What Could Go Wrong?

 I’ve always been a big fan of trying something new — in ham radio and in life. If we’re not experimenting, we’re not growing!

For my first five or six Field Days after getting my ticket, I made it a point to add something new each year. That first year was all about just showing up and learning as much as I could. The second year, I built my first go box. The third year, I tried (and failed 😅) to run the whole event on battery power alone. Even though it didn’t quite work, I learned a ton. The next year, I added solar panels and started figuring out what did work.

That sense of adventure has stuck with me ever since. Until last December, our local club had always passed a lot of data by voice during the Christmas parade. Last year, we decided to shake things up 🎄💻 — we moved most of that traffic to digital using FLDIGI and a CSV spreadsheet. It worked really well! And because we still had voice as a backup, there was zero stress if something didn’t go as planned.

We’ve also been running APRS for the parade the past few years, and this year, I want to try something new again. The plan: set up a Meshtastic “repeater” about 50 feet in the air and equip as many club members as possible with Meshtastic nodes. I fully expect to walk away with a few lessons learned — but that’s part of the fun! 😎

BTW...this is my new favorite Meshtastic node. Perfect for everyday carry and a great first node that won't break the bank.

Of course, we’re not tossing out what already works. We’ll still have all the proven systems running just like in years past. But by adding something new into the mix, we’ll get to see whether Meshtastic could play a bigger role in future events.

After all, if we don’t experiment, we’ll never find out what’s possible. ⚡