Midnight Riders Equestrian Event
On Aug 25th, 2018 several TCARES
members along with three of our friends from Lewis County provided
communications support for the Midnight Riders Equestrian Event held on the
Willapa Hills Rails-to-Trails park along Hwy 6 between Adna and Pe Ell.
This event drew over 80 horse and rider teams. There were two
simultaneous events, a 15-mile Trail Ride from the Willapa Farms Cheese Factory
to Pe Ell and back, and a 30-mile Endurance Ride from the Cheese Farm to the
Adna Trail-head and back. The endurance ride helped train horse and rider
to ride in the dark, and it was DARK, and cloudy, and raining!
A lot of planning went into this event with
lots of research and details provided by Mark, K7HTZ, huge thanks Mark! The documentation was excellent! We used the Bawfaw repeater, 147.06 MHz. Special thanks to Eugene O'Neill,
AF7JM, and CVARS for the use of their repeater. Coverage was
good for a majority of the course.
We were deployed at various road crossings along
the trail and at the Adna and Pe Ell trail-heads. Our mission was to
provide communications support for the event, record horse numbers and report
them in to net control so that progress could be displayed on a big screen TV
for the spectators and horse crews. The
team at Ride Camp, Tom, Nancy and Mark, did a fantastic job of updating
spreadsheets as the numbers were radioed or texted in. Having Nancy, NL7HK as an NCS operator was
awesome. Her experience as a 9-1-1 operator and her on-air demeanor was
spot on. Kudos to her!
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| Ride Camp 1 |
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| Ride Camp 2 |
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| Ride Camp 3 |
W7PLC setup at Adna Trail-head
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As you can see in the photos, wildfire smoke was an issue. Some members brought masks and were prepared for almost anything.
We also used APRS for this event. As expected – APRS RF - if you were stationed east (Ceres) side check points – good performance. Performance declined west of Ceres. Those that operated high power (>50w) did show at the Cheese Farm.
We also used APRS for this event. As expected – APRS RF - if you were stationed east (Ceres) side check points – good performance. Performance declined west of Ceres. Those that operated high power (>50w) did show at the Cheese Farm.
APRS-IP, the APRS app on your smart
phone, on K7HTZ – much better performance vs RF
More research and testing is needed with this
mode before it can be considered reliable enough for general ARES use in our
area. Hills, dead spots, low power, and
cell coverage all contribute to the current usability of this mode. Nothing we can do about the terrain or cell coverage, but we
can invest in higher power. Phil’s
(W7PLC) amp is the “RMItaly LA145” 5W in 85W out ($155.99 @ DXEngineering.com) and worked quite well given the conditions in the area.
It was a fun event that required a bit of
innovation and using new techniques. The Adna Trail-head reported both
arrivals and returning horse numbers and they were coming and going at the same
time, so we tried, successfully, texting the horse numbers and
arrival/departure times. The texting was a test to see if we can get data
through when radio communications is too busy or is unavailable. The Vet
staff at the Adna Trail-head were glued to Phil’s radio listening for horse
progress or any trouble reports and knowing when to expect the horses at the
Vet-check location. Three other
locations also radioed in the horse numbers which made the repeater and net
control very busy.
Some participant comments:
“We all
experienced a few problems with the radios at first but that went away within
an hour. Nice tight net control kept track of everyone well. They
were always responsive to our questions and did a great job. Excellent
planning for this mission. Everyone safe and a great learning experience.”
“None of us
had worked an exercise like this so it was interesting to prepare for a
nighttime event where we need to plan for multiple weather conditions and using
several different radios.”
And “Almost every rider thanked each of us
multiple times. One rider told me that when it was dark and lonely on the
trail she could look ahead and often see that red light many of the hams used
to read the checklist and just seeing us there made her feel safer.” Bob Willey, EC
Centralia ARES (And THAT is why we do what we do!)
“Folks in charge of
the comms plan did a superb job. Excellent integration of APRS and multiple
methods of communications. When I left
all participants were accounted for and safe. Very successful event. You, Mark and others know more about the
details in planning that lead to a successful event.” Bruce
Montgomery, President OARS, Outreach Coordinator TCARES
“OVERALL:
Outstanding job by all concerned – another success for TC ARES and our partners
in Lewis County.” Tom Bohon, EC TCARES
It was a fun event and I'm sure we will be
invited back again next year. If you did not participate, please consider
volunteering for this event next year.
Volunteers this year:
Nancy, NL7HK NCS
Phil, W7PLC ®(T)ADNA
Andy, KB7VTY BUNKER CR. RD
Bruce, WA7BAM CLINTON RD
Mark, K7TUM SPOONER RD
Art, KL7SK ®CERES HILL RD
Bob, N7GQP ®RAINBOW FALLS
Paul, KE7PCB (Lewis Co.) CHANDLER RD
Skip, K1HEK (Lewis Co.) RAILROAD AVE
*Bob, KD7OWN (Lewis Co.)DOTY-DRYAD &
PE ELL AVE
*Mike, KF7RDB STEVENS RD & MAUERMAN RD
Tom, W7BHN NCS
Clarence, AG7BA
Mark, K7HTZ NCS
Jeff, KI7SCS BRIDGE
Stephanie, KI7TEB BRIDGE
Jack KI7TEA BRIDGE
Steve, WC7I ®PE ELL
- *Double assignment. After all horses passed 1st assignment, this person moved to 2nd assignment, after all horses passed 2nd location, person returned to 1st location. Both locations had to keep track of two different lists of riders/horses. Thanks Bob and Mike for the extra effort.
- ® Reporting locations, Phil, Art, Bob, Steve. These locations would report the horse/rider numbers to NCS as they passed . Adna was testing a texting option (T) that could possibly be used in future events such as the Capital City Marathon.
Start thinking about what we accomplished on this event and
how we can improve on it for our next outing.
We will have an after-action-review at the next TCARES meeting, Sept 13,
2018 7:00 PM at Tilley Rd EOC, 9521 Tilley Rd. and I’m sure it will be
discussed at the next Centralia ARES meeting.
Now is the time for you to join TCARES or Centralia ARES.