Oakville REACT, Burlington ARES and South Halton ARES worked together to provide communications support for the 30th annual Lion’s Club Car Rally on Sunday, October 19, 2014. This event is a fundraiser for the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides school in Oakville.
Oakville REACT, which has been involved with this event since its inception, was the lead communications agency.
Oakville REACT’s commercial VHF FM simplex voice frequency and a mix of amateur radio repeaters provided communications along the 75 km route, and at the four check points, as well as at the start/finish line.
Rally cars participating in this event have sighted drivers and visually impaired navigators.
This year’s version of the rally operated from a new start/finish line in Burlington. The route (also new) ran from Burington up through North Halton and the very Eastern part of Hamilton-Wentworth. Given the rural nature of the areas involved, finding repeaters that covered the whole route was a bit of a challenge.
Information from one remote check point was sent by amateur radio to a relay station who then forwarded it to net control using REACT’s simplex frequency, proving once again that simplex is much more effective than most people believe.
Events such as this are very useful in testing our abilities to improvise in the field, and to work with a variety of different modes, frequencies and organizations. All valuable preparation and training for emergency communications work.
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