Under overcast skies that were threatening a chance of rain, over 200 volunteers attended the WRTC2014 training session on Saturday, May 31, 2014 at Milara, Inc. in Milford, MA. Volunteers began to arrive around 7:30am and most everyone was checked in by 8:30am. Special thanks to Krassy, K1LZ, for opening the doors of his company and allowing us to have the meeting there. Thanks to Velimir, K3JO, for helping to set everything up.
(Click on any image to see full size.)
Check in line
K6ND had a such a big order of coffee and donuts from Dunkin Donuts that he got a call from the corporate office thanking him for his order! The volunteers took good care of them as none were left by the meeting start.
After checking in, volunteers received a voucher to get a T-shirt that identified what team they were on. Bright yellow shirts were for beam teams, orange for site teams, and white for captains. Lars, KE1J, was responsible organizing the shirt distribution.
WRTC2014 volunteer shirts
The meeting began around 8:40am. It was quite inspiring to see so many people provide their time and energy to support WRTC2014!
Over 200 volunteers attending the training
Doug, K1DG, the chairman of WRTC2014, kicked things off with a presentation on WRTC2014 and what was expected. An audio recording of the presentation is available at http://www.wrtc2014.org/?attachment_id=2476
K1DG leading the meeting (K6ND photo)
Tom, K1KI, spoke about the site selection and need for site managers and site team members. Mark, K1RX, talked about the beam teams. Dave, KM3T, presented the communication plan for tracking progress and handling any priority messages back to HQ.
The volunteers then divided into break out sessions. One was for the beam team members and the other for the site teams. This was the opportunity for all teams to get better acquainted and review their responsibilities.
Breakout sessions (K6ND photo)
Breakout session (K6ND photo)
Then it was time to head outside for some hands on experience. Two complete sites worth of gear were pulled out of the warehouse.
Tower and antennas for two stations (K6ND photo)
Everything else required for 2 stations (K6ND photo)
Beginning assembly of the TX38 tribander
Preparing the tower installation
There was a break for lunch as it was necessary for the group to consume 60 giant pizzas!
Lunch break – pizza for everyone (K6ND photo)
A quick YCCC meeting was held during the lunch break. W2OSR (not present) was the lucky winner of the Elecraft K3 that was being raffled off to raise money for the YCCC Youth Scholarship administered by the ARRL Foundation. WRTC2014 offered several door prizes. W1AC was the winner of the TX38 tribander. NR1G won the X50 144/440 Mhz vertical. Both of these antennas will be available to the winners as soon as they come out of service at the WRTC2014 HQ hotel.
Then it was time to head back outside and finish the job.
Mounting the antenna to the mast (K6ND photo)
Going up! (K6ND photo)
After the two systems were successfully installed, it was time to do the reverse. The antennas were lowered, taken apart, and everything was returned to storage. A debriefing session was held afterward to review some of the lessons learned.
Everything was wrapped up around 4pm.
Follow the links below for more photos and video:
K6ND
- https://www.dropbox.com/sc/y9fk3dlf134skwh/AACyR8-cTWE0NpN827M9gKYQa
- https://www.dropbox.com/sc/a1ri2fy8s0kgtxp/AABE7ZjUei0EYXRj_Ul1ggsPa
- https://www.dropbox.com/sc/jczugkyj5fzop4c/AAAO3qG5ygDcbFh8vZrqAOi4a
- https://www.dropbox.com/sc/xkv8q6htikcbtno/AABsleYDhsx-oJCaN3wsgaYna
W1HIS
Dave Pease, Pepperell Community Media (local access) Video
NE1RD
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBxALhZwieE (video showing tower erection at 2x speed)
Thanks to everyone that participated in the training. This event would not be possible without all of you helping to install 65 stations in only 72 hours! Or watching over those 65 stations for the duration of the event. Let’s show the contesting world what amateur radio in New England is all about.