Den’ ACMs Proposal at Club, 18th January, focused on creating a 2024 Award which required the ‘construction’ and ‘operation’ of a fully portable and structurally independent “Go Box” or “Go Bag” based ham station.
Having outlined that we most often operate from either our shack (whether a bench under the stairs or a dedicated ‘funkraum’) or /Portable with the car assisting with power and often aerial support, Den laid down the challenge to use the winter and spring of 2024 to ‘build’ an independent “go box” station which is stand alone and independent in terms of power and aerial support structures.
The proposal saw the winter ‘construction’ phase culminating in a summer weekend ‘show and demo’ day – a get-together in a local park – maybe with a wider social (picnic/BBQ) component added in.
To ensure the challenge empowers as many members as possible, the proposed structure would allow members to build an ‘any band, any mode(s), any power, any purpose’ fully portable but independent station and that on the ‘demo day’ all members attending get the chance to be the Judges – evaluating and voting for what they consider to be the ‘best’ station – criteria to be agreed.
Reporting the morning after the Talk, it was clear that the proposal sparked members’ imaginations and a show of hands after the Talk revealed over half of the 23 members present intended to build and enter for this Award.
After some really broad and useful discussions around rules, boundaries, and assessment criteria, it was agreed to schedule a ’round table’ discussion evening into the Club calendar in a couple of weeks to agree on the “rules” and enable members to start planning and ‘building’ their chosen “go box” or “go bag” solution.
