Calgary Amateur Radio Association
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Rally Radio Recce
The Cochrane Winter Rally is just a few weeks away and it's time to start getting ready!
Below you will find a link to the Radio Operations at Rallysport Events '101' Guide. If you are new to rally radio operations, or you have been away from the scene for a while, then this document is made just for you! The guide was written to help radio operators get comfortable with common rally terminology and concepts. Please take the time to download a copy and review it prior to the pre-op briefing. The pre-op briefing will assume that everyone is familiar with the contents of this guide.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1prOoUZL-9hDvXP0-5FkpmGTPcXKePjiZ/view?usp=sharing
73, Garry, VE6GDS
Important Rally Registration Procedure
Volunteer registration for the Cochrane Winter Rally (CWR) is now available. Please review this posting carefully to obtain the correct procedure.
Please do not use the link(s) on the Rallywest page. The instructions there may be inaccurate for the Radio Operator volunteers. Here is the correct procedure for Radio Operators:
If you click on the URL below it will take you to the volunteer registration form. It works best with a Google Chrome browser, though other modern browsers seem to be adequate.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSctG9iCnGZyInXMxQMrkNf6tRb1tjz86syohHnU8fB5-X0lug/viewform?usp=pp_url
We hope that you will join us for a great time at the Cochrane Winter Rally!
Are you ready to RALLY???
This is a pre-announcement for this year's Cochrane Winter Rally (CWR).
This event is being planned for 05 (Saturday) and 06 (Sunday) March, 2022. Recce and other opening activities are planned for the Saturday, and a few radio operators are often needed to help with this part of the event. Only one day of racing will occur, on the Sunday. This is when the majority of the radio operations support is required. Be sure to make the appropriate entries on your calendar.
We believe that the usual roads northwest of Cochrane will be used for this rally, and we will advise you via this blog once we can confirm the venue.
Everyone is all too aware that COVID continues to be a factor in planning these sorts of things. We'll keep you updated here in the blog with any event changes or protocols that are necessary.
More details about this event will be posted here, soon.
73, Garry, VE6GDS Dana, VA6DJH
Our report from the summer Rally Radio Operator survey is now released. A link to the report is provided below.
We are grateful for everyone's patience. It took some time to assemble and interpret all of this valuable input. Our respondents provided terrific data that has already begun to influence event organization. We trust that you will find our report engaging.
Thanks again to everyone who participated. You made this possible. Click here for the report:
Released Report
Rocky Mountain Rally - 2021 edition - is now past. This was the first performance rally run by the CSCC since the Cochrane Winter Rally in March of 2020 - and we hope to see more to come. Of the 29 volunteers that we oversaw - this was old hat for many, and a first amateur radio public service event for several.
It was a long day, and we hope an enjoyable and perhaps even an educational day for all. There were no major incidents while mobilizing and demobilizing our volunteers to and from the area, and the ambulance - ever ready - didn't get any emergency calls. These are, to us, ear markers of a successful day.
The somewhat dramatic end - a Red Flag event ending the final stage, concluded safely and without incident - was not a common occurrence and it was the perfect time to demonstrate being ready at all times. A few operators illuminated their stop signs with their flashlights before the cars arrived. Without retroflective signage - this was probably the only available way to give as much notice to the signage as possible before the area was fully lit by the intense lighting systems that are on those cars.
The Propagation Poltergeist of Powderface struck again at this event. As usual, it has left us with more questions than answers. It is known that the propagation characteristics change over time in this area, but we haven't really documented the magnitude of asymmetric propagation that we observed this time. Several stations were receiving VE6RYC full quieting - but weren't able to transmit back in to it. A couple found that they could receive RYC better, but were only able to get into AUY. Simplex relays are possible contingencies that had been considered, and this is one of the strategies that was employed. Radio Support was stationed at a strategic location over on Moose Mountain road that ended up being leveraged for it's simplex reach into the south end of Powderface Trail.
Split channel operations were not part of a plan or contingency - it is generally a bad idea for an active stage. But we had some operators who tried it out and some very experienced net controllers who adapted to it without missing a beat. The ability to link and unlink the repeaters could have been an asset at this event.
This was the first rally where we formalized a practice that was always previously being done, but informally. A final check for the radio operator volunteers as they departed the area to ensure nobody was left stranded. We couldn't use the word "sweep" because this is already reserved for active stage operations, and we've named this the "Scrub". Thank you to VA6BM, VE6DED, and VE6HRY who took on the scrub roles - you may have seen them with green flashing lights on their mobiles as they cleared the course.
