Getting ready for the Canadian Ski Marathon

Wednesday evening found me at the Jan meeting of the Ottawa Amateur Radio Club here in Ottawa.  While at the meeting I managed to have a short chat with Harold VA3UNK who is the Comms Co-ordinator (Amateur Radio) for the Canadian Ski Marathon.  Although the schedule is a work in progress he informed me that I will be at Net Control for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday based at the Chateau Montebello in the village of Montebello QC.

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We will be setting up the Radio Room in one of the Meeting Rooms which has a window with a screen that can be removed along (and a window that can be partially opened so the coax can get outside to the antenna.  The antenna itself will be a 2m Jpole which is attached to about 20 feet of masting which is clamped to the fire escape.  This gets the antenna about 40 feet off the ground and does quite well into the repeaters we use for the event.  The main radio we will be using at Net Control will be my (recently returned from the shop) Yaesu FT 2900 which is a 75w 2m mobile radio. I will be using my Jetstream 30amp switching power supply to power the radio as well as a handheld that we use for secondary monitoring.

Traditionally we set up on Friday afternoon and immediately open up an informal net to talk the mobiles in to their staging areas.  Some amateurs arrive on Friday evening and are either billeted at the High School in Papineauville or in the Staff Quarters at the Chateau Montebello.  I normally just have a roll out cot brought into the Radio Room and sleep beside my desk for the two nights (Friday and Saturday) that I stay there.  The days start around 0500 (Saturday and Sunday) and finish around 2200 so the days are long but fun…  We normally have 3 radio operators in NCS with one operating, one logging and the third acting as a runner between the radio room and the Ski Marathon office which is located at a different location inside the hotel for the weekend.

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Click on the above link for a PDF file of the Marathon Route.  You will have to have the PDF reader installed for this to work though

The course runs this year from Buckingham Quebec to Lachute Quebec taking a Northern route covering a very large area that (in this day and age) is still lacking for the most part dependable cell phone coverage.  This is one event that needs ham radio and we provide 90% (rough estimate) of the Safety, Operational and Logistical communications on the repeaters (listed from the above link.)

For now (at least) I know where I will be operating from and that means I know what sort of Radio Toys to bring to play with. The big thing is to remember to plan for the unexpected.  For this you need to “Plan for the worst and Hope for the best” .  You have to make it work with what your bring so its a good plan to pack heavy…The event itself runs on VHF and for the most part things will be way too hectic for anything else as the net runs at Light Speed when the skiers are on the course and there is still a fair bit on traffic on the net in the evenings as skiers are looking for lost articles (mitts, skis, skiers) and the logistical people are working on the trail and the checkpoints…  Its a very busy 3 days…

There will be more on this as we get closer to the date….  Its a hell  heck of a event and it really showcases our hobby to the media, the public and more importantly keeps the participants safe…

73bob

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Tags: amateur radio, Canadian Ski Marathon, Chateau Montebello, CSM, OARC, Ottawa Amateur Radio Club, Yaesu FT 2900