Apple City Amateur Radio Club
Located in the beautiful central Washington Wenatchee valley.
Always a good idea to develop and test portable set up methods and equipment at home, before venturing out into the field. Here, K7MQV checks out his mast mounting system in his driveway. Inexpensive PVC pipe and bungies keep it light weight and simple. Two telescoping “painter’s poles” support a SAR band J-pole and a 2m ladder line J-pole.
Doug Gardner K7DEG assisting K7MQV with field installation of portable antenna masts at Checkpoint #2 near Camas Meadows.
The 2m and the SAR band antennas installed and radioing rider progress information back to the event HQ located down at the Chelan County Fairgrounds. The 146.680-mHz W7TD repeater was used at all 7 check points to maintain communication over the rough, mountainous terrain. SAR band and one ham 2m simplex frequency were used as emergency back-up channels.
Doug K7DEG, ready to begin relaying traffic about the first riders as they begin passing Checkpoint #2 near Camas Meadows.
In the afternoon, the “comm” team of Jim K7MQV and Doug K7DEG were assigned to Checkpoint #7 which was located along Mission Creek Road at the Devil’s Gulch trailhead. The afternoon temperature was in the low 90s.
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Meanwhile over at Checkpoint 3, Jex K7JEW and Dan K7ISC were monitoring traffic and passing information to the event coordinators. Long, busy but very productive day, for sure. The riders and the Coyote offroaders were very grateful for all of the communications help from SAR and the radio club. It was a BIG pr event for both organizations.
