The Ten Commandments of W8EDU's Field Day 2010

1. Thou shalt operate the Case Western Reserve University station for the nth year in a row on location at Jim W8WTS's family farm in scenic Huntsburg, Ohio.  Participants shall dodge Amish buggies on the way to and from the operating site.
2. Thou shalt have four operators total, Jim W8WTS, Jim K8MR, Dan W8RZ, and Yvette KB3HTS.  In order to maximize operating because only W8WTS was around for the full contest, thou shalt operate W8EDU as a 1A station.  Go Spartans!
3. Thou shalt double check the new generator before Field Day starts!  Because if not you might discover that the new quiet generator in actuality gives off a lot of RF, resulting in a mad scramble to drive and get the old one and delaying the start time a little bit.
4. Thou shalt operate your station both on generator and caffeine power.  This is confirmed by how the photographic record shows more and more empty soda bottles in the background as the contest wears on.
5. Thou shalt run into cruddy conditions both due to solar activity and thunderstorms threatening the area- the sort that make a contact in Alabama seem like DX!  But thou shalt preservere with the alums raking in CW contacts and Yvette working phone.
6. Thou shalt have weather ranging from crippling humidity to light drizzle, but thou shalt be thankful that the thunderstorms will only be heard rumbling while tearing down the site after the end of the contest.
7. For reasons unknown, thou shalt make a lot of CW contacts on 15m but have a complete inability to do so with phone.  So sayeth the Ham radio gods.
8. For all Field Day participants- if contacting W8EDU on phone thou shalt not refer to the operator as a sir!  The lovely YL will crack up every time this happens due to an adolescent sense of humor (seriously, this happened several times) and break her concentration in working the pile-ups.
9. The Ham radio is kosher.  In case anyone was worried about that.
10. YOU MUST ENJOY YOURSELF COMPLETELY!  Which we all did despite our adversities, and we look forward to next year!