Great Shirt! This year I am the ramrod for the Socorro NM club. The club will be working 2A with 2 stations and a GOTA run by the new hams. In addition to providing most of the equipment I will also be the head cook. Contesting is not my thing so I do set-up and planning.
For me Field Day is a social event, the family reunion of amateur radio. This will be the 39th Field Day I have worked on. For years I have wanted to do Field Day out on my pontoon boat, this year the boat has a locked-up motor, so field day with the club.
One station will use a 40//80 inverted Vee antenna and the other station will use a Cushcraft A5. I will bring my TenTec Paragon and the Icom 7200, add a MFJ tunner and a laptop for logging. The GOTA station will use a TS-660 and work 6 meter SSB and FM and do some 10 meter work with a inverted Vee. A lot of work to get all that gear loaded and ready. My pick-up will be loaded to the gills with tower, rotator, antennas, gas grill, tables, chairs, ice boxes, food, drinks, batteries, coax, laptop and radios. 73'S  KA5SIW

      KG7OVN, great old key. I have about 24 old keys and those signal electric's are top shelf. Neat thing, when you hold one of those old keys you wonder what news those keys sent, both good news and bad news. The other day I bought one and there on the wood base were 8 or 10 call signs and the dates they used the key, all the way back into the 1930's. Talk about a real piece of history.
      Back in about 1967 my Father was selling insurance at the Western Union office in Sweetwater Texas. When my Dad told the guy about my interest in radio and electronics, the Western Union guy, reached into a drawer and handed my Father the last telegraph key from that office. A little piece of history I am still proud of.
      You can use some Never-Dull and those keys clean up and shine like a new penny. Use index cards to clean the contacts. Just lightly press down on the key as you hold the card between the contacts, then slide the card back in forth to remove oxidation from the contact surfaces. Talk about a real piece of living history, 73'S  KA5SIW Jim

Gil is right on. If you had access to a frequency counter you could check the dial calibration of your analog VFO dial.
Some of the digital formats require exact frequency calibration since the signal is so narrow in bandwidth. For the most part you would not be using a analog VFO for those modes due to frequency drift. 73'S  Jim  KA5SIW

Years ago I built a Heathkit HW-9. I still have that little radio. Even if I am not good at CW, the HW-9 receiver is darn good, the best of the HW QRP rigs. Back about 1990 Heathkit had a magazine and I wrote some 1/2 page articles for that magazine. I used the funds they paid me to buy the HW-9, talk about a special radio that I will never part with. One of the few Heathkits I built that I did not make any mistakes. I am kind'a proud of that too. 73'S  KA5SIW

     Bob, You have a good point. If someone wanted to "stay below the radar" low power mobile or portable CW would be the way to go. My CW skills are pretty bad. Since I am using a Gov. computer site I am sure everything I type is "observed".
     The US military has huge bases with towns setup just for these exercises, I am worried about how the American people will react when they see troops carrying M16 rifles in their streets. We are not talking about dress uniforms and parade rifles here.
      When I travel to Mexico, seeing troops standing on the corner with M16 kind'a takes your breath away. That is the norm in Mexico, but not something you see in the USA except for a SWAT situation.
     I heard stories about an exercise like this held near Magdalena NM in years past. The mayor and police did not tell anyone what was about to happen. Needless to say there were problems when the civilians and military crossed paths at 2:00 AM. I was told about this by a fireman. I understand mayor and police chief were replaced. There was nothing in the press.
     I am voicing a concern. I have also ask questions to the Southern New Mexico Militia. 73'S  KA5SIW
     

     Did you bring one for all of us?
     From what I hear that is one HOT radio. Maybe if I quit messing with by 1980's radios I could step into the present. Well I do have some newer Icoms, a 7200 and a 703, two good radios.
     I am very happy for you, please send us some photos. 73'S  KA5SIW

     Has anyone been reading up on this? I wonder why Texas was considered a "hostile state"? Sure hope none of those Federal agents or troops don't raid the wrong address, that could get real messy, real quick,  those Texans have guns and know how to use them. I will be watching to see what happens.

Hello, it the past 30 years I have seen a lot of changes. Now that we have cell phones, a ham using a Ht does not draw much attention. When I operate a Hf portable station, people walk over to see what I am doing. Kind'a retro but sometimes the old stuff is new again. In many areas of the nation, ham radio's big draw is bad weather. Tornadoes in the early Summer, ice and snow storms in the Winter and hurricanes along the coast.
When I look around, the amateur radio community is aging fast. I am almost 60 and that is about the average age of the people in our ham club. Our club has conducted ham classes and over the years we have licensed about 20-30 new amateurs, yet almost none of them ever get on the air. Maybe because the tests are so easy, the new amateurs don't develop a love of the hobby. Maybe the technology is just too simple, there is no longer any "wonderment" or experimentation for new hams. Many new hams think of an amateur radio like you would a toaster or any household appliance. From what I see, in 20 years there is going to be a lot of empty spectrum if we can't energize new amateur operators.

