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

Rally of Canberra 2024, almost complete but we need to recover the repeaters......
by Phil Longworth 07 Apr '24

07 Apr '24

Good evening everyone, Thank you to all those who volunteered to assist the WICEN effort for the Techworkz Rally of Canberra 2024. Thanks for your understandings with stage that was to run Saturday, but was canned on Friday, and then on Saturday where everyone got out to the meet points only to be told the first runs of the day had been cancelled and to go home, and then later the whole of Saturday was scrubbed. We did manage to get all 6 stages run today (Sunday) however ! We did have people undertake some travel to come and help and again I thank Graham coming up from Adaminaby, Don & Jenny from Yass and Bernie from Goulburn, as well as the local Amateur fraternity, please be assured all your efforts are appreciated by the Rally organisers as well as the Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club committee. HOWEVER, we still need to head back up to Kowen Fire tower and to Mt McDonald to recover the portable repeaters, trailers, etc, and we need a small team to complete those tasks on Monday and Tuesday (noting the weather forecasts for later in the week). My priority is to get the gear from Kowen as I need to return the tower key back to ACT Rural Fire Service and so I'm hoping to do that tomorrow (Monday) sometime after 10:30 AM, and Mt McDonald either later on Monday or early Tuesday. If you can assist with the recovery efforts could you please let me know by return email and I'll attempt to coordinate a suitable time. Cheers, . Phil Longworth VK1PL -- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. www.avg.com

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WICEN - seeking assistance for Repeater Installations for the car rally on Sunday 31st March & Monday 1st April
by Phil Longworth 29 Mar '24

29 Mar '24

Good evening all, The time has come to look at installing the various repeaters for use with the 2024 Rally of Canberra. We need to erect a tower and 4 repeaters on Mt McDonald and 3 repeaters at the Kowen Fire Tower site, which we do when is dependent on when people are available so please let me know if you can assist and your preferences. We need somebody to transport the large VHF repeaters from Red Hill to each of the sites along with some mounting hardware, I will be towing the trailer(s) as needed, please let me know if you can take the VHF repeaters in your vehicle noting they need to be kept vertical. A set of tools would be useful to through in, ratchet spanners for the mounting clamps are preferred to shifters, etc. Antenna's, Cables, Mounting hardware, etc, are all okay for transport, I'll also bring a ladder to Mt McDonald so we can safely ascend the old tower structure. A reasonably early start on each day (thinking 9:00 AM at Red Hill to collect gear and 10:00 AM at the entry gate to hilltops), Mt McDonald normally takes about 90-120 Minutes on site, Kowen Fire Tower is normally done in 60-90 Minutes so in both cases we should be done by 12:00 noon. We don't need everyone to attend both days, 5 people for Mt McDonald and 4 for Kowen would be appropriate, but everyone is welcome to come and become familiarised with the equipment and how things are put together. Cheers, Phil Longworth VK1PL -- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. www.avg.com

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UPDATED with better "LINK" Call for Volunteers - 2024 RALLY OF CANBERRA - April 6th & 7th APRIL 2024
by Phil Longworth 03 Mar '24

