Fox River Radio League

If you traveled to every local park, recreation area and forest preserve in our local area you would end up visiting over 150 different locations. This is one reason the FRRL is sponsoring a new operating event program which we call "Radio in the Park". The purpose of the program is to encourage members to get out of the shack and into the fresh air by operating individual amateur radio stations in our local parks and forest preserves.

The program is simple – club members set up stations in any of our local recreation areas and operate those stations. There is no fixed schedule, designated weekend, or any of the other organizational requirements. The only things that you should do to make the program work is to let your fellow hams know when and where you will be operating and sent the program coordinator some information when you get home so he can track the scope of the program.

The goals of Radio in the Park are simple too. The idea is to have fun with amateur radio, to share experiences with fellow hams, to practice emergency preparedness, and perhaps to demonstrate amateur radio to the people that wander by your station. There are no requirements for power levels, modes, antennas, or emergency power. If you want to run a pedal-powered QRP station, that's cool. If you want to drive into a park and work QRO sideband from your car, that's cool too.

Here's how to get started. First, pick a location. There are websites for the Kane County Forest Preserve District, the Fox Valley Park District, and the local township and city parks departments which will show you locations and facilities. Second, post the date, time and type of operating you'll be doing on the FRRL Yahoo Group so others know what is going on. If you notify the program coordinator, NF9D, I'll be happy to take care of the notifications for you. Third, get on the air and have fun. Use your personal call sign so you can participate in contests and receive QSL cards. And finally, let me know how many contacts you made, who did the operating, and if you had any visitors.

I will be posting a simple guide for what to report in the files area of the Yahoo group, along with links to the various websites and some suggestions for preserves and parks you can visit.

One other thing – food is not only allowed, it's encouraged. Most of the parks have cooking facilities so you can grill hot dogs and other goodies. Just remember that many of the shelters and covered facilities can be reserved in advance, so please defer to families and groups that have made reservations. And, of course, respect the facilities and leave things the way you found them.

If you have any questions, please contact me, NF9D, at my Yahoo email address or by replying to this topic. I hope to see you out in the parks this summer.

73, Bill NF9D

Here are some pictures from the 06/13 gathering on Johnson's Mound: (Photos: K9FE, KB9RFX)