Marin Century bike event drill Saturday August 1

MARS is holding a drill on Saturday 1 August in place of the Marin Century bike event that would have been held on that date.

This will be exciting for those of us cooped up, sheltering in place, these last 4 months as we will be going in the field to test out our radio coverage! We can only do this however if we adhere strictly to the Covid 19 guidelines (see sidebar on home page) that Michael has published.

Here’s some suggested rules for the event:

1. Only one operator at each location unless its a family cohort.
2. Only operate from your vehicle
3. Wear a mask if communicating through your windows.
4. Park safely outside the site. We have no permission to use any sites
5. Please only use high power (25W+)  mobile radios – no HTs.
6. No face to face socializing outside your vehicles at any location. Use a simplex frequency to chat.
7. Each location’s duty is for exactly one hour. If you put up antennas external to your vehicle please pack them up before the next operator arrives.
8. There may be some cyclists from the Century organization, Marin Cyclists, riding some of the course unofficially. They are being asked to look for the operators at each site, so try to identify your vehicle somehow. Creativity folks! Ask for their names and forward names and arrival times to net control.
9. Please access the google sheet for the event at https://tinyurl.com/y4rezzt2, You should populate the sheet with your desired location and time slot(s). If you can only operate for 1 hour, I suggest choosing the 11am slot. No one can operate for all three slots obviously!
10. We will be operating primarily on the Mt Tam simulcast system. We may also need to use Tam West, Sonoma Mountain or English Hill. Be kind on Net Control if you don’t receive their attention immediately as they may be on the other repeaters.`
11. Please don’t tailgate! Leave a several second pause before keying up your radio to allow others access to Net Control.

If unsure of the site location please see our website https://tinyurl.com/y2y99jpf or call me. Note that Net control is at Stafford Lake, not Terra Linda high school.

Repeaters

Simulcast

Others

Major Caveat

Given the Covid-19 situation in Marin County we may have to shut the event down! Listen to the simulcast system before leaving home. We have never staged an event like this before, so there’s sure to be questions and comments! Feel free to contact either of us.

73,

Rob Rowlands NZ6J 415 849  5667
Michael Fischer K6MLF 415 519`2201