[CTSARA] Three service events coming up - We need people

[samd65 .]

Hi everyone,

We have three major public service events coming up in the spring.  We are
going to need people - lots of people.

Prior experience is NOT necessary.  We'll give you whatever training you
need and where possible pair you up with a more experienced operator.  What
is needed is a 25 or 50 watt mobile unit, a mag mount antenna that you can
mount on an event vehicle, and a cigarette lighter adapter (or big battery
figure 8 or 12 Ah)*.  If you don't have those, we usually have spares that
we can lend.

May 22 (Sunday) - the Bloomin Metric.  A 2500 person 65 mile bike ride.
The clubs in lower Fairfield County have always turned out big-time to
support this ride (for over 20 years).  The ride includes the bicycle
portion of the Stamford Hospital Hope-In-Motion fund-raiser, so supporting
this is directly supporting a Stamford charity.  Because of terrain, it's a
challenge to get coverage of the entire route.  In past years we've used a
temporary cross-band repeater and DMR in order to get the coverage we need.
This event is so popular, the clubs have been mentioned TWICE in QST for
our
participation. Please consider helping out at this event. Starts and ends
at
Sherwood Island, Westport.


June 12 (Sunday) - the MS Ride.  A 102 mile ride that goes up above I-84 to
Brookfield, Roxbury, and Southbury.  It's a real technical challenge to
provide comms along the route - coverage last year involved two nets, APRS
tracking, and a
temporary repeater.  This year we're looking at adding DMR into the mix.
Starts
and ends in Cranbury Park in Norwalk.

Both events provide really good food for the volunteers!!

Both events will require you for much of the day - the Bloomin is typically
from about 7am to about 1pm and the MS Ride is typically from about 7am to
about 3pm.  If you can't do all day, but can do a 3 or 4 hour block, we can
use you!!

Please folks - we've always impressed the local charities with our ability
to provide fantastic coverage for their events.  Our efforts have made it
to the local news media and into both Norwalk and Stamford City Halls.

But wait! I said there were three events, and indeed there are.

May 21 (Saturday) - Norwalk Tree Festival. This is a very different event
from
the first two, so it gets a separate section. The annual Tree Festival is
an event
where no money is exchanged, and is sponsored 100% by the city of Norwalk.
By having us provide traffic control we save the city a great deal of money
not
having to hire the police to do traffic control. This year will be the 10th
time the
event will be held, and since event continues to become more popular each
year
more people show up. Last years attendance broke 2000, and they predict
there
will be even more this year. The whole event is at Cranbury Park, so
there's no
need to drive in 100 mile circles, and an HT is all you need. Lunch will be
provided.
If you aren't able to help out for the full 10-2 we can still use you.

Please contact Jon for the Bloomin (jon.perelstein at gmail.com) and contact
me (samd65 at gmail.com) for the MS Ride and Tree Festival.

Thanks and 73
Sam - NV1P