[ILHam] Operators Wanted -- K9T Special Event Station, September 1-3, Taste of Melrose Park

[Neil R. Ormos N9NL]

Dear Cook County ARES® Members and Friends:

The Taste of Melrose Park is an exciting food and entertainment festival that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors.  This year is the 36th annual fest, and the organizers say they have more food booths than the Taste of Chicago.  The festival is held over the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the Labor Day weekend.

Hams will be running special event station K9T at the Taste of Melrose Park to draw on-air attention to the festival and introduce the public to amateur radio.  Visitors will also have the opportunity to learn about volunteer programs in Melrose Park's departments of Homeland Security and Public Safety, including Melrose Park's ARES program.  We expect to have a great station location, in the midst of foot traffic, for maximum visibility.

Most of our activity will be on the HF bands using SSB, but we may work some CW and digital if we have operators interested in those modes.  We also expect to have a VHF station.  We plan to operate during the hours of the festival: 1700-2300 Friday; 1200-2300 Saturday; and 1200-2200 Sunday.

We're looking for operators.  Special event stations can be exciting and fun to operate.  Small pileups of stations seeking to work the special event station can develop.  Also, operators have opportunities to visit with the public and evangelize ham radio.  Inexperienced operators are welcome; we'll provide Elmering (mentoring) to show you the ropes.

If you're interested, please drop me a note, indicating the times you are available to operate.  If you'd like to operate CW or digital modes, let me know that, too.

Please look for K9T on the bands!

73

--Neil Ormos N9NL
ARES® District Emergency Coordinator
Amateur Radio Emergency Service
ARES District 4 (Cook, DuPage, Lake Counties)
Email: n9nl /at-sign/ arrl.net