Oops, I thought I had already posted the results of my "bicycle communications systems" test, but I see I was mistaken. Doh!
I hit the W&OD trail about 1 p.m. on Sunday, and found Bill McCourt WF1L on a local repeater. We changed to the simplex frequency we'll be using for the bike race, and we had solid copy on each other as I wheeled my way west on the trail out of Reston. We bounced back and forth between the repeater and simplex as I progressed through Herndon and on into Loudoun County and Sterling Park. This was a good test of my system, since Bill lives in Reston, about two miles north of our planned fixed site in Reston.
Joe Sheinman W2BHK also joined in while he was driving around CountrySide and Cascades, and again, nothing but solid copy each way. As I slogged my way west, Bill and Joe conversed on the repeater, and I would occasionally switch over to the input frequency to see how my simplex connection was faring.
It was only after I had gone about a half mile or so past the Loudoun County Parkway did I start to lose Bill on the input. If I had to copy him, I probably could have, but it would have definitely taken a lot of concentration. Since Joe was in "North Sterling" and much closer, I could still read him very strongly on the input frequency.
All-in-all, a very successful test. I was able to talk with Bill for over six miles, and at that point, I was about two miles from Ashburn, so I have no doubt that I'll easily be able to communicate with either Reston, Ashburn, or both along the entire length of the W&OD trail between those two communities.
On Sunday, August 24, 2003, the Reston Bicycle Club will be holding their annual Reston Bike Ride, supported by the Loudoun County chapter of the American Red Cross. The Loudoun ARC is, in turn, supported by the Loudoun Amateur Radio Group, of which I'm a member. LARG will be providing communications support for the event, which includes a Century (100 miles), a Metric Century (100 kilometers) and a Half Metric Century (50 kilometers). An approximately nine-mile stretch of all of the rides will be on the Washington & Old Dominion Trail, and won't be accessible to the various support vehicles. So, here comes Amateur Radio bicycle support!
Along with several other Amateur Radio operators, I'll be on my bike with a magnetic mount antenna on the back, and an HT (walkie-talkie) bungie-corded to the handlebars. I'll be running a test tomorrow to see how well my "communications suite" works. I've got a pretty good antenna (Larsen 2m/70cm dual-band antenna, approx 40" tall), and I'm hoping that the 5-watt output from my Yaesu VX-5R will be pushing enough power to communicate effectively with our fixed and vehicle-mobile stations.
I tested my setup last weekend with a much smaller antenna, and I wasn't too pleased with the results. Consequently, I bought the Larsen this week, and I noticed a tremendous difference in signal strength and quality when I tested it outside my house. The ARRL Emergency Coordinator in Loudoun County still recommends that I use a more robust radio, such as a mobile, to improve both audio quality and power output. While I don't doubt his experience and expertise in this matter, and I'm sure that both my reception and transmission would improve with the use of the mobile, but I still want to test my current setup to see how it works. Adding to my reluctance of leaping to the "50-watt mobile" solution is the inconvenience of extracting my Yaesu FT-8900 out of my truck and installing it on the bicycle, plus the expense and inconvenience of buying and mounting sufficiently powerful gel cell batteries to supply the power. So I'm going to try to run some tests tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll be able to contact Jim Scott - KG6EFT in Reston on a simplex frequency (as opposed to using a repeater), since Jim has graciously agreed to help me test my setup.
I'll be posting the results, so keep an eye out for my next post (which won't take me ten days this time).
For those of you who aren't familiar with tornadoes and are hearing news coverage of this, Xenos from the InterWARN Forums put together a short glossary to help you understand, and I have shamelessly stolen it and reproduced it here.
Fujita Scale: Scale used to measure wind speeds of tornadoes and their severity.
F1: A laughable little string of wind unless it comes through your house, then it’s enough to make your insurance company drop you like a brick. People enjoy standing on their porches to watch this kind.
F2: Strong enough to blow your car into your house, unless of course you drive an Expedition and live in a mobile home, then strong enough to blow your house into your truck.
F3: Will pick your house and your Expedition up and move them to the other side of town.
