| Vermont City Marathon | Essex Memorial Parade | Museum Ship Weekend |
| Field Day 2015 | New Hams |
The Vermont City Marathon is Sunday, May 24th. We still have a critical need for operators. Several operators from last year cannot make it this year due to travel or medical reasons. With all of the issues surrounding event security, we still play a critical role in communications. At net control, we have to be able to monitor and communicate on several public service frequencies, in addition to the 2 ham radio frequencies. The frequencies may seem quiet, but there is a lot more going on which you don't hear.
The Marathon is the largest event ham radio supported event in Vermont,
consisting of 8000 runners, 30,000 spectators, 1000 volunteers and 30 licensed
ham operators. The training you will receive is invaluable - sort of like ham
radio class graduate school. If you are interested, contact Mitch at
w1sj@arrl.net no later than Tuesday, May 12th. We need to have a final list
of volunteers in place by that date.
The Essex Memorial Parade is Saturday, May 23rd from 7:30 until noon. Hams
are needed to serve as Parade Marshals who line up the participants, report
any changes and march with them to make sure they all behave. This is a
fairly easy, low-key event. And it is fun to march down Pearl Street with
everyone cheering at you (how often do hams get cheered?). If interested in
helping out, please contact Mitch at w1sj@arrl.net.
This year RANV will once again sponsor the Museum Ships Weekend at the
Shelburne Museum. The event will take place aboard the Ticonderoga on June
6th and 7th. This will be the 4th year we have participated in the event. It
is a low key operation, call CQ and see who answers! This is also a good warm
up for Field Day at the end of the month. We need some operators to man the
stations on Saturday and Sunday, as well as a couple of people to help with
the antennas on Friday afternoon. Please let me know if you can help out.
There will be a control operator so a Tech will be able to operate.
It is some 48 days until Field Day 2015 and it is not all that early to start planning. The dates are Friday, June 26th through Sunday, June 28th. Postpone the family vacation, say no to all the wedding invites and tell the boss that you're outta town.
We find ourselves in the position of defending our championship once again and we will not rest on our laurels. A major focus will be to fix the IT and staffing problems which plagued the CW station last year, while at the same time, to make sure we continue to do well on phone and GOTA.
We need a large support staff to make the operation run like a well-oiled machine. Besides the operators, it takes many setup and takedown people, as well as support people to keep the generators, computers and foodstuffs running. Field Day is the activity which brings us all together to learn the myriad details of running a large operation as well as having fun in a group setting.
Very soon, we will be soliciting your input on when you will be available. Field Day activities fall into these categories:
Monday June 22: Planning meeting Friday June 26: Setup Sat/Sun June 27-28: Operating and Support Sunday June 28: Takedown
Choose which activities you will like to do. Choose all of ‘em if you can!
We especially need operators for the GOTA (beginner) station as well as
youngsters for the youth bonus. Bring a kid to Field Day - they'll love it!
We had a couple of ham classes last week and 9 new hams were hatched.
Say hello to:
| KC1DTH | Chris Lafrance | Milton | KC1DTI | Mike Lukas | Warwick RI | KC1DTJ | Mike Pitonyak | Berlin | KC1DTK | Sarah Toscano | Hinesburg | KC1DTL | Michael Saunders | Westford | KC1DUW | Josh Cox | Burlington | KC1DUX | Jason Gosselin | Williston | KC1DUY | Kate Hammond | Burlington | KC1DUZ | Brett Pierce | Waterbury |
The last 4 on the list work at Vermont Emergency Management, along with hams
Bob Weinert KB1LRR and Rob Schell W1RVT.