03 Mar '24

Good Afternoon, and apologies for the extra emails. Apparently some people are having issues with the Link to the Google Docs registration form, this is normally a issue with settings in what-ever Email client is being used where it has a default setting to truncate links that go past a predefined number of characters, or when it does a carriage return at the end of a link it breaks the link text. To help out people who strike that issue, I have made 3 different ways of accessing the form, option 1 is to simply click on the word link at the bottom of the email, this has an embedded reference to the full URL for our form, option 2 is to use the shortened link provided below, option 3 is to use the full URL as provided below. Cheers, . Phil Longworth VK1PL Call for Volunteers 2024 RALLY OF CANBERRA - April 6th & 7th 2024 Good afternoon all, This years major WICEN Event, the 2024 RALLY OF CANBERRA will be undertaken on the weekend of Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th of April 2024. This years rally is basically a repeat of the 2023 event held in November with the Service Park once again at Exhibition Park along with the Rally HQ and the WICEN Net Control Station will also be at Exhibition Park. As per last year, the Saturday competitive stages will be conducted in the Pierces, Tidbinbilla and Uriarra forests. · Special Stage 1 and 4 (Oakey Camp) is a competitive stage of 22.22 KMs and starts at Vanities Crossing Road (just up the hill from Cotter Reserve) and finishes at Tidbinbilla Lane (which is down near the entrance to Tidbinbilla Tracking station) with some minor changes to the course used in 2023 to keep competitors out of the Cotter River Catchment. This stage will have a Start, SOS A, SOS B, SOS C, SOS D and Stop. Meet times havent been set in concrete as yet but it is anticipated that the meet time will be 6:00 AM at the Old Cotter Pub carpark or on Paddys River Road at Pierces East. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 8:53 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 4:00 PM at the latest (unless there is an incident on the course). · Special Stage 2 and 5 (Kingfisher) is a competitive stage of 10.10 KMs and starts at Mineshaft Road (just up the hill from Murrays Corner Picnic Area) and finishes at Big Johns Road (AKA Cottage 5 which is a few hundred yards further down Paddys River Road from the Vanitys / Oakey Creek Roads corner). This stage will have a Start, SOS A and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 6:30 AM at the Murrays Corner Picnic Area carpark. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 9:41 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 5:00 PM at the latest (unless there is an incident on the course). · Special Stage 3 and 6 (Blue Range) is a competitive stage of 18.75 KMs and starts at East West Road (about 2 KMs towards the Brindabellas from the Uriarra / Brindabella Roads intersection) ) and finishes in the forest at the top of Sherwood Road (Off Mountain Creek Road). This stage will have a Start, SOS A, SOS B, SOS C and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 7:00 AM at the East West / Brindabella Roads intersection. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 10:14 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 5:30 PM. The Sunday competitive stages will be conducted in the Kowen forest area, the order of the stages will be slightly different to last years however as there is not televised coverage of the Power Stage to accommodate. NOTE Daylight Saving finishes at 0200 on that Sunday morning, so make sure your clocks are set correctly otherwise you will turn up an hour early !! · Special Stage 7 & 10 (Long Jack) is a competitive stage of 10.44 KMs and starts in the forest off Seven Mile Road (not far from the Kowen Homestead Picnic Area) and finishes at an intersection near the Kowen Jump. This stage will have a Start, SOS A, and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 7:00 AM at the old Kowen Forestry Compound at the top of Kowen Road. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 8:53 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 2:45 PM. · Special Stage 8 & 11 (Charcoal Kiln) is a competitive stage of 18.60 KMs and starts on Seven Mile Road (not far from the Kowen Homestead Picnic Area) and finishes at Orchard Road / Old Kings Highway intersection AKA Sparrows. This stage will have a Start, SOS A, SOS B, SOS C and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 6:30 AM at the old Kowen Forestry Compound at the top of Kowen Road. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 9:06 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 3:00 PM. · Special Stage 9 & 12 (Bald Millpost) is a competitive stage of 9.44 KMs and starts on Gumnut Road and finishes at Millpost Lane (Both of these are near the big HQJOC Roundabout on the Kings Hwy). This stage will have a Start, SOS A and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 7:30 AM at the Gumnut Road / Kings Hwy intersection. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 9:44 AM and the second running of the stage (which is run as a Power Stage, but not televised) should finish around 3:30 4:00 PM. So, to save you doing the maths, we need to have people to undertake Field Station tasks with 14 Field Stations on Saturday and 11 Field Stations on Sunday, plus 5-6 people in the HQ Net Control Station each day also. As in the last couple of years, we are not required to radio in scoring traffic and hence the exercise is a lot less stressful than in earlier years. We will however still need to track vehicles and radio that information back into HQ. This exercise only requires operators to have a VHF 2 metre and/or 70 cm UHF radio capable of 10 Watts and at least a ¼ wave vertical antenna and be able to operate for the indicated periods listed above so some battery calculations may be required. If you dont have a suitable radio then we can arrange the loan of equipment from Club and personal stores, just let us know early. For those who have recently obtained their licences or have not done a WICEN exercise before, dont hold back as its an excellent way of getting out and building up your experience. So, onto the Begging and Pleading part. To enable us to create a roster we need to collect some information from you, so PLEASE, if you can assist on the weekend of 6th & 7th April, even if only for a few hours, please use the below Google Docs link that will take you to our WICEN Volunteer Registration form (Note there is also a Generic Rally Volunteer rego form out there on the RALLYOFCANBERRA.com.au website but we dont need to register there this year as our form now contains all the required fields including T-Shirt Size, Emergency Contacts and Allergies information). You are welcome to bring family and/or friends with you, just make sure that a registration form for them is completed and submitted as well as your own. ALSO, Im heading off to New Zealand for a Wedding on Tuesday 5th March and wont be back until Sunday 17th March so please be understanding if you dont get a quick reply to any queries. We are happy for people to email and queries, please send them to wicen(a)crarc.org.au please, NOT a reply to me and especially not a Reply All please. 1. The EMBEDED link <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdIoQAWMi22OVN4p9eDdt7v7_IVkEXBwnW 4V8ziEmnQP2S-Uw/viewform?usp=sf_link> (Click the word link) 2. The shortened link https://forms.gle/qTbizchtEpGeA4nN8 3. The full link https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdIoQAWMi22OVN4p9eDdt7v7_IVkEXBwnW4 V8ziEmnQP2S-Uw/viewform?usp=sf_link (REMINDER - CRARC Members with CRARC Google Drive access should not use CHROME to complete their registration, please use Edge, Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) Cheers all, Phil Longworth VK1PL Deputy State Coordinator, WICEN ACT Life Member, Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club Communications Manager, Canberra RALLY OF CANBERRA 2024 -- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. www.avg.com

