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VK5BJE > WICEN 22.08.04 00:52l 323 Lines 13913 Bytes #999 (0) @ VKNET
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Subj: September 2004 Newsletter
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Sent: 040821/0033Z @:VK5SPG.#ADL.#SA.AUS.OC #:7784 [Adelaide] $:070009VK5BJE
From: VK5BJE@VK5SPG.#ADL.#SA.AUS.OC
To : WICEN@VKNET
WICEN SA INC
NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2004
In this Newsletter read about:
Classic Adelaide Rally for 2004
Your WICEN SA Inc governing committee for 2004/05
And thank you to those who assisted with the Coopers Rally
and, finally, feedback from individual amateurs who assisted with the
rally.
Classic Adelaide Rally 2004
Your committee has reluctantly agreed not to participate in the Classic
Adelaide Rally for 2004. WICEN SA Inc was invited to tender to supply
tracking and safety communications this year. I have included a summary of
the reasons why the committee decided not to 'tender'.
The idea of 'tendering' is contrary to our licence conditions. WICEN can
gift its members' time and equipment and accept donations but is not able
to trade commercially.
The organisers decided to abandon the use of 'flimsies', the piece of
paper with scores/times written down which provides the material for the
radio operator to use either by sending a packet or waiting to be polled.
The abandonment of flimsies represented a saving in dollars to the
organizers, but with vehicles increasingly being dispatched at 30 second
intervals made radio operators' work almost impossible, especially when
there is a shortage of race officials and efforts are made to draft WICEN
officials into the general pool to assist with timing and other race
duties.
There is a view amongst WICEN members and, other radio operators who
support WICEN, that one rally per year is enough and that the committee
should be considering other training exercises. From WICEN's point of view
this is clearly evident with the increasing difficulty of filling radio
operators' positions on the Thursday and Friday of the Classic. Other
feedback has signalled the individual costs of gifting both time and
resources (fuel, car wear and tear and so on) over four days is too much,
especially as many operators are retired and on fixed incomes.
Some operators have indicated that they are 'tired'. This Rally has been
supported by WICEN for at least six years.
While providing tracking and safety communications has provided our
members and supporting amateur radio operators with experience and skills
in real-time message handling, there are other radio operating skills that
have been neglected over the last few years as so many of our resources
have been directed towards servicing the rally. WICEN is keen to begin to
address some of these other skills.
The WICEN committee is keen to hear of your ideas about training and other
exercises that might replace the Classic Adelaide Rally as a way of
developing our skills, especially in real-time message handling under
difficult conditions. You might like to speak with a committee member or
send me an email at bravo521004@yahoo.com.
WICEN SA committee for 2004/2005
At the Annual General Meeting of WICEN SA Inc held on 13th may at St
John's Hall Unley, the following members of WICEN SA Inc were elected as
office holders for the year commencing May 2004/2005.
President - Ian Clayton VK5AIC
Vice President - John Jenner VK5KJJ
Secretary - John Dawes VK5BJE
Treasurer - John Butler VK5NX
Membership officer and rostering - David Clegg VK5AMK
Member - Trevor Quick VK5ATQ
Member - Jim McLachlan VK5NB
Coopers Rally
The WICEN Committee would like to thank all of those radio amateurs who
assisted with the Coopers Rally this year. Your work is appreciated by
WICEN, the Rally organisers and, of course, individual competitors. While
there were a few minor problems this year, overall, our contribution added
significant value to the rally and helped ensure it was successful as well
as safe. Your committee is in the process of distributing cash donations
to Clubs and repeater owners as is our usual practice.
Coopers Rally feedback
Here are some comments (unedited) from WICEN members on their experiences
during the Coopers Rally. WICEN is pleased to have received this feedback
and will reflect upon it in preparing for further events. I have written
to the Rally organisers suggesting a portable toilet/s at the start of the
FORTIES for officials - thanks Chris. And, for those who did not have
their CAMS licence signed it is not too late to do so. Present you licence
to a member of the WICEN committee - either Ian and David can sign your
licence.
David Clegg's (VK5AMK) invitation to helpers for feedback
> Hi Folks,
>
> Thanks to everyone who braved the wet and cold to make the Rally a
success.
