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@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