Northwest Georgia

Emergency Communications Group

Serving Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade and Walker Counties

Summer 2003 Skills Test

    This summer's skills test was a great success and I want to thank all who showed up and competed in this event.  The event was designed to test our ability to set up a stand-alone station in an outdoor environment.

John, AF4XZ, was typical of many.  He appears to be pleading with the Almighty to make his antenna stay up in the tree!

Here's John again -- this time he's just trying to get it together.......

If you believe teamwork is dead just look --- here's Linda telling them how to be a team...

Matt tries to follow Linda's instructions.....

Then it's Linda's turn -- "now just what do I do with this thing -- you call it a microphone?!?"

Winston and David try to make sense of all those wires....

In an apparent effort to find their way through the maze David takes a compass heading....which way are those pesky electrons going?

And, of course, another famous tinfoil antenna!!

Nathan looks on with a bit of confusion behind those cool shades -- "what are David and Winston doing?"

What a great group!  Good job guys!!!

Spring 2003 Fox Hunt

    After holding a "warm-up" event on Sunday, April 13, 2003, we had the real fox hunt on Saturday, April 19, 2003, beginning at 1000 Hrs and continuing until approximately 1330 Hrs.  A great time was had by all and we concluded (as all good amateurs do) with lunch at Wanda's Restaurant in Rock Spring, Georgia.

    Congratulations to John Collette, AF4XZ, the First Place winner of this event, shown here receiving his certificate from Doug Woodruff, W4LAW, President of this Em-Comm group....

    Everyone agreed that you need an attenuator circuit to hunt most successfully and several members have plans to build one for the next hunt.......

2003 Severe Weather Awareness Week

    Thanks to all of you who checked into the Tornado Drill on Wednesday, February 19, 2003.  Our NW GA area was well represented with two of our four counties checking in.  Let's get Dade and Catoosa in the mix and make it all four next year!!

    Here's a graphic of the results for the entire Peachtree City warning area:

2002 Simulated Emergency Test -- "Fox Hunt"

First, let me congratulate our winners:

FIRST PLACE:

    Jeremiah Tapp, KG4PJK, and Jason Burnette, KG4PJL, who narrowly edged out the second place team. (Shown here with NW GA ARES DEC Felton Floyd, AF4DN, between them)

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SECOND PLACE:

    Nathan Bain, KE4EFN, Maxine Bain, KE4RPY, Eric Bain, AF4HN, and their trusty sidekick placed a close second, having found the fox in virtually the same amount of time as J & J! [Shown L-R, the event organizer NW GA ARES EC Doug Woodruff, W4LAW; Eric and navigator; NW GA ARES DEC Felton Floyd, AF4DN; Maxine; and Nathan]

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    Our scenario featured a simulated downed airplane with two injured pilots who were able to talk on a radio and provide a signal for Direction Finding but had no idea of their location, thus requiring participants to utilize specialized directional antennas, triangulation techniques, and map reading skills.

    Our "foxes" are pictured below in all their glory!!!  They provided the radio signals which the participating teams honed in on in their efforts to locate the "airplane." The "foxes" rendered yeoman service in their efforts to impersonate downed "pilots" who were variously bleeding to death, choking, suffered from total entrapment, couldn't see the sun, couldn't tell which direction any landmarks lay, and apparently couldn't read because they "crashed" their plane behind obvious "NO TRESPASSING" signs -- almost necessitating the response of local law enforcement to eject them from their "crash" site!!  Yet, they emerged unscathed at the end of the day ready to sacrifice themselves again in the name of science.

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Here are the other teams each with its own design.......Kudos to the teams, many of whom built their own antennas and other necessary equipment necessary to participate in this highly specialized drill.

    Kipp, K4DKB and Paul, K4RYM, try valiantly to figure out which end is up!

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    Eric, EF4HN, the navigator, Maxine, KE4RPY, and Nathan, KC4EFN, with their winning design that really "measured up."  (Cleverly constructed from metal measuring tape!)

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    John, AF4XZ (president of the Tri State Amateur Radio Club) ready to roll with an antenna he constructed himself. (There's Rufus, K4REM, studying the map with intensity in the background)

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    Gene, K4PTF, with a fine antenna -- isn't that an Arrow?  The Arrow is one of the finest antennas on the market for sheer portability and performance.  It is also uniquely qualified for use as a satellite antenna.  (Gene was later joined by Don, KG4TTG, not pictured)

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My thanks to all who participated.  Your efforts will pay off in huge dividends when you are called upon to render actual service of this type in the future.  Direction finding is sometimes the only way narrow a search area prior to sending in ground units for detailed searches.

I look forward to the next exercise and to your continued participation.

Doug Woodruff, W4LAW

President, NGECG

Field Day 2002

Field Day 2002 was a resounding success due in large part to the faithful members of our group.  As you can see from this photo, Joe Keith, AE4ZD, ARES AEC for Walker County and member of our Board of Directors, is right in the middle of the action as usual!  Seated to his right closest to the camera is Bill Meredith, W4GNA.

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Here is the operating location at Cloudland Canyon State Park atop Lookout Mountain (provided at no cost to the amateurs by the State of Georgia) with generators visible down the hill in the background.

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This is the Tri-State Amateur Radio Club President John Collette, AF4XZ (in the red hat) explaining the Field Day operation to a visitor.

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Here is one of two generators which were "exercised" during the operation.  This particular generator is a 2300 Watt Kawasaki owned by Doug Woodruff, W4LAW, but the group used a generator provided by Paul Rosenstiel, K4RYM, for the majority of the operation.