> Sky net proved somewhat unreliable so WICEN, the Amateur operators,
family
> and friends provided the primary source of scoring and safety for the
Rally.
>
> Please send me comments so we can improve on it next time. I am sure
> Rally Sa will hold a debrief session soon as the dust (mud) settles.
>
> Keep the Classic in mind for November.
>
> Cheers until next time.
>
>
> David
> ---
Comments from Warren Frost (VK5HWF)
Hi David, Well I had a ball.Saterday was fine and sunny, Sunday (there is
a
controdiction) was as I'm sure you are awear was foggy and wet.I went to
the Mt Pleasent service area (with my boys) after the Mt Gawler stage but
we got there too late to watch aney services being carried out. Then we
went to the Forties spectator area for the last two stages there. We
did'nt stay for the presiontations It was set out well and the crowed was
quite big for the weather. I look forward to next years event and the
Classic rally. Thanks for your work with the organisation of event and the
personnel. Cheers Warren. fro3781@bigpond.net.au
Hi Dave,
Thanks to yourself and the team for all the organisational effort.
Comments from Mark Spooner (VK5AVQ)
Comments:
Dave Fisk had stage maps (route not just meeting places) he said they were
on the web. I thought they may have been confidential so did not look for.
Map would have been handy.
Generally went well. Repeaters a good pick from my spot. Yet again, did
not get my Cams diary signed as stage o/c to busy/gone...is that still
possible to arrange ??
A tongue in cheek comment about polling (which I am dubious about). Op
always calls as -
- comp car goes past.
- comp car pulls in to SOS to report incident (wicen nearest official to
road for skynet)
- drunken spectator (teenage?) with blood nose tells me official punched
him out (yeh sure)
- official asks question
BTW I did not email you to complain about the early Sunday, but certainly
thought about it, in the end I decided to leave you in piece and suffer an
early .. you must have a 6th sense !! As it turned there were enough at
control on Sun so I got on with the microwave beacon project.
Now to get RAD70 back to spec for the Classis, Oct/Nov not so far away !
Cheers Mark
Comments for Peter Norris (VK3JUG)
Had a good weekend as usual. On Saturday i found i was missing an N type
barrel connector, so had to use the mobile whip for paket and a handheld
for voice, but found i still had excellent signals on both frequencies. Be
back next year. Thanks for all your hard work David. Cheers PeterN VK3JUG
Comments from Chris Platt (VK5JJJ)
Some portable toilets near Forties Start would be nice!
73 de Chris VK5JJJ
Comments from Grant Willis (VK5ZWI)
Hello Everyone,
Firstly I would like to thank all the AREG members and friends of AREG
members who volunteered to help running the "Forties" stage at this year's
Coopers Rally of South Australia. Everyone who participated in the WICEN
side of the event conducted themselves in a most professional manner,
which contributed to the very smooth running of the stage. It should also
be noted that the WICEN team headed by AREG at the Forties stage received
special praise from the stage commander, Trevor Fisher, at the Sunday
morning sign-in as well as throughout the event from him and his deputy
Mike. AREG members and friends who participated can be rightfully pleased
with themselves for having presented such a professional face to the event
organisers and operators both this year and last year.
An example of how well the Forties communications team functioned was
given on the Saturday when not only were we faced with problems at VK5RMB
repeater which forced use of the secondary VK5RAH repeater, but also the
Forties stage found itself to be the scene of a major accident with car
11, leading to injuries and medical/safety staff having to enter the
stage. Again the professionalism showed though. Well done all, with a
special mention to Sharon who ended up as a temporary time official when
the stage was changed to "transport only".
Particular special mention should be made of Matt Cook's parents who
allowed him to use the caravan at this years event. Everyone who worked on
Forties Finish this year agrees that this was one of the most luxurious
ways of participating in ROSA that we have come up with since AREG began
supporting the event 4 years ago. And those who were with Chris 5JJJ also
had it pretty good with DVD movies playing in the breaks! Some of us had
it tough thats for sure :-) Accommodation assistance provided by Andrew
Marshall and flooring provided by Graham VK5GH also proved invaluable in
dealing with weather that left some control points only fit for ducks :-)
(especially Forties Finish).
