Desert
RATS in The Desert Event!
I 'm
organizing another Desert RATS Picnic and Camping Weekend this time
very close to home. Last 3 outings were in the open desert
near the Salton Sea this time it's at shaded Lake Cahuilla County
Park in La Quinta.
Bill
Prats K6ACJ and I have booked 2 campsites #44 & #46 and
will be setting up an HF Radio for the weekend. Here's the plan
if you want to come and camp there are various camping opportunities
both RV and Tenting. Reservations are needed if you want
hookups and they can be done on the County Park Web Site for Lake
Cahuilla here is the link for that
http://www.riversidecountyparks.org .
Book early to get a nice spot. Dry camping reservations
are not required for Tenting or RV's so just show up. For those
that just want come out for the day or afternoon there is a large
grassy area for that with BBQ's. Bring your fishing gear too as
there is fishing at the Lake. This is the same weekend we are helping
the Boy Scouts on the Saturday May 5th morning for 3 hours with their
Radio Merit Badges. We will be having a station setup at the
Park to communicate with the Scout Group. If you are a helper
at the event come by for the afternoon Picnic it's only a short drive
and make it an all day radio day. On Sunday we are also
inviting the Boy Scouts to come out to the Park and see our HF Radio
set up and antenna in the wild.
That
weekend there is also a 10 Meter Contest that we will be
participating in as well as 2 other HF contests. If you want to join
up and be a part of the Desert RATS DX and Contest Team for the
weekend or for a few hours call me at 760-318-0186 and
we'll include you in the Team. If you have any questions I'll
be happy to answer them at the next meeting. Hope you can come out
for the Saturday / or Sunday or whatever..... Bill K6ACJ and I will
be RV camping from Friday till Monday hope you will too.
As an
extra activity for Saturday May 5th for those that just can't make it
to the County Park and still want something to do in the morning we
have been asked by the Coachella Valley Scouts to help out with
getting the Scouts on the air to show them what Ham radio is all
about so from 9:30 AM till 1 PM we will be holding various on air
activities for them. At 10 AM we have asked the ARES California
Rescue Communications Net Members run by Gordon West to check
into a Net I will be conducting on 28.400 on 10 Meters SSB and
perhaps FM as a directed experiment.( Anyone can be on that
Band even with a Tech licence so if you have 10 meter capability join
in. ) The ARES Members of this Net come from various places
all around the State and as far as Oregon, Hawaii, Arizona, Nevada,
Utah. I have asked them to check in to my Directed Net to
show the Scouts what a Net is all about and this will be a good
opportunity for us all to see what kind of propagation there is
on 10 Meters that time of day. The Scouts will be on for a few
minutes each to talk to those that check into that Net. You are
welcome to join in afterwards as directed by Net Control which will
be shared with Tom KJ6DZT who will be at the Boy Scout
gathering in Palm Springs. I will be at the Cahuilla Lake camp
site.
After
that event they have been invited to the Park to join our Picnic. SO
you can still come and join us as well. It should be a fun
filled action packed day at the Park. If you can't make it
Saturday May 5 we will be there all day Sunday too so bring along the
kids and grandkids for day 2. There is swimming at the Lake and
Fishing too. It might be warm so bring all you need for
yourself including food and sunscreen and water. There are BBQ pits
in the grassy areas but bring your own coals. There is some
shade there but not enough for all if all our members come so bring
your own chairs and shade if you have it... Park in the Dry
Camp Area near our RV camp sites 44 and 46. No reservations
required for Tenting or RV Dry Camping so come for the Saturday night
too!
There
are some contests on during the weekend so bring your HF rig if you
want and set up a mobile contest station and show others what you've
got for a set up!
It
should turn out to be a lot of fun ....Hope to see you sometime
during the weekend!
73
....Peter Reinzuch VE7REZ /w6
ARES
Riverside County Assistant Emergency Coordinator
call me
at 760-318-0186 for
more info
