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Larry's LogSunday, we woke up late, missing the net. We learned that Team New Zealand lost the race yesterday and therefore the Cup. Too bad, I wished they had won at least 1 race of the series. I spent the morning putting the boom end cap together, using Lanocote to grease the stainless steel end plate and the aluminum cap so that the aluminum wouldn't corrode in contact with the steel. It appeared to be much stronger than the way it had been constructed, with 9 quarter inch bolts holding it rather than just four. Since tonight was Dimanche Gras, the finals of the Kings and Queens, and the calypso finals, we didn't do too much else. I studied some more and Diane went to the gym after taking a nap. We left for the Queens Park Savannah at 5:45 for a show that was supposed to start at 7pm. It actually did start only a few minutes late, after the President of Trinidad and Tobago was introduced. There was assigned seating, rather than the open seating for the other events, so it was much better organized and there wasn't a mad rush to find a seat. Our seats were pretty good but I wound up spending much of my time near the stage taking pictures anyway. Steph had come down with her friends that just came in that morning, after traveling almost 2 days to get here. The first part of the event was another steel band competition, although for this, bands were limited to between 50 and 75 players; the bands in the Panorama finals were up to 300 players or more. We got to see and hear the Panorama winners, Exodus, and also some of our favorites, the All Stars and Phase II Pan Groove. They were excellent - I do love pan music. I was also right near the stage with the media photographers and got some nice shots, which made it even better. The next part of the show was the first round of the calypso monarch competition. We all enjoyed this but the sound system was just not particularly good and much of the singing (only somewhat understandable to Americans at the best of times) was unintelligible. The Trini lilt is a pleasure to hear but sometimes hard to understand. The problem is that to appreciate calypso, you MUST understand the lyrics since that is what makes it such and wonderful art form. There are new calypso songs composed every year although, of course, the best ones are recorded and sung for years afterward. Then came the final for the Kings and Queens of Carnival, the Mas competition where the masqueraders pull out all the stops and make all the last minute additions to their costumes. To say they were spectacular is an understatement, although many Trinis we spoke to said that some lacked creativity. As you watched them, you could see many of the same styles but to someone not used to seeing anything like it, they were all new and fantastic. The first masquerader was the Junior Queen of Carnival, and the name of her masquerade was "On the Wings of Destiny"; how appropriate. The eight Queen's competitors then came across the giant stage and they were all smiling and dancing around, at least as much as possible with a costume weighing up to 150 pounds and up to 24 feet high. Sure enough, we recognized all of them, since this was the third time we had seen them (from the preliminaries and the semi-finals) but many had added extras and some had significant ones. The Kings came on stage next and I got some good pictures of them also although the smoke machine that they were using made some of the shots unclear. I'm sure all the photographers felt that way too. There were significant additions to these costumes also. For example, on our favorite, named "Schizo-the Agony of Ecstasy", the one we had seem being built, the painted man had been raised much higher on the costume and changed so that the arms and legs could wave. Some more glittering streamers were also added to the front. We hoped he won - after 27 years of coming in second or third, he certainly deserved it, and I thought his costume was certainly the most creative and spectacular. (We now know he came in second again.) But the others were certainly not dull! Several were extremely clever, like the one called "Trouble in De Bamboo" with a huge blue man stamping through a bamboo field covered with ants. As this masquerader paraded by, the "ant hill" in the back of the costume spit out brightly colored confetti. Our other favorite was the one called "Blue Moon Visitor", a three headed dragon with huge wings and red lights for eyes. I certainly wouldn't want to be a judge. After the Mas portion of the program was over, the second round of the calypso competition started. This time, the songs' lyrics were more understandable and, we thought, more melodic. Since we could understand the lyrics better we appreciated their performances more, and they were great. The singers also had "scenes" going on which related to the topic of the song. For instance, one song was about violence and crime and so there was a set of actors doing some scene related to the lyric that was being sung. It was very effective and theatrical. Unfortunately, we had to leave before the last calypsonian performed since it was late. Jesse said we needed to leave by around 1am since the streets started to become dangerous with J'Ouvert starting and groups of people starting to gather. Reluctantly we left, as it was truly an event to stay in our memories. Monday, Carnival Monday, had come and even though we went to sleep at around 2am, I woke up at 7:30. I just