All,
Note to people that subscribe to get notifications of forum posts – You get only a text recap. Please click the link and load the forums page. There are lots of pictures in this post.
To me, yesterday was the best Tour de Paris since I have been a member of the Club. Highly organized, well scripted as to our roles, no accidents, incidents or misadventures of any type. Said another way – no drama. There was plenty of ice, below normal temperatures and a nice breeze. The only question we all had was why there were substantially fewer rally participants this year? According to organizers, not fewer paid registrants, but definitely fewer riders.
George Haneke (NV7Z) and I were staged in Roxton (RS4). When we got there George, well known locally, went and interfaced with the people setting the stop up. As bikers started pulling into the stop George kept track of activities, making notes reference jersey numbers and making radio calls to EOC. That freed me up to try and get some action shot pictures for the Club website.
I really desperately need some action shots so that we can advertise what we do and not have to buy “stock” pictures. I didn’t really get the action shot that I want, the two biggest chances came while I was helping out with something, but still I got a couple that are decent:
I also got one staged pic. Going forward any time that we can get a picture of one of our operators in the field, depicting something even if not doing something; I need a library of choices to use on our website. In this example, new Club member Don Heetderks (KJ5EQS) doing Support and Gear (SAG) duty was patiently waiting for the call to transport someone and I said “While there is a lull in the action come over here and pose at your truck.” I took some pics of him and then a lady with a water bottle holder problem actually needed some minor help. Don grabbed some zip-ties and resecured it to her bike. She was thrilled, he was validated that he had helped someone and everyone was happy. Here are some pics of that:
As I said above, George, Don and I were staged at Roxton (RS4). As things were wrapping up, Don was left to man the RS and George and I were dispatched to run some of the routes and look for stragglers and attempt to start identifying who the last riders were on each course.
Who can tell us the names of the driver and gal pictured in the Batmobile? She is a volunteer firefighter, someone told me that she was caught up in a tornado last year, and she told me that she is a ham, but I am just terrible with names. Help a brother out and tell us both of their names and I will update this post with them. Thanks!
Prior to the event I bought a Bulletpoint Mounting Solutions bracket and iPhone holder and accessory iPad Mini compatible holder. Deciding to buy them kind of late in the game, I barely had time to get them installed, doing that Friday late afternoon/early evening. All I can say is WOW! Rock solid. I mean rock solid.
The Mini had APRS/fi running on it all day. I programmed in the TDP operators that were running APRS to fantastic effect, able to have a visual of where everyone was on the course all day. Talk about enhanced situational awareness (SA). Please make a note of that. For the many Club members that do not use that or have not used that phrase, it is used universally in military, law enforcement, aviation, etc. “SA” is of paramount importance.
Speaking of SA, Net Control did their 0800 brief as the event launched and they made mention of voluntary, but encouraged APRS usage. Well, many did and as the day wore on I heard people check in with their location and Net Control reply many, many times, “Roger, we have your position marked by APRS.” I have to tell you, I was just thrilled to see APRS starting to be used in this setting, as I have thought it should be for years. At Field Day, not so much. During TDP or a weather event; giving the people at the EOC as part of the “big picture” the ability to use a tactical display to depict where operators in the field are; I believe that was and going forward is, a huge advantage. Maybe even a game changer. Thank you to all that invested in the gear, the app, whatever, and who used it. I was watching for mostly entertainment reasons, but my SA was certainly enhanced. Cliff Leath (KI5OPP) did nearly the exact same thing as I did. More on that below. But I know it was being used to very good effect at the EOC and by others of us that wanted that tool to help us with SA.
Added: Radios used were Baofeng portable, ICOM ID-51A, Yaesu FTM-400 and Kenwood TH-D72A. Cross band repeater was not needed, but at times the Baofeng would not get into the repeater with a stock antenna. When that occurred Don used the Kenwood that was connected to a mag mount antenna on his roof. All radios and antenna combinations performed well, save for the comment about the Baofeng. Battery life on the portables was more than ample for the exercise.
Added: Super important to have are field glasses. Binoculars, monocular, whatever; some of the jersey tag numbers are very, very, hard to read. You will save yourself some trouble if you have those.
I will wrap it by saying that I had a great time and I am convinced everyone else had a great time too. And the “lessons learned” from this event will serve us all well going forward.
73
Phillip Beall (W5EBC)
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