What could possibly be better than a day off of work, ham radio and a pasty?  For those of you that are not former Yoopers (from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula) a pasty is a sort of meat pie sort of like a chicken pot pie without the gravy and metal tin to cook it in.  They originated from Cornish miners that warmed them on their shovels over fires for lunch at the iron mines.

But back to ham radio.  Saturday brought a test activation of the Outagamie County, WI A.R.E.S. http://www.wi-aresraces.org/ .  For this activation we met at a local fire station which was the simulated emergency command center.  There we received our briefing and assignments.  The simulation specifics are not important.  My assigned task was to establish ham radio net communications at a large local hospital.  I had never been in that hospital before and was a relative newbie in town, so it was an interesting event.

Road construction along the way slowed me down a bit.  I stopped into a local pasty shop along the way to get specific directions which turned out to be spot-on.  At the hospital, after realizing that the power supply had variable voltage I was able to establish good communications as required by the test activation.

The test activation allowed me to work with some nice professional people at the St. Elizabeth’s hospital in Appleton, WI.  But it also allowed me to meet the cook at the local pasty shop.  Seeing that she had done me a favor with providing good directions for free I felt that I owed her something.  So I “HAD” to go back and buy four pasties – one of which was devoured for lunch that day!

I felt good when I got done.  I learned something about my city, something about some ham radio equipment, something about a local hospital and I bought myself a reward (the pasty) for my efforts.  I hope that everyone that reads this will participate in some sort of activities that better their community and builds their skills.

Stay Radio Active!

Jon E. Kreski, AB9NN

http://www.HamRadioResources.com

http://www.Twitter.com/AB9NN

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