The October club meeting started, as they always do, with a question: Is anyone else in your family a ham? The responses showed that about 1/3 of those attending had hams in their family. Following a brief business meeting, the heart of the club meeting focused on several upcoming events:
**Club POTA, Saturday the 11th (details here)
**Weekend Session, Sunday the 12th (details here)
**Em Comms for the MDI Marathon, Sunday the 19th (details below)
**Maine Simulated Emergency Test, Saturday the 25th (details below)
Barbara KC1SSY is not only an active member of the EAWA, she is also the Emergency Coordinator for Hancock County. She shared details of the Maine Simulated Emergency Test scheduled for October 25th. There are two major components: the VHF/UHF/Voice Test and the WinLink Test. The first component involves both within and across county nets, guided by EMA administrators. The WinLink component involves messages sent out and returned by hams to test the emergency response network. The incoming message will ask a question, and hams will return their responses. Barbara is looking for volunteers who have, or will install, WinLink to participate. She has instructions for installing WinLink. If you are interested, contact Barbara KC1SSY (see QRZ) or respond to the Contact Us on this website.
Most of the meeting was focused on finalizing details for the race communications for the upcoming MDI Marathon, scheduled for Sunday, October 19. Whereas most EAWA events are open to anyone to join in, the race communications take a great deal of preparation and planning. While the race team is primarily EAWA members, we also have members of other clubs in the area joining us. Barbara reviewed the locations along the route where each of 25 hams will be stationed.
It’s important for everyone involved to make sure they know their location, have checked their equipment, have redundancy plans in place for equipment, have food and drinks, and are prepared for any weather (both for themselves and their equipment). There was discussions of net protocol, plans for emergencies of varying levels, and navigating particularly difficult sections of the race route.
October is a busy month for EAWA activities! It was great to have members of area clubs join us. It was a lively meeting with productive discussions. The next meeting is Thursday, November 13th. Perhaps we’ll see you then?
Written by Marion W1GRL
W1TU 