Joe has a good idea about the hammock. Many time I have been caught out in a summertime thunderstorm, a large trash sack makes a good rain coat and will keep the chill off you early in the morning. In years past Ontario knife made a bushman knife that you could carry in a scabbard and the handle was hallow such that you could mount it on a shaft to make a spear. I recommend one of those if a firearm is outside the law. Maybe a wrist rocket for small game? Good luck!  73'S  KA5SIW

Bob,
      Here is a little secret, you can use O rings for those drive belts. I will check to see if the local NAPA dealer has some. If I get the part number I will post it, just in case there are some additional "OLD HAMS" doing CPR on a great older radio. Sometimes I have even used several wraps of dental floss for drive belts on this type of application.
       About the old caps, there are two schools of thoughts, one is to apply power for like 1 second then wait, do this several times. The other idea is, if there is a fuse or circuit breaker, let it rip, apply full power if the caps are good, they will work.
       Since this rig was from the 1970's the Mallory caps are good. Those multi section Mallory caps are worlds better than the old 1950'S single section caps.
       I am chomping at the bit to get into this radio and see what she will do. Right now the kitchen is all torn apart and my Wife would shoot me if that radio was repaired before the kitchen is fixed. If I get a chance I will post some photos and detail the radio's performance.  73'S  KA5SIW

     With some wheeling and dealing I am the new owner of a Heathkit HW-101. Last night I fired the radio up.  I have no information on when the radio was last used, but the receiver is working about 80-50%, the transmitter is working about 50-20%. Good thing, this rig does have the CW filter. The only defect I found was the SSB TX has full output when you key the mic, something in the mic circuit is oscillating. Not to bad for a 40+ year old radio.
     Considering the radio is all tube with just a few diodes, this would be a great EMP back-up rig. Last night I tuned into CW on 40 meters, there is something so neat, crisp and clean, about crystal CW filters and tube audio. Kind'a like the sound quality from an LP record.
     About 20 years ago I said I would not work on any tube equipment. Now I own 3 tube rigs, a Yeasu FT-101ZD, Kenwood TS-830 and the Heathkit HW-101. I have a SB-200 amp to go with the HW-101. Neat old gear but not very portable.
     I need another radio like I need a hole in my head. I have 12 TenTec HF rigs, and 4 QRP rigs. The bad thing is I can't hid the radios in a safe like I can with guns. With winter here I need to get busy and clean-up and sell a few HF rigs. I only mess with radio gear in the winter, as soon as I can go fishing and camping, the radio stuff gets pushed aside until after hunting season next Fall. 73'S  KA5SIW

Bruce, glad to have you join us. When you are thinking about what radio to buy, consider the primary radio function. Portable, CW, QRP, digital???. Don't overlook older used radios. Aside from digital modes and VFO drift, the 30 year old TenTec rigs still compare very favorable to the newest radios.
Here are some of the radios I use: Youkits HB-1B, Icom 703, Tentec Argosy, Icom 7200. There are lots of other great radios.
My CW skills are poor and I use the Youkits HB-1B as a very portable receiver. Someday I hope to gain more CW skills.
The Icom 703 is my main QRP radio.
I use the TenTec Argosy as a camping radio, it is kind'a nice to have that 50 watts when you need to get out.
The Icom 7200 is my main back-up/camping radio.
I also use other TenTec rigs at my main station, the Paragon, Corsair II and Omni C.
The older TenTec radios fit me because I can repair them and keep them working for decades to come. I have extra parts radios.
73'S  KA5SIW

      Gil, Thanks for this forum. Although I don't contribute often I have gleamed some good into from this site. So many times local clubs get stuck in a rut and nobody steps outside the "BOX" to try something different. One of the most important "draws" amateur radio has is the freedom to "find" your favorite activity. When working with new amateur operators we must impart a feeling of freedom. With this freedom comes respect for what past amateurs have accomplished.
      When I talk to a new ham about good amateur radio web sites, this site is on the top of the list. My Radio Prepper T shirt sure draws attention. It would be really neat if we could arrange a face to face QSO at some ham gathering. 73'S  KA5SIW

VERY NICE, VERY NICE, looks like you have thought of almost everything. Good idea about the spring clips for the top cover. I dare say you will make changes as you use the system in the field. Maybe add an external speaker and a headphone jack for high noise area. A good application of skills to make something function outside it's design window. Amateur radio needs new guys like you. VERY NICE, VERY NICE
73'S  KA5SIW

The Radio Shack in Socorro, NM is an associate store. We are talking a real Radio Shack with 3 call signs on the front door and an Icom 706 station, set-up on the shelf, always monitoring the local repeater. Al and Sandy Braun have almost everything you need from common transistors, diodes to tools, coax and connectors. They don't sell cell phones. If you ever travel to Socorro, NM check out a real Radio Shack. 73'S  KA5SIW