Posted: 2/12/2023 3:20:32 PM EDT
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Finish winter strong with an outdoor challenge to your body while testing your gear systems and making new friends! We are doing another hike at Leadmine Conservation Area to the APC standard on Saturday February 25th (2/25/23). We will have several people camping out the night before. Depending on interest and availability we may be conducting a night hike as well. We usually contrive to have food available to share before and after the hike. If you want to assist with that let me know and I will try to help coordinate the individual efforts. This time there will be a focus on ensuring your radio systems are squared away. ShootinDave has benevolently volunteered to bring a roll up slim jim style antenna as a raffle item. Entry to the raffle only requires you bring a radio with simplex MURS frequencies programmed. Event/Date/Time: Optional Camping / Friday Feb 24th / 4-5pm arrival (if you want daylight to setup camp in) Main Hike / Saturday Feb 25th / 9am Location: Lead Mine Conservation Area Main Campground. This is a nice conservation area campground with plenty of room for vehicles, trailers, and car camping. No running water, but there are lavatory facilities available. https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/places/lead-mine-conservation-area APC standards we will be striving for: 6mi Ruck under 2 hours while carrying 35lbs + rifle or 45lbs and no rifle. Even if you do not think you can do the full APC weight or time, come anyway and enjoy get a work out in. The standard is primarily there as a goal and for those who wish to attend some of the national APC events. Following this, our next scheduled hike is for March 18th. |
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My goal is to arrive mid-day Friday to setup some radio stuff. If anyone has questions about GMRS/UHF, VHF or HF radio, I will have some stuff setup. Goal is to make quite a few contacts, including scheduled Arfcom comms windows. As mentioned above, everyone arriving with a handheld radio already programmed with MURS frequ will be entered into a raffle for a packable roll up VHF antenna and the adapter for your radio to BNC assuming i have your adapter. Looking forward to seeing everyone there. |
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In addition to the hike, we are now planning a small radio training exercise afterwards to use with your handheld radios. The goal will be to provide some real world experience with sending and receiving on your radio in a practical way. We will be sending parties out by vehicle after the hike/lunch to various points in the conservation area. Those parties will attempt to make contact with camp. Once contact has been made, they will send a message that will be copied by those at camp. If contact cannot be made due to range/terrain, the parties can drive closer and try again. This should not take a very long time, but hopefully we will find it fun and useful. If you have multiple antenna systems or radios, you can try them both to compare. I have been remiss in my mentions this time. Interested from the last hike: @Giltweasel @MaxxII @BlackGunsRule |
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Busy with Scouts this weekend. March 18 we may have a St. Patrick's parade. But I am talking with our older Scout shooting sports crew next week about starting up with the APC program. Might get a few takers and be available for the hikes and other activities then. |
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Quoted: Busy with Scouts this weekend. March 18 we may have a St. Patrick's parade. But I am talking with our older Scout shooting sports crew next week about starting up with the APC program. Might get a few takers and be available for the hikes and other activities then. Awesome and good luck! |
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Quoted: In addition to the hike, we are now planning a small radio training exercise afterwards to use with your handheld radios. The goal will be to provide some real world experience with sending and receiving on your radio in a practical way. We will be sending parties out by vehicle after the hike/lunch to various points in the conservation area. Those parties will attempt to make contact with camp. Once contact has been made, they will send a message that will be copied by those at camp. If contact cannot be made due to range/terrain, the parties can drive closer and try again. This should not take a very long time, but hopefully we will find it fun and useful. If you have multiple antenna systems or radios, you can try them both to compare. I have been remiss in my mentions this time. Interested from the last hike: @Giltweasel @MaxxII @BlackGunsRule Flak Magnet, thank you for the mention to bring this to my attention. I'm not sure if I can make the Feb 24th hike now, my work schedule is becoming very fluid at the moment. I will see because this is something I definitely want to participate in. I will check with my schedule and see if I can swing it. Might have to push back to Mar 18th.... Also, I do not have a radio, will that be an issue? |
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Quoted: Flak Magnet, thank you for the mention to bring this to my attention. I'm not sure if I can make the Feb 24th hike now, my work schedule is becoming very fluid at the moment. I will see because this is something I definitely want to participate in. I will check with my schedule and see if I can swing it. Might have to push back to Mar 18th.... Also, I do not have a radio, will that be an issue? No worries if you cant make it. Keep it on your schedule if you can for the 18th. A radio is not required for the radio exercise although the usefulness of exercising equipment you own but never use (like me anyway) will certainly be diminished. At minimum we should be able to pair people with radios with those with who do not. Once the team gets within range of the radio, then those without can practice sending and receiving their message from someone who does. Good question though! |
Here is a visual for the driving directions. This place can be hard to find and cell signal is spotty so make sure you know where you are heading before you leave civilization. My GPS tries to route me through the private drive of a nearby farm (which does indeed connect). The orange road in this screenshot is the hard part.
