Hanover Area Hamming Association

Crop Walk 2004

Sunday, October 17, 2004. Hanover, Pennsylvania.

Every year the Council Of Churches conducts a Crop Walk. The money they raise is used to provide food for people who are have trouble providing it for themselves. The route begins at Southwestern High School, winds through the streets of Hanover and ends at the Southwestern High School. Our job was two-fold. First the keep the Crop Walk Committee informed as to the location of the first and last walkers. Second was to provide a small amount of communications between the Committee at the High School and the workers at the three rest stops.

Joe, N3MKE, (left) net control, set up the command post on the tailgate of his pickup truck. Terry, N3XBO, (right) checks for his next assignment.

We assigned stations to the rest stops as necessary and had two mobile stations patrolling the route. There was not much that missed our observers.

In the past, we had experimented with APRS trackers located near the first and last walkers to automatically report their positions. This year, the equipment, unused since last year, refused to awaken on the appointed day. So we scrubbed the APRS experiment and relied on personal observations. It worked well and the Crop Walk Committee was very pleased with the service we provided.

After we dutifully tracked the last walker to the finish line, we adjourned to a picnic pavilion on the school grounds. The gas grill was unloaded and we relaxed as the 'burgers and hot dogs started cooking. We ate, reviewed the days work and discussed ham radio in general.

Thanks to all the members who helped make this a success. KB3ETX, Al KB3FUW, Shawn KG3N, Randy N3MKE, Joe N3XBO, Terry W3CQB, Charlie

Home