worked on writing up my logs and then studied the remainder of the day. Boring, but the HAM tests are Thursday and I probably won't get a chance to do anything tomorrow since we're going to the Parade of Bands early. We did get to see some more of Dimanche Gras on TV since the local network, TTT, had video taped it. For tomorrow, I made arrangements with Nancy on Cabaret to do the net for me. We got up early next morning, even setting an alarm clock, to go see the Parade of Bands. These bands have music (LOUD music) but are mas 'bands', made up of masqueraders that 'chip' (dance) around the streets in their costumes (many very scanty). On the trip to the event, we saw Nicky and Peter from Halliday Girl and asked them about how they liked J'Ouvert. J'Ouvert is a corruption of the French words for new day and its when the people of Trinidad gather in the streets of Port of Spain starting at 4am (used to be 2am) and wander and dance around the streets covered with mud and paint. Its called 'dirty mas', where as the Parade of Bands on Monday and Tuesday is called 'clean mas.' They loved the experience but had done it with a well-organized band, called Desert Rats. There were drinks and food supplied as well as security since there were almost always incidences of fights, and worse, during this time. They enjoyed it and seemed to have recovered from the all-nighter. We got to the Grandstand at the Savannah around 8 and the bands were already going through. Its hard to describe what they are; many of them are just revelers in skimpy outfits wildly gyrating around and others are dressed in the traditional Carnival costumes like the Fancy Sailor, devils, Indians etc. I was surprised that the American Indian costumes were so popular but they were, with about 20 percent of the costumes we saw (that had any theme at all) having something to do with the various tribes found on the North American continent. But most were just little pieces of brightly colored cloth covering strategic body parts, and in some (many) cases, just barely. There were also some very impressive costumes though, and the King and Queen of Carnival came across when the band they belonged to was going through. Unfortunately, the wind was up a bit and the large gossamer wings of the Queen's costume caught a fair bit of air. There were 2 men holding her and her costume back at the beginning of the stage but when they let go, she just accelerated to about mid-stage (150 feet) and almost hit the group in front of her. Luckily some other men grabbed the costume and slowed her down. The King had drastically trimmed his costume since it had been much larger. There were other competitors from the Kings and Queens too and it was a delight to see them again. We saw others that were made just for this event though, some quite elaborate. The music, in general, was the same stuff we had been hearing and at a decibel level that bordered on the painful, but some bands had steel pan for their music and that was very nice. The music was supplied in all cases by a large truck or tractor pulling a trailer with monstrous speakers that went behind the stage, following them as they went along. We stayed until about 4pm and were very glad we saw it. There were some bands that did small performances such as a band of Fancy Sailors that did the traditional sailor's dance and another that consisted of "Plains Indians" that did a 'war dance.' Some were quite small with just 20-30 players but the largest, "Poison", had over 10,000 people! We could now say we had done Carnival! Wednesday was the day before the HAM tests and all I did was study the test questions and practice Morse code. We did though, get notified late in the day, around 4pm, that our mail had arrived and was waiting in Customs. It was in Customs because it was a large box. By the time we got the notice though and went to Customs, at 4:15, it would have cost overtime charges ($15 USD) to get it out so we waited until the next day. I got up early the next morning to do some more code practice (warm up) while Diane went to get our box of mail. It was mostly magazines and tax information but also a new battery for the laptop, since the original one wouldn't power the machine longer than about 20 to 30 minutes anymore. It was really nice to get some new reading material but that would have to wait. Diane went shopping and I went to take the HAM tests. Jim on Lady J was one of the organizers (VEs) and a HAM with an Extra class license. There were about 25 people to take the tests but of course, not all needed to take every test - some already had passed the code previously and some were trying to upgrade their current license. But most of us had no Amateur Radio license and needed to pass the Morse code test of 5 words per minute (doesn't sound like much but try it if you don't know the code yet) as well as the Technician and General class license tests. We needed to take all three to make the license useful; the General license is the minimum needed while cruising because the frequencies used for Winlink email and the various weather nets (other than David Jones) are reserved by international law to HAMs with that class of license. If any reader wants to know more, take a look at the ARRL web site and the Winlink web site, which I've added to my list of links. Since the test was given at CrewsInn, I only had to walk 30 seconds to the room. The first code test was scheduled to start at 9am but when I walked up, they were still setting up