Bike Ride and POTA
- 31 October 2022
- John Playford
October 15 and 16 2022 - A Ham Radio Filled Weekend!
What a weekend! Need I say more? The WGARS ended up with two events on the same day this past weekend. The first was the Toys for Tots Semper Fi Century Ride. The club signed up to perform communications at the event which turned into much more. We ended up being comms and logistics, and in some cases, volunteer transportation. Hats off to all who participated. Net control was located at Printers Ale, and 4 rest stations were manned by other operators.
We were very blessed in that we had enough volunteers that no one had to work along. We went over and above, and I truly believe if it had not been for the hard work of the amateur radio volunteers there would not have been a ride. We transported food to the rest stops, set up the rest stops, in many cases served the food at the rest stops, broke down and delivered the leftover items back to their proper place. Much more than was bargained for, but everyone should be proud of the job well done. We also had an opportunity to try out some portable APRS digipeaters/i-gates to see how well they worked in the field. I am proud to say that they too were a success.
Volunteers included - KO4BVB, KF4DVW, KO4DKS, KJ4SAD, WD8LQT, WX4BK, N4BWR, K4SYL, KM4UPX, KK4Z, N4KGO, KM4BYH, and KJ4AWY (my apologies if I missed anyone).
Weekend Part 2 - Parks on the Air campout. While some of us were chasing bicyclists, some others were setting up in the Talladega National Forest to work the Parks on the Air weekend. KK4OHF and W7KAP started operations on Saturday. Post bike race, KK4Z, N4KGO, WX4BK, WD8LQT, and KF4DVW went to join them. This was a well needed reprieve for those that worked the race. There was more food involved at this event, but rather than feeding bicyclists we got to feed ourselves. The bands were in great shape with lots of parks on the air as well as lots of chasers. The campfire was a great place where we did a hotwash of the day’s events and then proceeded to work on loftier political issues. Later that night it was back to operating. Just about all the bases were covered as far as operating modes. Modes that I know of included FT-8, CW, SSB, FM and I think there was even an attempt at SSTV. If you would like to see a short video by Scott, KK4Z of the operation, check out the link:
We broke camp Sunday afternoon after sharing breakfast, making some more contacts, and then lunch. Food seems to be a central theme here.
I hope WGARS can continue to support many events like this past weekend. We lifted up our local community as well as lifted up ourselves.Additional Bike Race and POTA Photos John, WD8LQT