F4: Usually ranging from ½ to a full mile wide, this tornado can turn an Expedition into a Pinto, then gift wrap it in a semi truck.
F5: The Mother of all Tornadoes, you might as well stand on your front porch and watch it, because it's probably going to be one hell of a last sight.
Meteorologist: A rather soft-spoken, mild-mannered type of person until severe weather strikes, when they start yelling at you through the TV: "GET TO YOUR BATHROOM OR YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!"
Storm Chaser: Meteorologist-rejects who are pretty much insane but get us really cool pictures of tornadoes. We release them from the mental institution every time it starts thundering, just to see what they'll do.
Tranquilizer: What you have to give any dog or cat that lived through the May 3rd, 1999 tornado every time it storms, or they tear your whole house up freaking out of their minds.
Moore, Oklahoma: A favorite gathering place for tornadoes. They like to meet here and do a little partying before stretching out across the rest of the Midwest.
Bathtub: Best place to seek shelter in the middle of a tornado, mostly because after you're covered with debris, you can quickly wash off and come out looking great.
Severe Weather Radio: A handy device that receives messages from the National Weather Service during a storm, though the high pitched, shrill noise just as an alarm sounds is quite disconcerting, because it sounds suspiciously like a tornado. Plus the guy reading the report just sounds creepy.
Tornado Siren: A system the city spent millions to install, which is really useful, unless there's a storm or a tornado, because then, of course, you can't hear it.
Storm Cellar: A great place to go during a tornado, as it is almost 100% safe, though weigh your options carefully, since most are not cared for and are homes to rats and snakes.
May-June: Tourist season in Oklahoma, when people who are tired of bungee jumping and diving out of airplanes decide it might be fun to chase a tornado. These people usually end up as contestants on Fear Factor.
Barometric Pressure: Nobody really knows what this is, but when it drops, a lot of pregnant women go into labor, which makes for exciting moments as their husbands are trying to drive them to the hospital and dodge tornadoes at the same time.
Cars: The worst place to be during a tornado (except for a mobile home). Yes, you can out run a tornado in your car...unless everybody on the road decides to do the same thing, and then you're in grid lock.
A Ditch: Supposedly where you're supposed to go if you find yourself without shelter or in your car during a tornado. Theoretically the tornado is supposed to pass right over you, but since it can lift a 20-ton truck and uproot a three-hundred-year-old tree, I'd take my chances on outrunning it in a car.
Mobile Home: Most people are convinced mobile homes send off some strange signal that triggers tornadoes, because if there's one mobile home park in a hundred mile radius, the tornado will find it.
Earthquake: What any Californian would rather go through on any scale of severity instead of facing a tornado.
Tornado: What any Oklahoman would rather go through on any scale of severity instead of facing an earthquake.
Twister: Slang for tornado. It's also the title of a movie starring Helen Hunt, which, incidentally, everyone in Oklahoma thought was corny and unrealistic until May 3rd, 1999.
Power Flash: One of the most reliable ways to track a tornado at night, it's the term used when the tornado hits a power line and a bright light flashes. It's also the emotion experienced by meteorologists when they get to make the call to interrupt prime-time must-see TV and a million dollars worth of advertising to track a storm for viewers.
Here are some phrases you might want to learn and be familiar with:
"We'll have your electricity restored in 24 hours," means it'll be a week.
"Power is going to be out for a week, so buy a lot of supplies and an expensive generator," means it's going to be on in twelve hours, probably as soon as you return from Wal-Mart with your generator.
"It's a little muggy today." means "Get outta town. It's getting ready to storm."
"There's just a slight chance of severe weather today, so go ahead and make your outdoor plans." Ha. Ha ha ha ha.
And the BIG TIP of the day:
When your electricity goes out, and you go to bed at night, be sure to turn off everything that was on before it went out, or when it is unexpectedly restored in the middle of the night, every light, every computer, your dishwasher, your blow dryer, your washing machine, your microwave and your fans will all come on all at once.
1) You'll just about have a heart attack when they all come on at the same time, waking you from a dead sleep.
2) Your breakers will blow, leaving you in the dark once again.
