2008 Racine County Fair After Action Report

From Megawiki

This after action report is a tool for gauging our performance of exercise-related tasks and recommendations for improvements following the Racine County Amateur Radio Emergency Service participation in the 2008 Racine County Fair.

Contents 1 General Participation 2 Visibility and public interest 2.1 The good 2.2 The bad 3 Equipment 3.1 The good 3.2 The bad 3.3 The ugly 4 Wish list

General Participation

• It would have been nice to see more time slots activated during the event, even better if we could have two hams at any given time. N9RGX 12:07, 28 July 2008 (CDT)

Visibility and public interest

The good

• When not using the radio for communications (idle-time) it was good to put it on CW and receive morse-code transmissions with the volume turned up. I got the most interest when passers by heard the morse code. -- We should have an external outdoor speaker to use for this. We could get a dedicated receiver with a BFO for this. It worked just like playing music on an Ice Cream truck.N9RGX 12:17, 28 July 2008 (CDT)

The bad

• A problem with our signage deterred visitors from coming forward and asking questions. We should change the locations of a few signs on the trailer. The "Authorized Personnel Only" sign next to the door scared people away. When the door was open no one could see our logo or the Volunteer center logo.
  • Move the "Authorized Personnel Only" to the door. (So it is hidden from view when we are operating)
  • Move the RCARES medallion and the Volunteer center sticker next to the door. (So they can be seen when we are operating)

N9RGX 12:07, 28 July 2008 (CDT)

Equipment

The good

• The laptop in the trailer was very handy. N9RGX 12:14, 28 July 2008 (CDT)

The bad

• Use the Icom 746 in the trailer. We should not dismantle our main operating station for the Kenwood TS-2000 for use when existing unused equipment was already available. N9RGX 12:07, 28 July 2008 (CDT)
• The vertical whatever-it-was antenna was useless. Was it supposed to be an HF antenna? I checked it with the analyzer and it was tuned to 2 meters and 70cm. Ultimately it was not used. N9RGX 12:07, 28 July 2008 (CDT)
• The Kenwood 70cm rig was useless. It needs to be repaired or replaced. N9RGX 12:14, 28 July 2008 (CDT)
• The WX radio was useless. It could not receive anything. No manual was found and it needed programming. It may be better to replace this with a simpler, less sophisticated unit that can put up with being left unpowered for long periods of time.N9RGX 12:14, 28 July 2008 (CDT)
• The ADI Mobile rig didn't seem to work, this may have been a power issue, but I didn't have time to investigate it. N9RGX 12:14, 28 July 2008 (CDT)

The ugly

• We had too much equipment in the trailer. When deploying to an event, all equipment that will not be used in the event should be temporarily removed from the trailer. It was dangerous to allow the general public to come into the trailer and it was awfully cramped. N9RGX 12:07, 28 July 2008 (CDT)

Wish list

• We're going to need to do something with the interior walls of the trailer. If we could find some nice short-nap carpeting in light gray or blue to cover the walls and some equipment it would be wonderful. Something similar to what people put on the audio systems like the speaker boxes in trunks. We could then attach additional signs and notices using Velcro or thumbtacks as needed. N9RGX 12:21, 28 July 2008 (CDT)

• More computers. We should have computers set-up for digital modes before the event. It isn't realistic to expect everyone to operate the whole time. Just having computers set up reading digital data off the air makes a great demonstration. (We should make sure these setups have an easy way to monitor the audio, this is also a great demonstration.) N9RGX 12:29, 28 July 2008 (CDT)
  • APRS Demo is also a great demo! N9RGX 12:29, 28 July 2008 (CDT)

• It will be better when we have the amber warning lights installed on the trailer. N9RGX 12:32, 28 July 2008 (CDT)

• We need a set of working headphones so when the are loud noises around the trailer you can still use the radios. KA9KJE
  • We should have a splitter device for headphones and speaker. When Demonstrating ham radio, we may need the headphones but an additional speaker for spectators to listen-in should also be available if needed. N9RGX 14:57, 30 July 2008 (CDT)

• We need manuals on-site for every radio we have in a 3 ring binder, and laminate the most used pages. KA9KJE
  • I agree. We should photo-copy and laminate the most used pages in the manual and put them in the front of the 3-ring binder --example: The tune up procedure for the Yaesu, or the Memory options for the Kenwood, etc... N9RGX 14:57, 30 July 2008 (CDT)

• More antennas, like verticals that are easy to put up. 20 ft poles with ropes and camping stakes, to mount the other ants or just stabilize what we have. KA9KJE

• We need more people to help setup. Shouldn't be just one guy , need ladders, duct tape, spare fusing, and finish the DC power in the trailer. KA9KJE

• If OK with management we might want to be able to sign out the trailer and equipment to become familiar with all that it has. Just a few hours training/ using the equipment doesn't get us familiar with everything. KA9KJE