MARS will hold an in-the-field drill as a mock Jensie on September 27, 2020 from 9am until about 1pm. We will staff all the (empty) rest stops and could use a couple of SAGS to roam the entire course to test the coverage of the simulcast system and several other nearby repeaters.
Let me know if you wish to participate. If your name is already on the Jensie roster, I’ll assume that you will be there.
Cheers,
Michael K6MLF
Update: Sep 12, 2020
Hello again, colleagues–
As you all know, this public service season is a bust. All for good and understandable reasons, of course.
Radio skills are perishable, and we REALLY want to keep them brushed-up and ready to go. Many of you participated in our in-the-field drill last month, for a “fake” Marin Century bicycle ride. Not only was it enjoyable, but it was a great practice-and-learning experience. It also gave us a leg up on measuring the footprint of our repeater system now that the Big Rock input has migrated NE to Bahia Ridge.
So OK, let’s do it again. We will mount another drill, this one mimicking the big Jensie cycling event that we supported in 2017 & 2018. In 2019, Jensie went down to San Mateo County, but they intended to return to Marin again this year. Then Covid hit; so, like our MCBC colleagues did for their two events, Jensie has gone virtual. Cyclists will still undertake one of the three courses, but on their own, without support. Their GPS devices will record their routes and times on the web. Here’s the Jensie website—please print out and be intimately familiar with each of the three routes: https://thejensiegranfondo.com/
We will mount three 90-minute shifts: 0900-1030, 1030-noon, and noon-1330. We will staff net control at Stafford Lake, and 7 rest stops. We wish to have at least three SAG vehicles, each patrolling a separate segment of the courses.
As we did for the “fake Marin Century,” we have two objectives:
First, to run a disciplined directed net, following our communications protocol. Please re-watch Brian Cooley’s excellent video on protocol shortly before the date as a reminder:
The second objective is to continue to map our repeater coverage. This time, that will be the principal role for the SAG vehicles, but each station will also be asked for a report. We will be measuring the quality of comms between your location and net control using the circuit merit method. Please be completely familiar with the 5 levels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_Merit
If you wish to participate, please sign up on this Google Sheets roster:
rowlands47@gmail.com has invited you to edit the following spreadsheet:
Rob and I have populated the spreadsheet with the names of those who signed up for the Jensie or one of the MCBC events. But all licensed operators are welcome, on a first-come basis. Just add your name and fill in your desired slot.
Except for net control, each shift at each location may be occupied only by a solo operator—we’re still in active Covid season. If your favorite time and location is taken, please shift to another—we’d like to have all the bases covered. If you would like to stand more than one shift, that’d be great! Like you could do location A the first shift, SAG the second shift, and location B the third shift? Or one location for the entire time? That’d be fine, too. If we have more operators than we expect, we might ask one of the “three-shift operators” to relinquish a slot for someone who wishes to join, but for whom we don’t have an empty position.
We will have no permissions to occupy any of the rest stop locations, so be prepared to be flexible: find a nearby safe location (like outside the Nicasio or Laguna Schools’ gates) to set up. Operating from the comfort of your car is OK (especially if it’s smoky.) But it would be preferable if you come prepared to set up your portable base station, antenna, battery, solar panel, table & chair…
We’ll send out more info as the date gets closer—the frequency plan, and final duty assignments. Meantime, please fill in your time slot, study the attachments, and be intimately familiar with the accident & injury protocol as well as the route maps. For those who joined us at the early-March “kickoff” luncheon, you received two expensive maps of Marin—please get them out, and use them to plot the Jensie routes. You should be able to find your way to the intersection of Hicks Valley Road and Chileno Valley/Wilson Hill Road in the pitch-dark!
Rob will be sending out his agenda for this week’s Critical Mass Zoom session—please join us for that, as well! He will focus on the benefits of ARRL membership, among other things.
Looking forward to work with you again soon,
Michael Fischer K6MLF and Rob Rowlands NZ6J
