One of the things coming up is ARRL Field Day.

 This mans that all good hams set up in the field and work out of doors.

It's SUPPOSED to mean under emergency conditions as a field exercise but there are a lot of people that simply hook things up to an extension cord and set up on the porch.

I have a portable military manpack, a true field rig and the necessary stuff to go on the air virtually anywhere on extremely short notice. It has a generator to recharge the battery so I can run virtually forever with no infastructure whatsoever.

At a local club meeting one of the officers started in on explaining how the club laptops were to be used to record all QSOs. I guess he must have read the dour look on my face and asked me something was wrong.

I explained that we were supposed to be able to go on the air and operate without infastructure.

He replied by asking me how I had planned on recording my QSOs. I held up a pencil and said that perhaps some of the older hams could teach the youngsters how to use such a primitive device.

I guess he wasn't amused.

Truth is, I consider a lot of Field Day to be a joke for an awful lot of operators. Extension cords on Field Day don't cut it as far as I'm concerned.



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