- WICEN-Members - mailman.crarc.org.au

Re: [WICEN-Members] Call for volunteers - Two day walk event 2-3 April 2016
by rsm98010＠bigpond.net.au 10 Mar '16

10 Mar '16

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Rally Des Femmes back on - 12 December 2015
by Matt 25 Nov '15

25 Nov '15

Good evening all, we have been advised that the Rally Des Femmes is back on with a rescheduled date of Saturday 12 December. As best as we can tell all the details remain the same as the event initially scheduled for 14 November (so for us, roughly 1030 through to around 1700 on Saturday 12 December). Although this is a little less notice than we would ideally like and we realise that the usual end of year parties will no doubt impact on a number of us, can we ask for people to advise their availability to assist with this event to the wicen(a)crarc.ampr.org <mailto:wicen@crarc.ampr.org> email address please. Regards Matt VK1MA / Phil VK1PL WICEN ACT

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FW: ACTERA: Brookvale Ride review 2015
by Matt 14 Nov '15

14 Nov '15

Morning all, please find attached an overview of this year’s Brookvale Horse Endurance ride provided by the organisers. We have been advised that next year’s event is expected to return to the 80km format which will need more checkpoints than we manned this year. Thanks again to all those who put their hand up and supported this year’s event. I hope to see you all again at next year’s ride. Matt VK1MA WICEN ACT

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COTB update
by Matt 06 Nov '15

06 Nov '15

Good morning all participants in the COTB event - and apologies for those receiving the emails who are not involved in the event. The organisers advise that "At this stage, we don't expect the wet weather to affect the event. We may need to change aspects of the course but the event will still go ahead. Please be careful on the roads. The last 8 km of road leading to the event is dirt and is very wet. Please drive for the conditions. " I do not believe that the checkpoints we will be manning will change, but be prepared to be flexible if we do need to. Having a folding chair and some sort of sun shelter (well I am hopeful) or rain shelter (I can also hope this won't happen) so that you can move around if needed could be quite useful. I am heading down there later this afternoon so will advise any changes if necessary. There is poor to no mobile phone coverage down there, but I will be able to get internet access via the organisers if I need to get any information out (will be via this group email address). As the organisers have mentioned, please drive to the conditions and keep safe, see you guys down at Caloola. Matt VK1MA

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Call of the Beasts 2015 - roster and supporting documentation
by Matt 03 Nov '15

03 Nov '15

Good evening all, please find attached the roster and supporting documentation associated with the Call of the Beasts event this coming weekend. The volunteer brief appears to have one of last year's maps in it - this year's course (and where we will be deployed) is best represented in the two maps on pages 16&17 - the map on page 18 is I think a different part of the event. Travellers net: The intent will be to run a travellers net probably through the Ginini or Bulls Head 2m repeater or 147.550 to at least provide closer in coverage, so please ensure that you call in on leaving home and on arrival at the event. Timings: please note the organisers have requested that the first shift of operators manning the checkpoints arrive at the HQ (or ECC in their language) prior to 0730 on the Saturday morning for a final briefing and to collect the radio equipment prior to being led into the course by other event staff. Please do not attempt to drive directly into your CP location unless specifically directed to do so by the HQ/ECC - please check in with HQ for directions/instructions when you arrive at the farm. Radios: We will be providing commercial UHF radios for this event which will be operating on one of our commercial UHF repeaters (probably setup at CP3). I would like to have a backup on 2m (probably 146.550 simplex) in the event that there are any issues with the UHF system - or in the event of any in confidence issues needing to be raised. Weather: The forecast this year is looking like it might be a little wet, so please ensure that you have wet weather gear (an potentially shelter if you have this readily available) as well as a full change of dry clothes in the event that you get wet during the event. The ability to brew up a hot drink may be a good idea! Food: The organisers advise that a BBQ breakfast and dinner will be available as will a cut lunch, but please have sufficient snacks/fallback options in the event that this fails to materialise. If you have any issues queries, please let me know and I will do my best to answer/rectify them. Regards Matt VK1MA

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Call of the Beasts 2015 - roster and supporting documentation
by Matt 03 Nov '15

03 Nov '15

Good evening all, please find attached the roster and supporting documentation associated with the Call of the Beasts event this coming weekend. The volunteer brief appears to have one of last year's maps in it - this year's course (and where we will be deployed) is best represented in the two maps on pages 16&17 - the map on page 18 is I think a different part of the event. Travellers net: The intent will be to run a travellers net probably through the Ginini or Bulls Head 2m repeater or 147.550 to at least provide closer in coverage, so please ensure that you call in on leaving home and on arrival at the event. Timings: please note the organisers have requested that the first shift of operators manning the checkpoints arrive at the HQ (or ECC in their language) prior to 0730 on the Saturday morning for a final briefing and to collect the radio equipment prior to being led into the course by other event staff. Please do not attempt to drive directly into your CP location unless specifically directed to do so by the HQ/ECC - please check in with HQ for directions/instructions when you arrive at the farm. Radios: We will be providing commercial UHF radios for this event which will be operating on one of our commercial UHF repeaters (probably setup at CP3). I would like to have a backup on 2m (probably 146.550 simplex) in the event that there are any issues with the UHF system - or in the event of any in confidence issues needing to be raised. Weather: The forecast this year is looking like it might be a little wet, so please ensure that you have wet weather gear (an potentially shelter if you have this readily available) as well as a full change of dry clothes in the event that you get wet during the event. The ability to brew up a hot drink may be a good idea! Food: The organisers advise that a BBQ breakfast and dinner will be available as will a cut lunch, but please have sufficient snacks/fallback options in the event that this fails to materialise. If you have any issues queries, please let me know and I will do my best to answer/rectify them. Regards Matt VK1MA

