Today was the monthly Polar Bear QRP event; and I really had my heart sent on some outdoor operating, even if it was only from the backyard. The park would have been preferable; but neither was to be. Rain and thunderstorms have kept me inside and off the air (for the most part), although I did have a very brief QSO with Scott W5ESE earlier.
The rain wasn't a big surprise; but the thunderstorms were. Earlier this morning, I joined my CERT team for some traffic duty during a 5K foot race that was held in town. We blocked off certain roads and redirected traffic to make sure the runners and walkers would be safe throughout the event. It wasn't too bad - I was only sworn at a couple of times. It was a good thing that I thought ahead to bring my foul weather gear with me as it rained a bit during the middle of the event.
I had two radios on me, my Wouxun 2M/70cm radio and one of the town's public works radio - a Motorola handheld. The communications on the Amateur frequency (we decided on 445.000 simplex amongst ourselves) were a lot more clearer than the town's frequency which is up in the 155 MHz range, I believe.
Next week, the team will be called out to assist in helping out at the Middle School and High School graduations. The day after that, in the evening, we will be going for some search and rescue training on the other side of the county, which will be conducted by the New Jersey State Police.
This coming autumn, our Director of Emergency Management wants to do a real time, live "missing person" drill in town and wants to have as much RACES/ARES involvement as he can get. This is what I signed up for - glad to see we're actually doing some things.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
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