Last year, on a trip out to the area a 'passive repeater' (antenna-coax-antenna) was tried with VE6IXD to help VE6RYC's signal up and over the hill - it didn't end up working as well as hoped, but it was an interesting experiment. In the same trip, we also tried a 3 element yagi at road level - which actually seemed to help, and a doppler direction finding unit to try to see if it would help determining where the dominant reflections were actually coming from.
Further experimentation is encouraged in this area (both the area of study, and also the geographical area). If proven effective, various means and designs for inexpensive directional antennas could mean a practical rollout for multiple locations. We would also love to hear about more complicated configurations such as diversity antenna setups, phased arrays and coherent receivers.
Without knowing what variables are correlated with the propagation shifts, it is hard to define an experiment that has meaningful results. Also when inches count for antenna location, an omni vertical can't be colocated with a directional antenna to compare their performance without each modifying the performance of the other.
At the previous Kananaskis rally we also experimented with 6m FM. Alternate bands propagate differently and is another tool to have in the toolbelt. There was some HF gear deployed at this event - we don't think there will be a practical plan to leverage this anytime soon, but the possibility is interesting. Consider that the New England Forest Rally currently uses HF for one of their rally stages (ref: presentation by Tim Carter - W3ATB).
In a more general sense - we are happy to hear about what worked well, what didn't, and any ideas for improvement.
Thank you, everybody, for your participation.
This does not work without all of you.
Garry Spicer, VE6GDS
Dana Harding, VA6DJH
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For anybody interested and willing to make the trip - keep an eye out for Big White Winter Rally, which is run out of the Big White Ski Resort near Kelowna. It is a different organizing team, and has some different operating conditions. Currently undetermined if that will be happening or not, if it goes - that will likely be early to mid December.
There have been a couple of position assignment changes, and one location move.
The specific individuals impacted by the assignment changes have been contacted by email, and updated in the Radio Operators Handbook.
Radio Operators Handbook RMR 2021 v03.pdf
A 'delta' view of the changes, so you can see what is different at a glance:
Assignment and Location changes v02a to v03 2021-09-30 22:45
References to the current versions of other documentation (nothing is different here than previously published):
RMR Segments Items v04a.kml - Blocker and Control Points
RMR Context Items v04b.kml - Context Map - general navigation
Radio Configuration Guidelines RMR 2021 v04a.pdf
COVID Protocol v1.1a.pdf
Rally Radio Operations 101 v1.4a.pdf
Radio Operator Packing and Preparation Guidelines v4.0d.pdf
Radio Operator Vehicle Preparation Supplement v1.0d.pdf
Course Road Segment Videos
Radio Operators handbook is now available. This book includes assignments.
Radio Operators Handbook RMR 2021 v02.pdf
Radio Operators Handbook RMR 2021 V02a.pdf
(2021-09-29 21:25 V02a: modified in position time for Powderface locations from 09:15 to 09:00, no other changes.)
Fillable .pdf log sheets for anybody interested in trying logging on an electronic device:
Radio Operators Handbook RMR 2021 v02 LOGS.pdf
This is a reminder for the radio operator Pre Operation Briefing:
Wednesday, 29 September 2021 19:00 to 20:00 hrs Zoom virtual meeting (Link to be provided later)
The link will be sent out under separate cover.
The Rallymaster has provided us with some excellent course road segment videos that you may want to watch prior to heading out for the event on Saturday. If you have not been out there, or just not recently, you may find these videos helpful when planning your day.
1) Jumping Pound Loop Reverse (Westbound)
https://youtu.be/bnHNemoMrSY
2) Powderface Down (Southbound)
https://youtu.be/vQQRmfjcEYI
3) Powderface Up (Northbound)
https://youtu.be/OcC4MIrvyqM
73, Garry
My sincerest apologies to everyone for this late change to the Radio Configuration Guide. We have had to make some modifications to the channel set, so please check this guide carefully to make sure that your equipment is properly configured for the event. Channel changes affect certain procedures, so please be sure that you review a copy of this document so that you understand how things will work on rally day.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17gZn8PnDt9NkERpuaXLZfEszV-Lvbj7I/view?usp=sharing