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@Shootindave @ Flak-Magnet Thanks for hosting this. My son just got home and had a good time  Wish I could of gone but need to do some work ups before I do. Hopping to be ready for the March meet. I guess he really liked the NV. I haven't looked through a pair since the early 90's when I was in the Navy. Can only imagine the improvements in the tech.
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Quoted: @Shootindave @ Flak-Magnet Thanks for hosting this. My son just got home and had a good time Wish I could of gone but need to do some work ups before I do. Hopping to be ready for the March meet. I guess he really liked the NV. I haven't looked through a pair since the early 90's when I was in the Navy. Can only imagine the improvements in the tech.Let him know the contact he got on the radio was a Ukrainian, located in Germany. If I get a QSL card from him for my contact, I will forward a copy to you guys. |
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Quoted: @Shootindave @ Flak-Magnet Thanks for hosting this. My son just got home and had a good time Wish I could of gone but need to do some work ups before I do. Hopping to be ready for the March meet. I guess he really liked the NV. I haven't looked through a pair since the early 90's when I was in the Navy. Can only imagine the improvements in the tech.Awesome, we enjoyed having him along! I did warn him that NV is a trap and all your money will fall down it. At Leadmine (so at least for the March 18th hike) we have a planned route option to do a 3 mi hike if that is where you are at. Or if you just want to come hang out at camp, fellowship and learn at the various exercises we try then you are welcome to do so as well. This is an event to have fun and challenge yourself. The standard is something to strive for, but not a requirement. |
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Thanks to everyone who made the drive and came out. We had a great time, camping was not as cold as last month - quite pleasant really, only a little bit of rain. The hike was a tough one, I know I was really struggling the last leg. I hope everyone enjoyed our radio exercise and learn as much from it as I learned preparing it. Part of the exercise was seeing how terrain would impact our HTs. Each team went in different directions and I think alpha was able to get the furthest at 1.3 mi while the terrain in bravo's direction continued to dip down and they lost signal beyond .95mi. We had some great discussion and learning on using standardized forms for communication and lots of learning on our radios, settings, antennas and general radio protocols. Special thanks to @Shootindave for answering so many radio questions and for the antenna raffle item giveaway! Check your calendars for March 18th and camping on the 17th if you are able. |
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Quoted: Let him know the contact he got on the radio was a Ukrainian, located in Germany. If I get a QSL card from him for my contact, I will forward a copy to you guys. I let him know. Did you guy's do this with the hand held radio's? @ Flak-Magnet Just did a half hour on the tread mill with my Molly vest on. Yeah I need work  Hoping to be up to an hour by the end of the week. Then possibly add the rifle and pistol next week to the weight already on it. We'll see how fast I can shape up, but might be the 3mi for the first time. Again thanks guy's |
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Quoted: I let him know. Did you guy's do this with the hand held radio's? @ Flak-Magnet Just did a half hour on the tread mill with my Molly vest on. Yeah I need work Hoping to be up to an hour by the end of the week. Then possibly add the rifle and pistol next week to the weight already on it. We'll see how fast I can shape up, but might be the 3mi for the first time. Again thanks guy's Quoted: Quoted: Let him know the contact he got on the radio was a Ukrainian, located in Germany. If I get a QSL card from him for my contact, I will forward a copy to you guys. I let him know. Did you guy's do this with the hand held radio's? @ Flak-Magnet Just did a half hour on the tread mill with my Molly vest on. Yeah I need work Hoping to be up to an hour by the end of the week. Then possibly add the rifle and pistol next week to the weight already on it. We'll see how fast I can shape up, but might be the 3mi for the first time. Again thanks guy's HF radio, on the 10 meter band, in the technician license allocation |