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Call for Volunteers - 2024 RALLY OF CANBERRA - April 6th & 7th APRIL 2024
by Phil Longworth 01 Mar '24

01 Mar '24

Call for Volunteers - 2024 RALLY OF CANBERRA - April 6th & 7th 2024 Good afternoon all, This year's major WICEN Event, the 2024 RALLY OF CANBERRA will be undertaken on the weekend of Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th of April 2024. This year's rally is basically a repeat of the 2023 event held in November with the Service Park once again at Exhibition Park along with the Rally HQ and the WICEN Net Control Station will also be at Exhibition Park. As per last year, the Saturday competitive stages will be conducted in the Pierces, Tidbinbilla and Uriarra forests. · Special Stage 1 and 4 (Oakey Camp) is a competitive stage of 22.22 KM's and starts at Vanities Crossing Road (just up the hill from Cotter Reserve) and finishes at Tidbinbilla Lane (which is down near the entrance to Tidbinbilla Tracking station) with some minor changes to the course used in 2023 to keep competitors out of the Cotter River Catchment. This stage will have a Start, SOS A, SOS B, SOS C, SOS D and Stop. Meet times haven't been set in concrete as yet but it is anticipated that the meet time will be 6:00 AM at the Old Cotter Pub carpark or on Paddys River Road at Pierces East. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 8:53 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 4:00 PM at the latest (unless there is an incident on the course). · Special Stage 2 and 5 (Kingfisher) is a competitive stage of 10.10 KM's and starts at Mineshaft Road (just up the hill from Murrays Corner Picnic Area) and finishes at Big Johns Road (AKA "Cottage 5" which is a few hundred yards further down Paddy's River Road from the Vanity's / Oakey Creek Roads corner). This stage will have a Start, SOS A and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 6:30 AM at the Murrays Corner Picnic Area carpark. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 9:41 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 5:00 PM at the latest (unless there is an incident on the course). · Special Stage 3 and 6 (Blue Range) is a competitive stage of 18.75 KM's and starts at East West Road (about 2 KM's towards the Brindabella's from the Uriarra / Brindabella Roads intersection) ) and finishes in the forest at the top of Sherwood Road (Off Mountain Creek Road). This stage will have a Start, SOS A, SOS B, SOS C and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 7:00 AM at the East West / Brindabella Roads intersection. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 10:14 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 5:30 PM. The Sunday competitive stages will be conducted in the Kowen forest area, the order of the stages will be slightly different to last year's however as there is not televised coverage of the Power Stage to accommodate. NOTE - Daylight Saving finishes at 0200 on that Sunday morning, so make sure your clocks are set correctly otherwise you will turn up an hour early !! · Special Stage 7 & 10 (Long Jack) is a competitive stage of 10.44 KM's and starts in the forest off Seven Mile Road (not far from the Kowen Homestead Picnic Area) and finishes at an intersection near the Kowen "Jump". This stage will have a Start, SOS A, and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 7:00 AM at the old Kowen Forestry Compound at the top of Kowen Road. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 8:53 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 2:45 PM. · Special Stage 8 & 11 (Charcoal Kiln) is a competitive stage of 18.60 KM's and starts on Seven Mile Road (not far from the Kowen Homestead Picnic Area) and finishes at Orchard Road / Old Kings Highway intersection AKA "Sparrows". This stage will have a Start, SOS A, SOS B, SOS C and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 6:30 AM at the old Kowen Forestry Compound at the top of Kowen Road. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 9:06 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 3:00 PM. · Special Stage 9 & 12 (Bald Millpost) is a competitive stage of 9.44 KM's and starts on Gumnut Road and finishes at Millpost Lane (Both of these are near the big HQJOC Roundabout on the Kings Hwy). This stage will have a Start, SOS A and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 7:30 AM at the Gumnut Road / Kings Hwy intersection. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 9:44 AM and the second running of the stage (which is run as a Power Stage, but not televised) should finish around 3:30 - 4:00 PM. So, to save you doing the maths, we need to have people to undertake Field Station tasks with 14 Field Stations on Saturday and 11 Field Stations on Sunday, plus 5-6 people in the HQ Net Control Station each day also. As in the last couple of years, we are not required to radio in scoring traffic and hence the exercise is a lot less stressful than in earlier years. We will however still need to track vehicles and radio that information back into HQ. This exercise only requires operators to have a VHF 2 metre and/or 70 cm UHF radio capable of 10 Watts and at least a ¼ wave vertical antenna and be able to operate for the indicated periods listed above so some battery calculations may be required. If you don't have a suitable radio then we can arrange the loan of equipment from Club and personal stores, just let us know early. For those who have recently obtained their licences or have not done a WICEN exercise before, don't hold back as it's an excellent way of getting out and building up your experience. So, onto the Begging and Pleading part.... To enable us to create a roster we need to collect some information from you, so PLEASE, if you can assist on the weekend of 6th & 7th April, even if only for a few hours, please use the below Google Docs link that will take you to our WICEN Volunteer Registration form (Note there is also a Generic Rally Volunteer rego form out there on the RALLYOFCANBERRA.com.au website but we don't need to register there this year as our form now contains all the required fields including T-Shirt Size, Emergency Contacts and Allergies information). You are welcome to bring family and/or friends with you, just make sure that a registration form for them is completed and submitted as well as your own. ALSO, I'm heading off to New Zealand for a Wedding on Tuesday 5th March and won't be back until Sunday 17th March so please be understanding if you don't get a quick reply to any queries. We are happy for people to email and queries, please send them to wicen(a)crarc.org.au please, NOT a reply to me and especially not a Reply All please. The link..... https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdIoQAWMi22OVN4p9eDdt7v7_IVkEXBwnW4 V8ziEmnQP2S-Uw/viewform?usp=sf_link (REMINDER - CRARC Members with CRARC Google Drive access should not use CHROME to complete their registration, please use Edge, Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) Cheers all, Phil Longworth VK1PL Deputy State Coordinator, WICEN ACT Life Member, Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club Communications Manager, Canberra RALLY OF CANBERRA 2024 -- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. www.avg.com

