The Event!
Even though this our 2nd year at WSF, I already feel like I'm an old-hand at it.
I arrived at the venue first, with Steve and
GB4FUN not far behind. After he'd arrived, and we had discussed building
access, roof access and if anyone knew where GB4FUN was going, we finally got
into NEWI, and started moving the equipment upstairs.
Everyone else arrived over the next hour or so, GB4FUN sat in NEWIs car park, as there was some confusion where it was going - There was also some confusion as to whether St Johns Ambulance would be requiring part of our room - As most of the local branch of SJA are members, this wouldn't prove a major problem!! - However, we couldn't accommodate them as well as they needed, and so they were moved out onto the nearby landing.
(Stephen Arriving with GB4FUN on the Saturday Morning)
The other hurdle we faced at this point, was roof access! - We accosted various staff to see if we could get on the roof, we had to do this a few times, as it seemed the message wasn't getting across! - eventually, we got to the roof - only to discover that we hadn't quite got the Antennas we needed - Malcolm offered to get a White-Stick antenna for VHF, and we luckily discovered that Ian had brought his trap-dipole with him, we borrowed some coax and we were up and running......
However, all this running around, had cost us time! - Back in the room, the fact that we had been in NEWI on the Friday, and had laid out the PWs, set the webcam up, we had saved some time - On the Saturday though, all the various stations were being set up - HF was ready in minutes, as was VHF - Myself and John (MW1/MW3VCD) - were playing data, we were somehow sat out the way of the rest of the group!
John, Geoff (EMB) and Glyn went up
on the roof to sort out the antennas.
(Geoff [EMB] and Glyn - Out on the roof! - With John VCD!)
Geoff set up his 2M station over in the corner, and he was pretty much ready to go! - In the centre of the room, Emrys was setting up the Morse displays, along with Geoff - The Webcam PC was loaded with DXMon, and a video from the ARRL all about amateur radio in emergency situations - The speakers didn't like John tuning up on 20M - suddenly a PSK idle tone reverberated through the room!!! - Ian and Malcolm got the ATV demo set up - Malcolm had brought most of his shack for a static display, and had also prepared some PowerPoint slides about Weather Satellites, which proved interesting - He'd also brought his laptop, a Datong Tutor, and CWGet - As used last year for a Morse Display!
We set up the remainder of the promo - lots of "oohs" and "aaahs" as I showed the members what Icom and Kenwood had supplied - Posters were stuck to the wall, leaflets laid out, pens distributed, It all moved with military style precision.
Setting up - First thing.....
Liz & Dave and Steve went off to sort out GB4FUN - Back in its original spot, but still with a slightly obscured view of the sky! - We were going to be on the big car park by Baldrics, but this got a little confused...
Over the next hour things got sorted, all the various stations were assembled, laptops were booted, and tested, TNCs and software configured, Stations connected to antennas, SWR'd - One last tidy up, and we were off - A Little later than intended (We didn't get on the air until almost 11am) - during the first hour, though many members of the public turned up! - some were a little bemused we weren't up and running....However, we had plenty of stuff to show them in the meantime!
The PC we were running seemed to have some problems with the webcam - at about 10AM, Jason popped his head round the door to make sure everything was fine and dandy, I admitted it wasn't - and so he set to work curing the PC of it's ills. The last remaining lengths of coax came trough the windows, we connected up, and we were done!
John's HF Data Station - Ready for the off! UI-View Up and Running
11AM........
Foot to the floor now........we needed to make a quick getaway!.......We hit 88MPH, there was a blaze of light, and we were gone!!!
(No...Wait....that's not right.....) Rustles paper.....Hang on....
However, once up and running, we quickly got to work, we knew from the moment Steve switched his 102 on, that running against the CQ WPX contest would be a major problem! - Last year we had no problems with people working us, as we'd advertised well, we had spotted on the Cluster, there wasn't a lot we couldn't do to get contacts. This year was somewhat different, we had to fight to find people to talk to us, well, who wanted to say more than " you are five by nine, 001, 73s" - we found a few, but Steve (now back from helping set up FUN) decided to give away a few points in the contest...
Geoff was on 2M and was making a few contacts, here and there, but for most of the day, the 2M Station was run by Rachel (MW3SAI) - Who also enquired about Data Modes, and such like (including my FT-1500!) however, neither myself or John could convince her to sit down and actually play data! - Ah well, I've converted a few to the 'Dark Side' - Maybe there's time !
Emrys was running the Morse Display quite happily, although speaking to him later, he seemed a little overwhelmed by how busy it was - He commented that it was certainly different being on the other side of the table this year (Emrys had joined us after last year's event!) - However, he was enjoying himself immensely, and occasionally Geoff gave a hand...At one point later on we had to set up another Morse Display - The ERA Microreader was set up, with a Key, I briefly showed Emrys how to use it, and job done!
Over In The Corner
Myself and John were wondering what we'd done ??? - Just because we chose to play Data, we're not freaks ! :) - We sat in the top corner of the room, with our gadgetry, and our wires, and our interfaces, little boxes, GPS, computers and so on - We were playing data, not dabbling in alchemy, or some other 'art'.
The PSK station was up and running, and the UI-View Station not long after - However, we had a few issues, mainly flat bands, issues with the 102 obliterating us - UI-View was doing OK, except no-one wanted to talk to us! - As for PSK, given that after Steve left to go back to the bus, we just had to make sure no-one was using HF, and we could happily transmit all the PSK we wanted !
First Hour Over.....
Some of us got up!!! - We'd stayed by our stations quite frantically for the first hour, but some of us got up and moved! - Steve had headed to the bus, as had a few other members, I spoke to a few members of the public, but took the opportunity to have a look round, and see what everyone else was doing !
The View from 'Data Corner'
Everyone seemed to be quite engrossed in what they were doing - VHF Was busy, Glyn and Geoff were giving away a few points in the contest, everything seemed AOK! - I was alarmed to discover the PWs not disappearing as fast as I had expected - Last year almost 50% had disappeared by early afternoon!
Some amount of tweaking was going on here and there, Ian had disappeared with the ATV Camera - and was beaming back live pictures from elsewhere at Scientriffic - Our Webcam PC seemed to be having some trouble during the day, and in the early afternoon, we decided to switch the cam off, seeing as it appeared to be locking the PC up - We left it running DXMon and our video.
It all went quiet for a little while, Myself and John tried to get someone to talk to us on PSK, it didn't seem to want to work! - We tried SSTV, still no joy! - UI View was running quite well! - However, the stream of people picked up, and soon it all slowly built up towards mayhem level! - Into the early afternoon, we were run off our feet! - We had to eat 'on the move'! - This wasn't an ideal solution, nor was it what we wanted, but unfortunately, we weren't given much option!
Steve, Glyn and Geoff ('EMB) - Eating on the job!