil. Not
allowed to be on the asphalt walkway, that was used
by boaters launching and returning boats.

Net control was working out of a trailer with a mobile
set. At about 100 yards away, that mobile wiped out
the Baofeng receive. He did work off his five watt
HT, which only wiped out my receive when he was about
60 yards or closer. Some day when I have more money,
I'd love a better quality HT.

Items used out of my radio bag: Sunscreen. Hat.
Bottle of water. Food was provided at the event.
The ID badge with my name and call sign on it
helped many times as people figured I was someone
official. Even if I was totally clueless, I still
looked good.

Needed but didn't have: big bottle of aches and
pains pills.

Had but didn't use: Binoculars, my own clip board.
I did bring a long sleeve jacket, which was OK in
the morning, but not used as the day grew warmer.

Overall, had a lot of fun. Got to be part of the
action, and use my handi talkie. I am quite
impressed with groups of teen agers (either 4 or 8
on a craft, with a captain) working together and
taking directions from a crew captain. Really
swells my heart with pride, and I'm not even related
to any of these fine young people.

There was endless prep which went into the event.
Scheduling, food, parking, and on and on. The endless
list of preparations.

As a radio guy, I heard early when other crafts
passed the start or finish. I knew when there was
a passing tour boat, for example.

To my knowledge, no injuries. And no boats were
capsized or sunk.

And a good time was had by all. Even the people walking
dogs on leash were having fun. I did get to scratch a
couple dogs. Which I enjoyed.

-
.
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
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