It was good this year that the temperatures were not as low as last year.
I think the lowest we saw was 7C, last year we saw between -2 and 4C much
of the time on the Sunday. It was also good to see that the rain held off
for much of the time, with only the odd shower coming through on Sunday.
So what did we have set up? Well packet radio was used at the start and
finish on Saturday and the Finish on Sunday. Voice was used on HF and VHF,
with various UHF mini-links in used as well. The WICEN/AREG team also set
up and operated the Skynet 500MHz scoring system. This system was provided
for 5 rally stages which ran over the Forties track (3 on Saturday and 2
on Sunday).
Hopefully everyone had the one ultimate key element for the weekend - FUN.
By the reports I have had so far, it sounds like everyone did. Next year,
I think it has been agreed that the AREG group should decline such a
gruelling stage as Forties and take on one of the simpler ones for a rest
(assuming AREG wishes to continue supporting the event). Forties, being
one of the major spectator stages does run to full 9-10hr days, especially
with the (for many) 4.30am starts, so an easier to manage stage for such a
small group as AREG should be considered in discussion with WICEN next
year. Judging by the amount of fun that those who participated did have, I
expect the group to give it some serious thought next year to continuing
supporting this major community event.
Comments from Tony Hunt (VK5AH)
Hi David..
Ive had little feedback so far regards packet but one thing that was
glareingly obvious that could certainly be improved upon by us would be
the fact that some operators were still running MEX configs from the
previous classic events .. They just had not updated to the latest
versions.. As to the consequences of this Ive no real ideas thus far but I
get the impression that it caused a bit of complication at times..
On the flip side of that there is a lesson to be learned for us on the
organising side of it.. That is to stop messing with the configs and try
to use something more generic.. This will in turn create less work for
ourselves and the operators in the field are more likely to have less
frustration.. Maybee we should look at handing out a disk like we used to
.. Perhaps with the Credentials handout ..
On the positive the traffic levels were much better than previous years on
packet and the network although busy seemed to handle it better than
previously.. I would be interested to hear from individual operators with
any experiences or problems they encountered..
Cheers and well done all.. Tony Hunt VK5AH
Comments from Steve Mahony, Wally Fee and Colwyn Low
HI DavidJust a few comments on Steve,Mahony, Wally Fee and my operation at
Retreat Vally Finish.
Regards Colwyn
---
ROSA 2004
Report to WICEN on operations at Retreat Valley Stop Point.
Personnel
Steve Mahoney VK5AIM
Wally Fee VK5 ???
Colwyn Low VK5UE
Responsibilities
Steve Voice communications
Wally Skynet
Colwyn Packet
Location
Gumeracha end Retreat Valley Road by the pipeline.
This location is surrounded by hills in the north, west and south.
Operation into the required repeaters had been checked.
Saturday
The operations on Saturday were carried out in a steady drizzle.
Packet was OK but at the low end of good. Voice worked OK and Skynet had
some initial problems with acquisition and these were looked at by Tony
from the Skynet support team.
On Saturday all required operations were completed.
Sunday
Sunday was foggy and all the surrounding hills were blanketed.
Voice was useless at Saturday's position by the pipeline and had to be
move to the top of a rise under the power lines !!!!!.
Voice contact from the pipeline sight was occasionally possible on a short
whip.
Packet only came through occasionally and was not useable. The stage was
cancelled before any relocation could be tried.
Skynet was not operational as the aircraft was grounded.
Notes for future operations
Operate from the top of the rise and put up with the walking necessary to
collect the flimsys.
We did have some problems with intermittent co-axial cables and the
booting of the Toshiba T1910. It did not like the new version of Mex.
One 36 AHr battery powered the packet station for the required period
about 3 hours total.
Working from the pipeline must have depended on defraction/refraction over
the hilltops and the rain marginalised this, the fog killed it. The extra
moisture in the fog path could also account for the drop out.
Regards Colwyn Low VK5UE
Please take a look at our web pages at http://www.sa.wicen.org.au/
John Dawes
Hon Sec and Public Officer
WICEN SA Inc
20th August 2004
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