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Assistance request to help with erecting Repeaters for the Rally of Canberra
by Phil Longworth 10 Nov '23

10 Nov '23

Good evening all, and apologies to the people who may get this numerous times. With a week to go til the Rally of Canberra it's time to get the WICEN portable repeaters set-up and ready. I'd like to do the installation at Kowen Fire Tower on Sunday and am looking for a few people to come along to help place the antenna's on the Fire Spotting Tower, run the coax cables, set-up the solar panels and connect and test the repeaters. We need 5 or 6 people with 3 on the tower itself and a few others on the ground to assist. Now the 2 metre repeater needs to be collected from the Mt Mugga Scout hall at Red Hill, but with the Foundation Licence Course happening there this weekend we need to be as unobtrusive as possible. If we can get that collected around 8:00 AM we won't impact the course and can arrange to have everyone else meet at 8:30 out at Kowen Forest (Seven Mile Road gate off Sutton Road near the NSW / ACT Border at Wamboin) and hopefully have most of it finished before midday. The Fire Tower is accessible by normal road car and I will be in my wife Sally's Holden TRAX as Erica VK1ERL has taken my Ute to the coast full of Stand-Up Paddle Boards. The erection of gear at Mt McDonald is planned for Tuesday next week because the trailer for that location is being used tomorrow for the CRACRC display at Southfest in Tuggeranong and we'd like to top-up the batteries before heading out to do that job. Can you help on either day (Sunday or Tuesday) ? if so could you drop me an email to indicate your availability. We'll need sometools and you need to be self sufficient for food / drink / appropriate clothing / hats / gloves, etc. Cheers, Phil Longworth VK1PL Deputy State Coordinator WICEN ACT. -- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. www.avg.com

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Reminder and follow-up Call for Volunteers - Subaru Canberra RALLY OF CANBERRA - November 18th & 19th 2023
by Phil Longworth 01 Nov '23