the room. The VEs (there had to be at least 3 but they had gotten some others to volunteer to help) had said that there would be at least 2 code tests, since the room wasn't large enough to accommodate everyone at once, and anyone who failed it the first time could retake it with the second group. Once the first group got in, and I made sure I was in the room first, we filled out another form and Bernie, from Transition, and who operated the local Winlink station, started to adjust the sound level. The tape they had gotten was pretty poor and the sound was quite muddled, not at all the crisp sound we were all used to hearing. Almost everyone had used a CD from the ARRL to learn and practice or a computer program, and the sound from those was much cleaner. It made it that much harder to differentiate between dits and dahs. At least the volume was sufficient. Also, the air conditioner in the room was very noisy, compounding the difficulty and the nervousness. We eventually adjusted the sound level and managed to turn off the air conditioner and Bernie started the practice minute. I got all the letters sent just fine, as did most everyone else, so we started the test. I don't think I've been that nervous in many, many years; not that it was a life or death situation but knowing that these sounds were going to come at you regardless of whether you could understand them or not made it really tense. I had studied and practiced for almost 6 weeks and hoped it was all worth it. The test started and I was concentrating so hard I was almost shaking. As a result, when I started to miss copying elements after the call signs were sent, I got really upset. I had missed at least one test question; the name of the person receiving the message. (Answering 7 of 10 fill-in-the-blank questions correctly or having 1 minute of perfect copy, which is 25 characters, passes the code test.) Well, I knew I had missed one question but I managed to compose myself and started copying the letters again. Luckily, I had gotten used to the different sound and managed to copy down the characters as sent. The 6 minutes of the test seemed an eternity but was over soon enough. The examiners then gave you a minute to correct or clean up the message and then handed out the question sheet. I filled in the 9 questions I knew, handed it in and waited outside with everyone else. In about 10 minutes, Jim came out of the room, shook my hand and announced that I had passed. I was ecstatic and someone joked that I was the only one to pass but as the tests continued to be scored, it turned out that almost everyone passed. Most of the people who didn't readily acknowledged that they just weren't ready and had taken it just to get practice and maybe pass through luck. As soon as the tests from the first group were all scored, the second group went in. I went back to the boat for a little while. But I went back to take the Technician and General class tests. These were multiple choice tests and we all had the exact questions and answers beforehand, since they are public domain and the FCC makes them easily available on the ARRL web site. The study books you can buy also have the questions and answers. Of course, the hope is that you will learn the radio and electronic theory behind those questions, like how to figure the length of various types of antennas, but many questions are just memorization since they ask about frequency limits that are just 'arbitrarily' set by the FCC and ITU. I'm sure there are reasons behind these bandwidth restrictions to make sure the limited amount of the radio spectrum is allocated fairly and to those needing it, like the police, fire stations, military, railroads and other users, but the questions just ask what the frequencies are. We each had a different set of questions on our individual test so we could fit everyone in the room who needed to take them. (People needed to be spread out more for the code test.) The test itself was 35 questions from the pool of 350 for that class of license. I had studied these as well and had taken many, many practice tests using a computer program I had gotten that used the FCC question pool. I also had the study books. We all filled out the answer sheet and started. Bruce, from Imajica, said afterward that many of the questions seemed like 'old friends' since we had studied them so much and seen them so often. He was right - and I passed the Technician test pretty easily. Right after the test was scored, the VE would come out and tell you if you passed, (not everyone did) and ask if you were then ready to take the General class test. For me, that test was even easier since I had studied it more. After I finished it and was waiting for the score, Diane came back and I helped her get the groceries in the boat and went back out to wait for the results. I got back to the test room and after about 20 minutes, since the examiners had gotten a little backlogged, Jim came out and gave me my certificate showing that I had passed the Morse code, Technician and General class qualifications. Thank you Jim!! He explained that it would take 2 weeks or so to actually get a call sign and license but I could find out what it was on the ARRL or FCC web site. I stayed around the area a while talking to others that had also just passed and then went back to Destiny feeling pretty good. The rest of the day I installed the new battery on the laptop since it required upgrading the BIOS first and then just relaxed and enjoyed the day. |