SAM'S POINT REPORT 2016
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July 16, 2016 SAMSPT-10,  Operator was Dwight, N2FMC

I arrived at ~11:30, a tad late.  Sorry gents.

Setup took about 20 minutes because I had to assemble the diamond X50NA before 
I could push up the ~20' telescoping mast.  I installed a UHF Yagi but the 
vertical antenna is VHF & UHF so I tried that without attaching the semirigid 
hardline to the Yagi.  It would only have added weight when I pushed it up anyway.

When I bought the D-710G and the antenna 3-4 months ago, I thought I had 
programmed the radio with the correct settings for the '16 ATGP test.  If I did 
(doubtful) they didn't stay till today.  Thankfully a kind gent named Dick 
(from Maryland Mountain?) called and walked me through the settings.  He also 
sent me the link to the settings that were key to my getting on the air by ~12:30.

I'd also like to thank N3MUI on Slide Mountain for being there and acting as an 
alternate path between PA and MA.

I didn't get the message to change to 9.6kb right away so I think an email blast 
would have worked for me.  If there was a scheduled time for the change, I wasn't 
aware of it.   Sorry.

As Bob pointed out several days ago, operation close to ham, public safety and 
business emitters could cause issues.  I don't know if I had issues on VHF, but 
I sure did on UHF.  There is an intermittent trunking data channel that wiped out 
UHF Rx for me for most of the day.

My simple setup consisted of 

-a pretty new Kenwood TH-D-710G
-a Diamond X50NA 2-band vertical ant
-~30' of RG-214 with N connectors
-N - UHF adapters
-~20' of aluminum push up mast
-a drive on mount to hold the mast up
-an AC extension cord into the shelter
-a switch mode power supply
-tools
-SPF 50 sunscreen
-lawn chair
-lunch
-bottles and bottles of water
-4 different ARRL public relations hand outs
  
Stream of consciousness take away thoughts for next year;

-All sites should have contact info for adjacent sites.
 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wSo0s2yIoXH7P87AKjYCGTabVTw4GaE61svfImY2A2o/edit#gid=1450439508

-Couch potato could have our contact info so he can reach out to sites via their 
 preferred mode to see what's up if the packets stop there.

-Maybe we can get some hams on the AT just to see how a message that is originated 
 in the field propagates through our deployed stations.  Maybe pick a low spot between 
 nodes to check if it can be heard?

-Site analysis prior to spring 2017 to see where permanent installations should be 

-Continued research on the available dual baud rate TNCs available to install along the AT.
http://www.aprs.org/ec9600net.html

Thanks for another AT GP fun event!
Dwight