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Kowen Forest - Rally Des Femmes: Saturday 14 Nov 2015
by Matt 29 Oct '15

29 Oct '15

Again, good evening all. The Rally Des Femmes is a car rally run in the Kowen Forest area on Saturday 14 November. We are also very light on for operators for this the final event of the year, so if you are available, please let us know via the wicen(a)crarc.ampr.org <mailto:wicen@crarc.ampr.org> email address. Currently I have the following people as having indicated they are available - could I also ask that they confirm via the wicen(a)crarc.ampr.org <mailto:wicen@crarc.ampr.org> email address if they remain available for this event. Available: John Woolner VK1ET Bill Robertson VK1WPR Margaret Robertson VK1FCEW John Gieroszynski VK1FJMG Matt McNeil VK1MA Wayne Nitchske VK1WN Max Bainrot VK2NMF Possible: Doug Willcoxson VK2FDMW Regards Matt VK1MA / Phil VK1PL WICEN ACT

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Caloola Farm - Call of the Beasts 2015
by Matt 29 Oct '15

29 Oct '15

Good evening all, well yet another request for assistance and / or confirmation of availability. As I currently have it, the availability of people for the Call of the Beasts event on Saturday week (7 Nov 15) is as follows: Available: Matthew Hadfield VK1FMDH John Gieroszynski VK1FJMG Matt McNeil VK1MA Bill Robertson VK1WPR Margaret Robertson VK1FCEW Wayne Nitchske VK1WN Possible John Woolner VK1ET Ian McCleary VK1FMAC Unfortunately we have had a number of people who have needed to pull out due other commitments or activities, so we really need additional operators for this event. This year we will be manning 4 checkpoints (0730 through to 1700) and the HQ (0700 through to about 1730), so if at all possible, I would like to be able to split the load (unless people are happy to commit to the whole period). Can I ask that those listed above please confirm their availability for this event to the wicen(a)crarc.ampr.org <mailto:wicen@crarc.ampr.org> email address and indicate if they are available for the whole event or preferences for portions of the event if we have sufficient people to split up coverage of the CP's. Additional volunteers (also indicating time availability and preferences) would also be very much appreciated - and responses also sent to the wicen(a)crarc.ampr.org <mailto:wicen@crarc.ampr.org> email address as well please. In order to allow me to finalise the roster, responses by the end of this weekend would be very much appreciated! As the Caloola farm venue is currently under liquidation (as I understand it), we don't know if this event will be held again so this may be the last opportunity to visit this very picturesque property. As a consequence of the farm being under liquidation, facilities previously available will not be available this year (so no accommodation in the multi-function centre), but they are happy for people to camp there the night prior. The organisers advise that a cut lunch will be provided and for those who wish to attend, a free BBQ and softdrinks will be provided on completion of the event. Equipment for this year will be minimal. Communications will be primarily on one of our commercial UHF portable repeaters (equipment for this will be provided to you on the day) but I anticipate running an alternate / backup net on 2m simplex as well. For those who do not have 2m capability, a limited quantity of spare 2m gear is available for loan (but please let me know in advance if this is needed). Matt VK1MA WICEN ACT Coordinator

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Fitz's challenge - yet another successful event
by Matt 26 Oct '15

26 Oct '15

Well yet another successful Fitz's challenge is behind us. On Sunday, WICEN again assisted the Pedal Power organisation with communications during the Fitz's challenge bike ride. For those who are not familiar with this event, there are a variety of different length rides available to the competitors ranging from 50km to the longest at 255km with some pretty significant hill climbs included in these rides. This year I was away for work in the period leading up to the event but fortunately, Graham VK1GVC stepped up to take on the organisational and event manager role. He did a superb job in getting everything together and running the event - with the assistance of Matt VK1FMDH and John VK1ET. Glen "Mr Repeater" VK1XX again put together a great repeater package, temporarily installing a portable 2m repeater at Isaacs Ridge and linking it to the Mt Ginini 2m repeater which provided excellent repeater coverage over the whole course. It would be remiss of me not to thank all who participated in this event - both old and new, but it was particularly good to see (or hear in most instance) quite a few newcomers participating on this event this year - we hope that you enjoyed your experience and also to see a lot more of you guys in future events. A sincere and very big thank you to everyone involved. There are only two more events this year: the Call of the Beasts event down at Caloola farm on Saturday 7 November and Rally Des Femmes on the following weekend. More information to follow shortly for these two events. Matt VK1MA WICEN ACT

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WICEN ACT: Fitz's challenge - additional volunteers needed
by Matt 16 Oct '15

16 Oct '15

Good morning all, with the Spring WICEN period in full swing, we are very much in need of additional volunteers for the Fitz's challenge which is taking place on Sunday week. So far we have most of the positions filled, but we still need additional operators to fill in some positions in the field plus a couple of extra people in the HQ. So far I have the following who have indicated that they are available for the event either as a yes or a tentative yes (as annotated): Min Sun VK1MS Ian McCleary VK1FMAC (maybe) Stephen Shaw VK1FJ (maybe) Roger Barson VK1FHVC Matthew Hadfield VK1FMDH Graham Carter VK1GVC Margaret Robertson VK1FCEW Bill Robertson VK1WPR Wayne Nitchske VK1WN Max Bainrot VK2NMF Can I ask that the above listed people confirm their availability and that any additional volunteers also come forward. I hope to get the roster out this weekend, so if you are able to help out with this event, PLEASE let us know by email to wicen(a)crarc.ampr.org <mailto:wicen@crarc.ampr.org> . Matt VK1MA WICEN ACT

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