[DCART] The 20th

[Dick Young]

Douglas County ARES will hold our monthly meeting Monday, the 20th, at Firestation #2 in Gardnerville.  1830LT.

Suppose you were called out tomorrow morning, told to set up shop in your front yard, communicate on 147.27 and keep count of traffic passing your location.  Do so for 30 minutes.  

Good show, you say.  Grab the trusty HT, 147.27 is already set in memory, the battery is fully charged and you're set to go.  Set it on low power, grab a glass of Tea and out the door you go.  The Rubber Ducky will do just fine.  Whataguy, I'm serving the public interest.

Oops, the phone rings again.  Change of plans.  You're now directed to Woodfords for a prolonged stay of unknown duration and will be the primary contact between Douglas County and Alpine County.  147.27 is primary, with 146.655 as backup.  Get there quick!  Goodbye!

Lessee, Woodfords is in the trees and there are multiple hills all around, aren't there?  Is "prolonged stay" longer than my HT's battery life?  Geez, will my HT even work there?  Use the mobile in the car and maybe, just maybe, I'm out there long enough to wear down that old battery.  Besides, then I'm harnessed to the car and can't move around.  I've heard stories about guys out there with HT's.  They could hear OK but transmission didn't get through.  146.655?  Wonder if that has a PL?

What was that phone number?  Think I'll call back and say I've had a relapse.

Sound plausible?

The Douglas County ARES session for the 20th will be a compendium of equipments (several of them) used to address communications under various circumstances and needs.  One size does NOT fit all!

Please bring along your "radio go kit" for somebody else to benefit from.  Others will bring theirs for you to benefit from.  

Otto has a pouch that has a neck strap and allows him to move around with ease.  You can take a look at it.  Robert has an 8800, mounted so he can put it in his car, on a table, or on the ground.  Dale has his set so he can bring each piece along, collect them as needed and end up operating right quick.  You can take a look at these.  I've got a setup in a tackle box that seems to work OK, and will be glad to share the pros and cons.  Bring yours and let the rest of us learn from you.

We'll start the session promptly with a demo of the mobile repeater.  It'll be set up and operational.  We'll all get hands on experience with this unit.  Then we'll move inside to look over everybody's radio go kit, ask questions and get ideas.

Bring the radio outfit you'd take to Woodfords!  Questions?  Maybe NCS will allow time for a bit of discussion on this Mondays net - the 13th at 1830.

"Douglas County ARES - serving the public interest"