Thanks again team!

Key Outcomes
The club held a post-Field Day debrief covering operations, logistics, food, and planning improvements. Overall feedback was positive — participants praised organization, hospitality, the Georgetown venue, and the GOTA station. Key gaps identified include insufficient band captain coverage, no assigned SSB station owner, weak volunteer pre-commitment, and late outreach to youth/scouting groups. A comprehensive checklist and station equipment list are being developed for next year.

Decisions Made
    • Sign-up sheets will return at operating stations (not pre-event); dry-erase board also proposed for GOTA queue management.
    • Band captain role expanded to 2–3 people on rotating shifts, with Dave remaining team lead.
    • All HF stations to be configured multi-mode (voice + digital + CW) to adapt to band conditions.
    • Antenna site map to be created, laminated (11×14), and posted at the band captain station with patch panel port labels.
    • GOTA logging sheets pre-printed and placed at the station during setup — not left to the station chair.
    • Winlink messages to be CC’d to the scoring aggregator (Dennis) going forward.
    • Youth/scouting outreach must begin by late December–January; outbound chair owns this task if no Field Day chair is yet assigned.

Completed / What Worked
    • GOTA station was highly active, well-received; multiple success stories including first-time operators and family participants.
    • Trailer used for first time — setup, cleanup, and loading were significantly smoother.
    • FT8 + GOTA placed side-by-side simplified power runs and infrastructure.
    • Brian’s antenna walk-and-talk sessions (×2) were well-received as educational content.
    • Electronic check-in system praised; confirmed as club-owned asset (Brian is caretaker, donated printer).
    • Handicap parking added with signage — appreciated by senior members.
    • Mac and cheese and new menu items were hits; total food cost ~$600, overall event cost $1,000 with $491 in donations.

Blockers / Issues Identified
    • Attendance undercount: Official log showed 103 (1 dupe); Brian estimated 165–170 actual attendees across all 3 days.
    • Network/logging setup disrupted by unauthorized changes; Dennis frustrated by people bypassing him to modify the system.
    • SSB station had no assigned owner, leading to it being underutilized overnight.
    • Band master gap: No coverage after ~midnight; operators unsure how to switch bands or reroute antennas.
    • GOTA/CW interference: GOTA antenna initially placed on 40m directly over CW station; partially resolved by moving it.
    • Center social circle noise was disruptive to GOTA station voice operations.
    • Bathroom condition: Both restrooms were severely misused on Saturday required hosing out; had not been an issue in prior years.
    • 80m doublet antenna was never connected to the patch panel and went unused.

Pending Confirmation
    • Whether Frank is a viable candidate to shadow/replace Dennis on logging/networking next year.
    • Optimal antenna placement for CW station vs. GOTA to reduce RF interference.
    • Who designs the patch panel block diagram — band captain team vs. site infrastructure role.
    • Whether numbered plates (pre-marked for head count) are commercially available.

Action Items
    • Smitty: Finalize station equipment checklists; add band captain committee (min. 3 people) and youth outreach deadline (Dec–Jan) to master checklist.
    • Smitty: Blow up and laminate antenna site map with patch panel port labels for band captain station.
    • Smitty: Send food service checklist to Garrett for review while details are fresh.
    • Tom: Submit GOTA paper logs to Dennis.
    • WA8MPA (Jim): Create block diagram of network/patch panel layout for lamination and use at band captain station.
    • WA8MPA (Jim): Continue periodic maintenance of 8 field day computers (charge, update software) throughout the year.
    • SFARC (Mark): Add soap/hand sanitizer to shopping list; purchase squeegee for bathroom kit.
    • Smitty / Mark: Thank Scott and Gary formally post-event; add to annual checklist.
    • Brian: GPS dongles (×2) already donated to club and handed to Dennis — no further action needed.