Cedar Valley Amateur Radio Club
Public Service schedule
2010
 
What is public service?

One of the reasons that the FCC established the amateur radio service was for the "Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary non-commercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications."

CVARC members, like many other hams, volunteer their time and equipment to help with communication during public events like races and parades.Working with the event organizers, hams can get a message through from one end of an event to the other, to help the organizers stay on top of things.

CVARC upcoming public service events

EVERY ham, REGARDLESS of experience has the opportunity to participate and hone their skills at these events. The biggest perceived barrier to event participation is not having the right equipment. Loaner radios of various types are available during events.

Public service events are a great way to learn and gain experience with your radios and equipment. The events are usually low key and fun. When the Big Event happens at 3 AM some Wednesday you'll be glad you worked the bugs out during a noon weekend 5k Fun Walk. The free t-shirts aren't bad either.

If you would like to volunteer to help with any of these events, please contact CVARC:
 
Ken Hamer
364-2984
w0hkr@imonmail.com

For your information, Iowa ARES District 6 West has an online calendar "Eastern Iowa Amateur Radio Events," including some of the events listed on this page. ARES District 6 West covers Benton, Blackhawk, Buchanan, Cedar, Johnson, Jones, Iowa and Linn counties in Iowa.

Click on the "details" link (if present) to see more about CVARC helping with an  upcoming event:
Marion Arts Festival 5k Run/Walk

15 May, Saturday: We will meet at 0730 in the south parking lot of the Walgreens Drug store in Marion. The event will start at 0800 with an expected finish of 1100.

Tour De Cure (American Diabetes Association) bike ride

26 June, Saturday: This event starts at College Community's Prairie High School at 0600. There are 100-mile, 50-mile 25-mile and 5-mile rides. Check in at the high school at 0530. The event is expected to finish by 1500. More info on the Tour itself is here.

Alzheimer's Walk

The event is at Noelridge Park/Harding Middle School in Cedar Rapids on Saturday, 18 September. Net control will be set up near the school. Please arrive by 0800. You should find parking in the Middle School lot. The event starts at 0900 and should finish by 1100 or so. We will use HTs and simplex frequencies for this event. Talk-in will be on the 146.745 repeater. Please have 146.505 and 146.460 simplex frequencies programmed into your radio. A speaker-mic and/or earbud and a 1/4 wave antenna are very useful. Loaner radios/antennas will be available at the event.

Check the weather before you leave the house. One year we wore winter coats and gloves, a year later I wore a t-shirt and got a sunburn.
CVARC public service frequency plan

If you are helping with one of these public service events, you'll want these frequencies programmed into your radios:

Purpose
 Callsign
 Frequency Offset
 Tone
Primary repeater
 W0GQ
 146.745
 -600 Hz
 no tone
Secondary repeater W0HUP
 145.150
 -600 Hz
 192.8 Hz
Primary simplex
146.505

Secondary simplex
146.460

National 2m calling frequency
146.520




CVARC past public service events

Ham radio volunteers from the Cedar Valley Amateur Radio Club (CVARC) have helped out at a number of area events over the past few years:

• Alzheimer'sWalk at Noelridge Park, Cedar Rapids – CVARC volunteers stationed themselves along the course and at the start/finish line, letting the organizers know where walkers were on the course, and ready to call the organizers for help if any assistance was needed.

• Pigman Sprint and Triathlon, Pleasant Creek Recreation Area, Palo – CVARC volunteers stationed themselves along the course – including out on the water and at the start/finish line.We kept the organizers informed about participants on the course, such as when the first and last participants had passed checkpoints.

• Dragon Boat Races, Pleasant Creek Recreation Area, Palo – CVARC volunteers were at the headquarters tent, and out on the water at the starting line, where we radioed in the sound of the starter's horn to the timekeepers for the race.

• Marion Arts Festival 5K, Marion Square Park, Marion – CVARC volunteers were at the park and along the race course. We let race organizers know when the first and last participants reached various points along the course.

• WitchWatch, throughout Linn County on October 31st – CVARC volunteers provide an extra set of eyes on rural roads when so many children are out, and coordinate by radio with the Linn County Sheriff's department.

Last modified: 4 July 2010