July 4, 2020
Well, Field Day 2020 (Covid 19 style) has come and gone. Our membership has adapted, innovated, and overcome the challenges of operating in groups and solo. Had we attempted our usual setup in Lake Forest, we would have been plagued by Friday storms that would have destroyed our setup and Saturday heat that would have challenged our endurance to operate over the 24 hour period. So, all in all, maybe it was for the best. Kudos go to all who took on the challenge and operated on behalf of our club. FT4 & 8 appeared to more challenging than expected due to its growing popularity, with 40 and 80 meters appearing to be the money bands and CW continued to bring in the most points. While all of our points have yet to be tabulated, we appear to have made a very respectable showing, in spite of all of the obstacles to operating. To use a nautical term, Bravo Zulu to all who participated.
Concurrent with Field Day activities, Saturday was our first attempt to restart our VE testing program. Rich, K9RD and Cary, KD9ITO demonstrated significant club leadership in organizing the event through coordination with the Mayor and Chief of Police of Melrose Park who arranged for a fantastic social distancing space in their senior center. Initially this was to be our first test of the new ARRL automated testing system for VE exams, but software issues prevented it from being totally automated for this initial session. Still, our club is taking a leadership role in automating forms generation and hopefully our August session will be totally automated, creating a more streamlined session and faster licensing processing for candidates.
As a byproduct of the session, we have made significant inroads into setting up a relationship with the Glenbrook North High School via one of their teachers in the engineering curriculum (who took his VE exam at the Melrose Park session) to provide assistance in developing lesson plans and eventually guest speakers and on-site license testing to approximately 25 student per course. Reaching out to get younger members involved in our hobby has been a long range goal of the club and this initiative will help us achieve it.
Summertime is a great opportunity to take your equipment mobile and plan some outside time, whether in the park or forest preserve, to hone your skills and enjoy the fresh air and social distancing, either solo or with a few ham buddies. Hopefully we will emerge from these challenging times with innovative solutions to operating under these challenging conditions. Let’s hope for better times to come. See you virtually at our next club meeting.
73,
Burt KR9T