When I announced on a ham board that I was going to run an emergency communications drill and net using 30 watts and a wire in a tree a number of eyes rolled.
Net controls are generally run by the guy with the most powerful rig in the group. It's a world of tall towers, rotating Yagi beam antennas and 1.5 KW linear amplifiers.
It is definitely NOT a world of 30 watts and a wire thrown over a tree.
Of course when I announced this a number of the guys said, "Hold my beer. I'm running 20 watts and a wire in a tree. Betcha I can check in by hook or by crook!"
At least three of them did this successfully, one was running only 10 watts. I also had a brief chat with a guy well over 500 miles away that ran 20 watts and had a hasty antenna hanging from a tree or something.
We had almost 30 check-ins and had a great time.
Now I said I was net control and I was. How I managed that was that I would appoint alternates to help out and forward call signs and other pertinent information.
The guys are pretty sharp and enthusiastic and what seemed to be bedlam and chaos actually had a certain order to it.
Because I knew there were going to be several QRP stations trying to check in I started things a little differently.
Instead of reading the usual preamble and explaining what the net was all about, I just threw out my call sign and said, "Alms! Alms! Alms for the poor! All cripples, dwarfs, lepers and QRP stations please check in!"
And someone did and it grew from there.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this:
http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
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