01 Nov '23

Call for Volunteers - Subaru Canberra RALLY OF CANBERRA - November 18th & 19th 2023 Good afternoon all, This year's major WICEN Event, the Subaru Canberra RALLY OF CANBERRA (note the name change, it's been the National Capital Rally for the last 12 years, but it's back to being Rally of Canberra again) will be undertaken on the weekend of Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th of November 2023. So far we have had around 20 people volunteer (Thank you and you'll get a separate email soon) and about 5 indicate they can't assist this year, so we are still quite short of the required number of radio operators we need to provide the required Safety Tracking network. As a recap.... This year, the Service Park will be at Exhibition Park utilising both hardstand and grassed areas near the Summernats Burnout strip. Rally HQ and the WICEN Net Control Station will also be at Exhibition Park at the Royal Canberra Agricultural building. As in previous years, the Saturday competitive stages will be conducted in the Pierces, Tidbinbilla and Uriarra forests. · Special Stage 1 and 4 (Oakey Creek) is a competitive stage of 24.54 KM's and starts at Vanities Crossing Road (just up the hill from Cotter Reserve) and finishes at Tidbinbilla Lane (which is down near the entrance to Tidbinbilla Tracking station). This stage will have a Start, SOS A, SOS B, SOS C, SOS D and Stop. Meet times haven't been set in concrete as yet but it is anticipated that the meet time will be 6:00 AM at the Old Cotter Pub carpark or on Paddys River Road at Pierces East. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 7:53 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 3:00 PM. · Special Stage 2 and 5 (Kingfisher) is a competitive stage of 10.10 KM's and starts at Mineshaft Road (just up the hill from Murrays Corner Picnic Area) and finishes at Big Johns Road (AKA "Cottage 5" which is a few hundred yards further down Paddy's River Road from the Vanity's / Oakey Creek Roads corner). This stage will have a Start, SOS A and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 6:30 AM at the Murrays Corner Picnic Area carpark. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 8:41 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 4:00 PM. · Special Stage 3 and 6 (Blue Range) is a competitive stage of 18.67 KM's and starts at East West Road (about 2 KM's towards the Brindabella's from the Uriarra / Brindabella Roads intersection) ) and finishes in the forest at the top of Sherwood Road (Off Mountain Creek Road). This stage will have a Start, SOS A, SOS B, SOS C and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 6:30 AM at the East West / Brindabella Roads intersection. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 9:14 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 5:30 PM. The Sunday competitive stages will be conducted in the Kowen forest area, the order of the stages will be slightly different to previous years however. · Special Stage 7 (Wamboin Jack) is a competitive stage of 8.82 KM's and starts in the forest off Seven Mile Road (not far from the Kowen Homestead Picnic Area) and finishes at an intersection near the Kowen "Jump". This stage will have a Start, SOS A, and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 7:00 AM at the old Kowen Forestry Compound at the top of Kowen Road. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 8:58 AM. NOTE This stage in this configuration is only run once, however The Start and Stop teams will relocate and set-up to become SS12 (Settlement Power Stage) and the running of that stage should finish around 4:00 PM. · Special Stage 8 & 10 (Charcoal Kiln) is a competitive stage of 18.67 KM's and starts on Seven Mile Road (not far from the Kowen Homestead Picnic Area) and finishes at Orchard Road / Old Kings Highway intersection AKA "Sparrows". This stage will have a Start, SOS A, SOS B, SOS C and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 6:30 AM at the old Kowen Forestry Compound at the top of Kowen Road. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 9:11 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 3:00 PM. · Special Stage 9 & 11 (Bald Hill) is a competitive stage of 11.28 KM's and starts on Gumnut Road and finishes at Hibernian Road (Both of these are near the big HQJOC Roundabout on the Kings Hwy). This stage will have a Start, SOS A and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 7:30 AM at the Gumnut Road / Kings Why intersection. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 9:49 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 3:30 PM. · Special Stage 12 (Settlement Power Stage) is a competitive stage of 6.34 KM's and starts on Welch's Road at the Major Kowen Forest Spectator point and progresses through the jump tunnel and follows basically the same route as SS7 (Wamboin Jack) and returns over the jump to finish on the old water tank track on the western side of the Spectator point where competitor will park and the Rally of Canberra AND The Australian Rally Championship podium presentations will take place. This stage will have a Start, SOS A and Stop. The Start and Stop teams from SS7 will be relocated, SOS A is already in place. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 14:46 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 4:00PM. NOTE, this stage will be live televised and there will be many spectators in the Start / Stop area. So, to save you doing the maths, we need to have people to undertake Field Station tasks with 14 Field Stations on Saturday and 11 Field Stations on Sunday, plus 5-6 people in the HQ Net Control Station each day also, so around 20 people required each day. As in the last couple of years, we are not required to radio in scoring traffic and hence the exercise is a lot less stressful than in earlier years. We will however still need to track vehicles and radio that information back into HQ. This exercise only requires operators to have a VHF 2 metre and/or 70 cm UHF radio capable of 10 Watts and at least a ¼ wave vertical antenna and be able to operate for the indicated periods listed above so some battery calculations may be required. Handheld Radio's are generally NOT a suitable means of maintaining communications, hence our 10 watts and ¼ wave antenna request. If you don't have a suitable radio then we can arrange the loan of equipment from Club and personal stores, just let us know early. For those who have recently obtained their licences or have not done a WICEN exercise before, don't hold back as it's an excellent way of getting out and building up your experience. So, onto the Begging and Pleading part.... To enable us to create a roster we need to collect some information from you, so PLEASE, if you can assist on the weekend of 18/19 November, even if only for a few hours, please use the below Google Docs link that will take you to our WICEN Volunteer Registration form (Note there is also a Generic Rally Volunteer rego form out there on the RALLYOFCANBERRA.com.au website but we don't need to register there this year as our form now contains all the required fields including T-Shirt Size, Emergency Contacts and Allergies information). You are welcome to bring Family and/or friends with you, just make sure that a registration form for them is completed and submitted as well as your own. PLEASE REGISTER USING THIS LINK..... https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSduAYFHRkvyUkQwpKQ50rWnC4G18mXFEeJg igykBaPq89sQdA/viewform?usp=pp_url For some early planning also, the 2024 Rally of Canberra will be conducted at the start of the Rally Championship season and is scheduled for the 5-7th of April (the weekend after Easter next year) We are happy for people to email and queries, please send them to wicen(a)crarc.org.au please, not a reply direct to me (though a cc: is fine) and especially NOT a Reply All please. Cheers all, Phil Longworth VK1PL Deputy State Coordinator, WICEN ACT Life Member, Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club Communications Manager, Subaru Canberra RALLY OF CANBERRA 2023 -- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. www.avg.com

