Brainerd Area Amateur Radio Club  

The club communications trailer was used and the event's administrators found it handy for them as well. Pre-event club activity included a weather-watch, contacting all local public safety agencies to make them aware of the hours and types of activities going on, and doing administrative liaison work to assure all of the materials and services needed were in place at the correct time.

Event activities included: 'shadowing' key event coordinators to assure questions were answered in a timely manner and keeping them informed of activity beyond what they could see, keeping a very large campsite secure, reporting on movements of participants throughout the evening, and, visually monitoring all aspects of the event for safety.  Much of this was done from a Press Box high above the hundreds of participants.

Jerry Walseth, Relay For Life Chair, said, "the ham radio operators provided a much needed element of coordination that we appreciated very much." "In fact", he said, "I would not want to have thought we could have managed such an event without them."  

Mr. Walseth, as School District 181 Superintendent, is familiar with the BAARC station located in the Mississippi Horizons School, where students learn about the hobby through station tours and classes offered through the Community Education program.  In all it was a good event with all of the operators getting a chance at several assignments during the afternoon and evening hours and all radio work done in the VHF simplex mode with portable radios, and operating with a net control.