[SMCARA] Fw: Ham Radio/Earth Day at the Westmoreland State Park

Fri Feb 13 10:29:17 EST 2015

Hey Guys and Gals,

This sounds like a fun and worthwhile endeavor for the club to support!

Let's do some "brainstorming" (the storm part is easy, finding the brains might take some time!!) and come up with some ideas for  club participation.  This is not to discourage or preclude individual participation, but I think a club effort would be fun.

We have enough folks in the club that do solar power and non-traditional modes, so we have the talent to make it happen.  The explosion of interest in SDR and SDR Dongle is ripe for exploitation.  While alternative energy might not cover all the power needs, the use of one of those "super quiet" Honda gennys would do the trick and not be as obnoxious as a 5500 watt gen hammering away!

A ham radio "sleepover" is just what we need to stir up interest and practice for Field Day!  Set up antennas, a tent/sun canopy, demo your latest fun part of ham radio, hang with friends, oh! don't forget about the food/picnic possibilities! This could be a blast and think of the good PR for ham radio and the clubs in particular.

Did I mention Field Day?  Time to start thinking about our SMCARA effort this year.

Is Ren our honcho this year?  I am sure he would appreciate your volunteering to help!  Mark your calendars- 27-28 June 2015.

Tom/W4OKW

-----Original Message-----
From: SMCARA [mailto:smcara-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Grant Farrand via SMCARA
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2015 6:57 PM
To: SMCARA Reflector
Subject: [SMCARA] Fw: Ham Radio/Earth Day at the Westmoreland State Park

 Subject: Ham Radio/Earth Day at the Westmoreland State Park

Hi All,We have a great opportunity to have fun, operate our radios, camp out and show off our unique ways of using other peoples junk to make things and operate our radios, TV's, computers and etc off the grid. This offer is to all local hams and will hopefully draw people from the Northern Neck, Southern Maryland and Fredricksburg areas.
What:
   Its the Earth Day Event at the Westmoreland State Park on the weekend of April 18th and 19th.Earth Day/ Earth Week is celebrated by all the Virginia State Parks and is to highlight alternative energy , recycling/repurpising, and arbor day.

The offer to Hams:
  To come to the Park and have the complete area C campground for setting up our tents or campers (up to 20 ft) and our radio stations and displays. Their will be no charge for camping or entering the park for Ham Operators.  Campground C does not have electric at the campsites so you have to operate off grid. Water is available at various locations around the campground a full bathhouse with electricity  is located in the campground. You do not have to camp overnight, if you can only make it for the main event on Saturday 18th that will be fine. For those that want to camp, we may be able to setup on Friday night the 17th and camp out that evening and the night of the 18th. 

The Catch:
In order to take advantage of the deal, you must set up something operating off grid, and be willing to show it and talk about it to other campers or visitors to the park as they come thru the campground. Repurpising and recycling is also to be promoted, and we all know that Hams are great at making things out of junk.Some suggestions would be Solar power, Wind Power, Battery, Fuel Cell, powering our radios of course along with other things that most people will connect with, such as a computer, TV, AM/FM radio, lights and ect. I can even envision a pedal powered generator if someone wants to make one. I see a great opportunity here for those of you who are playing with QRP radios, Altoids Can radios, Arduino computers,LED Lights ect.
 Each campsite has plenty of trees for hanging antennas.
  This is a great opportunity for us to have fun, promote Ham Radio, and bring all the local clubs together for a camp-out/picnic at the park. their will be a pot luck cookout an Saturday evening.
What to do now:
  Let all your club members know about this and respond to me with an email  if you are planning on coming, if you are camping for the night or just for the day, what you are going to bring to show off and talk about. Campground C has 30 campsites so lets put them to good use, we will be the only campers in campground C this weekend!

 Here is a link to the Park website:
 Westmoreland State Park
|   |
|   |  |   |   |   |   |   |
| Westmoreland State ParkThe park borders 1.5 miles of the Potomac 
| River. In addition to scenic beauty, the park offers hiking, camping, 
| cabins, fishing, boating and swimming. |  | View on 
| www.dcr.virginia.gov | Preview by Yahoo |  |
|   |

  Grant73 

and.... In God We Trust !!!

Grant Farrand

gmfarrand at yahoo.com

Amateur  Call sign W4GMF

Virginia Fone Net #29

W4GMF Westmoreland Co.Repeater Sponsor  146.895mhz  (-)  pl tone 146.2

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