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FW: Horse Enduro 3rd & 4th November at Nowra
by Phil Longworth 19 Oct '23

19 Oct '23

Good morning all, From our friends over in Wagga comes a request for assistance for a 24 hour Horse Endurance event starting at midnight on 3rd November and finishing at midnight on the Saturday. The Wagga club accepted the offer once sufficient people put up their hands and we had just enough. In the past week two of our group have pulled out putting the event in some jeopardy. Bob Pittman VK2ADF is managing the event. He can be contacted at vk4da(a)bigpond.com. This is the map of where the event is and as you can see it is just to the east of the Braidwood Nowra Rd - so not difficult to get to out of Canberra. John VK2YW cid:image001.png@01D9E108.55FDBAA0 -- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. www.avg.com

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WICEN Exercise - Brookvale Horse Endurance Ride NEXT WEEKEND (Sunday 15th October)
by Phil Longworth 06 Oct '23

06 Oct '23

cid:image007.png@01D9EEEE.224BCB40 cid:image008.jpg@01D9EEEE.224BCB40 cid:image006.jpg@01D9EE2C.869B0BA0 Further Call for Volunteers -ACTERA National Capital "Brookvale" Ride - October 15th 2023 Good afternoon everyone, A reminder that the ACTERA Brookvale Endurance ride in the Uriarra area is coming up fast on Sunday 15th October. We now have a few more details as follows.. The major 80 KM ride starts at 5:00 AM on the first 'loop' which goes out along Doctors flat road towards Wee Jasper looping around through Brindabella National Park and returning to Ride Base along Maginot Trail and Doctors Flat road. This loop requires 3 checkpoints with CP1 & 3 being at the same physical location at the Maginot Trail / Doctors Flat road intersection and Checkpoint 2 further out at the Doctors Flat / Scorgies Fire Trail intersection. For both these checkpoints a 4WD vehicle is required and people need to be away from the Start / Ride base no later than 4:45 AM but CP2 should be cleared by around 9:00 AM and CP1/3 about 10:15. The second leg of the main ride and all the other smaller rides are undertaken in the Uriarra Forest area looping around near Blue Range Hut and beyond. There are 4 checkpoints in this are but not all riders go through each checkpoint, these checkpoints are as follows.. CP4 (AKA "Gate 8") is located on East West Road (2WD access) and needs a person there from about 8:15 AM til early afternoon CP5 is on Blue Range Road (on the far side of Blue Range Hut) (2WD Access) and needs a person from about 9:00 AM til around 3:00 PM. CP6 is within the old Sherwood property at the base of Two Sticks Hill (4WD would be best) and needs a person from around 9:00 AM - this CP only has riders doing the 22KM and 13KM ride's CP7 is at the intersection of One & Two Sticks Roads (4WD required) and needs a person from about 10:00 AM til around 4:00 PM Net Control at Ride base needs to be operating from around 4:15 AM until last Checkpoint is closed, so a 2 or 3 shift arrangement would be best. So far we only have SEVEN (7) people register to assist and we need a few more to be able to do the job properly. WICEN Operations will be on 2 Metres VHF using a Portable Repeater on 147.125 MHz (+600) to be installed on "Pig Hill" on Saturday 14th and retrieved late on Sunday 15th. WICEN is also providing the Ride organisers with a number of VHF Mid-Band radio's on one of the Commercial frequencies we have along with a repeater that will be co-located with 2 Metres on Pig Hill. So once again, if you can assist would you please click on the link below and register ASAP so we can bed-down who will be doing what. <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeHwqJfDkPSZLfyybdVGeD5-VXPryUSU27 0uN4WUfMuNhU-wg/viewform?usp=pp_url> https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeHwqJfDkPSZLfyybdVGeD5-VXPryUSU270 uN4WUfMuNhU-wg/viewform?usp=pp_url Cheers all, Phil Longworth VK1PL Deputy State Coordinator, WICEN ACT Life Member, Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club -- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. www.avg.com

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WICEN ACT Call for Volunteers - ACT Endurance Riders Association (ACTERA) National Capital "Brookvale" Ride - October 15th 2023
by Phil Longworth 24 Sep '23

