MickiMinner wrote:
What the attendees of the contest refused to believe while there was
that the contest staff had to run the retrieve office out of the
hangar that all the crew thought was the "party zone". We had
incredible difficulty hearing the radios, hearing the landouts, and
couldn't even hear the cell phones, when a pilot landed out. The only
time I remember being stern about the noise level was with older
kids. The younger ones don't know any better, and can't help being
bored and having energy to burn at contests. Anyway, just wanted to
let everyone know that when you see landing cards spread out with
radios and cell phones, that means that contest safety is paramount,
before anything else!
Thanks
Micki Minner


Hi Micki
I agree with you about safety and consideration.

On the cell phone safety side - voice requires a higher quality and real time
continuous connection. In places where reception is poor you will struggle,
especially where there is very little available bandwidth or lots of signal
attenuation. Add some contention, where suddenly a number of folk are trying to
use the trickle of bandwidth available, and it all falls apart. Conversely
SMS/text messages require a fraction of the bandwidth, are tolerant of far lower
signal quality and will send asynchronously - Press "send" and it will keep
trying till your handset gets a receipt from a tower.
I would encourage anyone relying on cellular service to use SMS first.
"CN down LAT LON damage/no damage" is easy - especially if you save a draft with
the details except for the finer LAT and LON. Make a draft that matches your
landing card. That way you know the pilot has the best chance of getting a
message in. If he/she manages to get a voice call in with details all the
better, but there will probably be lots of time to peck the details out on the
cell... Similarly replying with a pre-created message with "Retrieve departed
HH:MM" is quick and easy - and you know it has the best chance of reaching the
pilot.

On the noise and distraction side - I am very sensitive to noise, it's one
reason I prefer sailplanes to power flying. So I do empathize with noise induced
stress.

Maybe the whole argument here is one of being specific rather than general -
kids have a strong sense of justice. Nothing offends a child (or parent as you
have seen) as much as unjustified criticism. The question is not whether it is
acceptable to have noise and distraction. Some degree of disruption is
unavoidable, especially if there is only one habitable place. But my experience
is again that with a little planning and effort it is possible to make it a good
experience for all. If you can't avoid close proximity to kids, then give them
and their parents a briefing on consideration and safety. Having someone
responsible for horde management works. When you need the peace, a person
delegated by the contest office gets to direct activities so that they don't
cause problems. If this person is involved, he/she will know when to intervene
and when to let the party go, and have the authority to manage the disruptive
ones. If the crew were the problem, then there is a problem, because they should
understand that their actions directly affect the wellbeing of the person they
crew for. I would be most surprised if they failed to respond to some formal -
"this is how we have to behave" talk.

As a partially reformed sinner I can vouch that yelling over your shoulder does
nothing except offend the innocent.

Just my opinion - worth every cent you paid for it...

Bruce