One Helluva Ride

June 29, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Public Service 

(Apologies to the AABTS for stealing most of this from their website www.aabts.org).

The Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society (AABTS) presents the 34th Annual One Helluva Ride (OHR) on Saturday, July 10, 2010. Join us for a day of scenic bicycle touring over tree-lined, paved roads in Washtenaw, Ingham, Jackson and Livingston counties. The routes wind through rural and recreation areas on beautiful rolling terrain, and vary enough to appeal to a broad range of bicyclists.

OHR riders can choose from six great loop routes this year. Four will start and end at Chelsea Fairgrounds in Chelsea, Michigan. The two Fun Rides will start and end at Portage Lake State Park. All the routes share the same central lunch stop at Portage Lake State Park, so that family members and friends who decide to take different routes can meet.

SAG vehicles will be making continuous circuits of all routes throughout ride hours. THIS IS WHERE ARROW COMES IN. Their help is available to all riders with problems. Priority will be given to those riders with serious medical problems, followed by those with irreparable mechanical difficulties, and lastly to those who simply “tire” or need to fix a flat one!
Mechanics will be available at the Fairgrounds and at some of the rest stops to aid in making bicycle repairs.

About 16 – 20 hams with mobile rigs/antennae (HTs rarely work) are needed throughout the day. Stay a few hours or stay all day.

Contact James W8ISS (w8iss@amsat.org) or George K9TRV (ghbyrkit@chartermi.net) to sign up. (George can give all the gory details if you want).

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2010 Fourth of July Run and Parade information

June 20, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Public Service 

Greets everyone.

Here’s what I have for the 2010 Ann Arbor Fourth of July parade:

Date: July 4th, 2010

Time: 9am

Location: Downtown Ann Arbor

Meeting place: South State St. and East Williams St.

Talk-in: W8UM repeater then going simplex for event

There is also the Firecracker 5k run that starts at 8am in the UofM Diag area. There is no actual need for COMMUNICATIONS but they have asked for support as Course Marshalls this year if anyone is interested in coming out before the parade. Please sign up on the Volunteer page for the Firecracker 5k if you can provide support:

http://www.a2firecracker5k.com/

and follow the link on the side for VOLUNTEERS

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I know its a little late……..

June 20, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Contesting 

Well, a little late is better than never…:)

Just to post here about last weekends 2010 June VHF QSO Party operation out at Signal Hill.

Final count for this weekend:
6m – 97
2m – 26
1 1/4cm – 9
70cm – 10
23cm – 1

6m was wide open a good majority of the time this contest.

You can view a few pictures at:

http://www.nuge.com/~wb8tkl/vhfuhf-June2010/

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Field Day!!

June 15, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Contesting, Events 

Field Day this year takes place on Saturday, June 26 and Sunday, June 27. As all of us old-timers know, Field Day is the quintessential ham radio event. It’s a combination of the following:

  • emergency-preparedness exercise. We operate out of tents, using power NOT supplied by the power grid.
  • contest. The goal of the contest is to make as many contacts as you can over a 24-hour period.
  • club get-together.
  • PR event. We invite the public, served agencies, and elected officials to come out and see what ham radio is all about.

This year, as we have for the last six or seven years, ARROW will be setting up at Domino’s Farms, near the Petting Zoo, the so-called “Signal Hill.” Basically, the chain of events is:

  • Friday evening: setup begins
  • Saturday morning ~ 9am: final setup
  • Saturday, 2pm: operating starts
  • Saturday, 6pm-ish: dinner
  • Saturday night: more operating
  • Sunday morning: more operating. We also usually have some kind of breakfast.
  • Sunday 2pm: operating ends, teardown begins

I would strongly encourage you all to come out to Field Day. It is really a blast and a great introduction to ham radio, if you’re a newcomer or even have just a passing interest. One of the five stations that we will have on the air is the “Get on the Air” station, and its purpose is to get newcomers and the general public on the air.

If you feel more comfortable making contacts, we’d love to have you sit down and make some contacts at one of the other stations. We will have two CW stations, two phone stations, and a VHF/UHF station in addition to the Get on the Air station. I’ll be captain of one of the CW stations, and if you’ve mastered the art of Morse Code, I want you as one of my operators!

For more information about Field Day in general, go to http://www.arrl.org/field-day. If you have any questions about ARROW’s Field Day operation, contact, Michelle, KD8GWX, at michelle.roderick@wc-redcross.org or 734-260-7893.

73!

Dan KB6NU

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