North Country National Scenic Trail

Spring 2011 Trail Safety Net – After Action Report

 

Lake Effect ran its usual trail safety operation with the North Country Trail Hikers club during their Spring 2011 Softies Hike. The hike started north of Sidnaw at FH 2236 on Friday,  13 May and ended at the Canyon Falls highway rest area on US-41 south of Alberta, Michigan on Sunday the 15th. The route covered just over 20 miles.

 

Through inspection, we found that the146.88 repeater (PL=100 hz) in Hancock, Mi covered the area (Tnx! to Jack, N8WAV for this suggestion).  We elected, tho, to continue with simplex communication on 146.52. Foliage was still pretty light and most of the ground was very flat. Also, the access / tracking roads for the mobile van followed the trail closely. The only difficulty encountered was right at the end where hills and woods intervened within a mile of the endpoint. Communication was, however, never actually lost between Marge, KD8AIL on the trail with an HT and the van.

 

Marge, the hike organizer, had engineered into the plan four “opt-out” points where access roads crossed the trail so anyone who had had enough could be picked up. One person did opt out. He was extracted and delivered back to his vehicle with no ill effects. The van was guided deeper into the woods than originally planned to simplify the pickup in real time.

 

Again as usual, Marge and John, KD8AIL, had scouted the route, including the opt-out points, the week prior to the hike to get starting and ending points and opt-out points onto GPS – this practice run makes the actual event much simpler from a management / support standpoint.

 

Marge used a better-than-duck collapsible antenna on her HT. John used a 5/8 wave 2m antenna on the van. This has been an effective combination of tools over several hiking seasons.

 

-30-

 

 

 

 

2011 Event Calendar ver. 1.0

 

Date Event Notes/Issues
18-20 Feb UP200 dog sled race Lake Effect has volunteered but has not yet been assigned shifts. We fell off the rotation last year, and my not get placed. This item is included as a place holder. Note: If Hiawatha club is not running a related special event this year, we may run one independently. Too late to get into printed journals already, but can certainly still get in web event calendars.
 
14 March International Pi Day & Einstein's Birthday Can't believe nobody else is skedding this event. Lake Effect to the Rescue! Einstein was born in 1879, by the way.
16 April Michigan QSO Party Low effort BUT relatively low participation. We have never had more than 50 QSOs during the event. May not be worth doing.
 
4 June Museum Ships Weekend Strongly supported. We had an excellent time in 2010 operating mobile on 40m only from the Silent Service Memorial in Mattson Park. 1x1 needed for this.
 
25-26 June ARRL Field Day Worth doing. Need to find a sheltered location (or replace the operating shelter wrecked last Labor Day).
 
4 July Marquette Independence Day Parade Low budget/low effort but a good time.
 
20-21 August International Lighthouse / Lightship Weekend Operate several shifts over the weekend from the Marquette Lighthouse; sponsored by Hiawatha club. Usually a satisfying activity.
3-5 September Bring on the Bridge III Not known if the encampment is on, so this is a placeholder. If on, we'd be on. 1x1 call needed for this.
 
8-16 October National Wildlife Refuge Week Almost obligatory. We founded this event, after all. 1x1 needed for this.
 

 

 

QSL Policy adopted 22 January 2011

  1. To reduce costs, Lake Effect will QSL electronically in most cases. A completed card image will be e-mailed unless a  paper card is specifically requested and the requestor includes $1 plus SASE.
  2. We no longer require an incoming QSL card and prefer contact info be sent to us by email in plain text format.
  3. We will continue to respond to eQSL requests, but we will not publish that as a preferred QSL route.
  4. All event logs will be uploaded to LOTW to document all contacts made.