24 Sep '23

cid:image006.jpg@01D9EE2C.869B0BA0 Call for Volunteers ACTERA National Capital "Brookvale" Ride - October 15th 2023 Good afternoon all, The ACT Endurance Riders Association (ACTERA) has once again requested assistance with their National Capital Brookvale Ride being conducted over the weekend of Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th of October 2023. From their promotional materiel we gain the following information: The ACT Endurance Riders Association Inc. will host an 80km endurance Ride, 53km elevator and 40km, 22km and 13km rides, all on Sunday 15 October 2023, at Brookvale on the outskirts of Canberra. All 80km, 53km and 40km riders must enter and vet on Saturday. Participants in the 22km and 13km rides can enter and vet on Saturday (preferable) or EARLY on Sunday but must be ready to ride 30 minutes before their ride starting times to attend the mandatory pre-ride talks. Ride information, including the opening date for entries and the starting time for each ride, will be provided on the ACTERA website and the ACTERA Facebook page. All necessary horse and human health regulations will be enforced throughout the weekend. Ride Distance Challenge and fitness Starts 80km (2 x 40km) Challenging course, especially the first leg. Horses must be fit. 5 am 53km Intermediate (40+13km Elevator) No big hills but some moderate climbs in the first leg. Reasonable level of fitness needed. 7 am 40km Intermediate No big hills but some moderate climbs. Reasonable fitness 7 am 22km Introductory Undulating, with some gradual climbs. Some fitness needed. 8 am 13km Introductory Undulating, with some gradual climbs. Most horses are able. 9 am Ride base: Brookvale is a no-frills campsite in a picturesque valley with a creek running through it. Facilities are basic, with bush and hire toilets and horse water (creek) available. You will need to bring your own drinking water. If you must bring a dog, please keep it on a lead at all times. No dogs in or near the vetting area or office. No fires. Patchy phone coverage. Snax on Trax Café will provide the canteen service. Directions: The Brookvale property is at 372 Mountain Creek Road, about 30 minutes from Canberra. The ride base is 1.5km off Mountain Creek Road along Doctors Flat Road: signage from Uriarra Road. DO NOT approach from the Wee Jasper/Brindabella National Park direction as Doctors Flat Road has locked gates. The WICEN effort will be to provide operators in the field at 7 checkpoints plus the manning of the HQ radio at the ride base. WICEN Operations will be on one of the VHF Portable repeater (147.125 MHz +600 offset) and there will also be the use of one of the WICEN Commercial Mid-Band VHF services for the ride officials. This exercise only requires operators to have a VHF 2 metre radio capable of 10 Watts and at least a ¼ wave vertical antenna and be able to operate for a few hours so some battery calculations may be required. If you dont have a suitable radio then we can arrange the loan of equipment from Club and personal stores, just let us know early. For those who have recently obtained their licences or have not done a WICEN exercise before, dont hold back as its an excellent way of getting out and building up your experience, its also great to take the family to. Most of the checkpoints are reasonably easy to access using dirt roads in the Uriarra forest area however some places will need 4WD. Operators with early starts are welcome to camp out at the Ride Base on the Saturday night and take part in the evenings entertainment activities, you will need to be self-sufficient in this regard To enable us to create a roster we need to collect some information from you so if you can assist on the 15th October, even if only for a few hours, please use the below Google Forms link that will take you to our WICEN Volunteer Registration form (make sure the whole link is selected). We are happy for people to email any queries, please send them to <mailto:wicen@crarc.org.au> wicen(a)crarc.org.au, not a Reply to me and especially not a Reply All please. The link.. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeHwqJfDkPSZLfyybdVGeD5-VXPryUSU270 uN4WUfMuNhU-wg/viewform?usp=pp_url Cheers all, Phil Longworth VK1PL Deputy State Coordinator, WICEN ACT Life Member, Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club -- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. www.avg.com

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Call for Volunteers - Subaru Canberra RALLY OF CANBERRA - November 18th & 19th 2023
by Phil Longworth 23 Sep '23

23 Sep '23

Call for Volunteers - Subaru Canberra RALLY OF CANBERRA - November 18th & 19th 2023 Good afternoon all, This year's major WICEN Event, the Subaru Canberra RALLY OF CANBERRA (note the name change, it's been the National Capital Rally for the last 12 years, but it's back to being Rally of Canberra again) will be undertaken on the weekend of Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th of November 2023. This year, the Service Park will be at Exhibition Park utilising both hardstand and grassed areas near the Summernats Burnout strip. Rally HQ and the WICEN Net Control Station will also be at Exhibition Park. As in previous years, the Saturday competitive stages will be conducted in the Pierces, Tidbinbilla and Uriarra forests. · Special Stage 1 and 4 (Oakey Creek) is a competitive stage of 24.54 KM's and starts at Vanities Crossing Road (just up the hill from Cotter Reserve) and finishes at Tidbinbilla Lane (which is down near the entrance to Tidbinbilla Tracking station). This stage will have a Start, SOS A, SOS B, SOS C, SOS D and Stop. Meet times haven't been set in concrete as yet but it is anticipated that the meet time will be 6:00 AM at the Old Cotter Pub carpark or on Paddys River Road at Pierces East. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 7:53 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 3:00 PM. · Special Stage 2 and 5 (Kingfisher) is a competitive stage of 10.10 KM's and starts at Mineshaft Road (just up the hill from Murrays Corner Picnic Area) and finishes at Big Johns Road (AKA "Cottage 5" which is a few hundred yards further down Paddy's River Road from the Vanity's / Oakey Creek Roads corner). This stage will have a Start, SOS A and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 6:30 AM at the Murrays Corner Picnic Area carpark. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 8:41 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 4:00 PM. · Special Stage 3 and 6 (Blue Range) is a competitive stage of 18.67 KM's and starts at East West Road (about 2 KM's towards the Brindabella's from the Uriarra / Brindabella Roads intersection) ) and finishes in the forest at the top of Sherwood Road (Off Mountain Creek Road). This stage will have a Start, SOS A, SOS B, SOS C and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 6:30 AM at the East West / Brindabella Roads intersection. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 9:14 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 5:30 PM. The Sunday competitive stages will be conducted in the Kowen forest area, the order of the stages will be slightly different to previous years however. · Special Stage 7 (Wamboin Jack) is a competitive stage of 8.82 KM's and starts in the forest off Seven Mile Road (not far from the Kowen Homestead Picnic Area) and finishes at an intersection near the Kowen "Jump". This stage will have a Start, SOS A, and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 7:00 AM at the old Kowen Forestry Compound at the top of Kowen Road. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 8:58 AM. NOTE This stage in this configuration is only run once, however The Start and Stop teams will relocate and set-up to become SS12 (Settlement Power Stage) and the running of that stage should finish around 4:00 PM. · Special Stage 8 & 10 (Charcoal Kiln) is a competitive stage of 18.67 KM's and starts on Seven Mile Road (not far from the Kowen Homestead Picnic Area) and finishes at Orchard Road / Old Kings Highway intersection AKA "Sparrows". This stage will have a Start, SOS A, SOS B, SOS C and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 6:30 AM at the old Kowen Forestry Compound at the top of Kowen Road. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 9:11 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 3:00 PM. · Special Stage 9 & 11 (Bald Hill) is a competitive stage of 11.28 KM's and starts on Gumnut Road and finishes at Hibernian Road (Both of these are near the big HQJOC Roundabout on the Kings Hwy). This stage will have a Start, SOS A and Stop. Meet time is anticipated to be 7:30 AM at the Gumnut Road / Kings Why intersection. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 9:49 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 3:30 PM. · Special Stage 12 (Settlement Power Stage) is a competitive stage of 6.34 KM's and starts on Welch's Road at the Major Kowen Forest Spectator point and progresses through the jump tunnel and follows basically the same route as SS7 (Wamboin Jack) and returns over the jump to finish on the old water tank track on the western side of the Spectator point where competitor will park and the Rally of Canberra AND The Australian Rally Championship podium presentations will take place. This stage will have a Start, SOS A and Stop. The Start and Stop teams from SS7 will be relocated, SOS A is already in place. First Competitive car is scheduled to start the stage at 14:46 AM and the second running of the stage should finish around 4:00PM. NOTE, this stage will be live televised and there will be many spectators in the Start / Stop area. So, to save you doing the maths, we need to have people to undertake Field Station tasks with 14 Field Stations on Saturday and 11 Field Stations on Sunday, plus 5-6 people in the HQ Net Control Station each day also. As in the last couple of years, we are not required to radio in scoring traffic and hence the exercise is a lot less stressful than in earlier years. We will however still need to track vehicles and radio that information back into HQ. This exercise only requires operators to have a VHF 2 metre and/or 70 cm UHF radio capable of 10 Watts and at least a ¼ wave vertical antenna and be able to operate for the indicated periods listed above so some battery calculations may be required. If you don't have a suitable radio then we can arrange the loan of equipment from Club and personal stores, just let us know early. For those who have recently obtained their licences or have not done a WICEN exercise before, don't hold back as it's an excellent way of getting out and building up your experience. So, onto the Begging and Pleading part.... To enable us to create a roster we need to collect some information from you, so PLEASE, if you can assist on the weekend of 18/19 November, even if only for a few hours, please use the below Google Docs link that will take you to our WICEN Volunteer Registration form (Note there is also a Generic Rally Volunteer rego form out there on the RALLYOFCANBERRA.com.au website but we don't need to register there this year as our form now contains all the required fields including T-Shirt Size, Emergency Contacts and Allergies information). You are welcome to bring Family and/or friends with you, just make sure that a registration form for them is completed and submitted as well as your own. ALSO, I'm hoping there may be some people out there who can do some of the admin and technical set-up tasks this year as I am finding it to be difficult for me to do all the various things in an efficient and timely manner. Things like updating the Operators Manual for this year, preparing and distributing the rosters, getting gear together for loan, etc, are where assistance is needed. For some early planning also, the 2024 Rally of Canberra will be conducted at the start of the Rally Championship season and is scheduled for the 5-7th of April (the weekend after Easter next year) We are happy for people to email and queries, please send them to wicen(a)crarc.org.au please, not a reply to me and especially not a Reply All please. The link..... https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSduAYFHRkvyUkQwpKQ50rWnC4G18mXFEeJg igykBaPq89sQdA/viewform?usp=pp_url Cheers all, Phil Longworth VK1PL Deputy State Coordinator, WICEN ACT Life Member, Canberra Region Amateur Radio Club Communications Manager, Subaru Canberra RALLY OF CANBERRA 2023 -- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. www.avg.com

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