On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 22:56:59 -0400, "Mitch Berkson"
wrote:

Gary S. wrote:
...
If you contact the ARRL (American Radio Relay League) www.arrl.org for
your area, you may well find that there is a similar group of hams in
your area just waiting for you to ask.

This is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure it will work in my situation.
Three of the radios need to be in small referee's launches which already
contain the ref and a launch driver. Another one will be at the finish line
and a fifth will be on the dock.

For the Head of the Charles Regatta, we had 8 rescue launches this
past year. While some of the boat drivers were also hams, a number of
the units carried the driver, a ham, and a lifeguard, with room for
rescuees. A little tight, but the cold conditions in late October
demand a quick response. We also had hams at each of the first aid
stations, shadowing various race officials, at major boathouses, and
with mobile first aid teams out with the crowds, etc. Race officials
setting the course and watching for infractions were on a separate
system. Granted, this is one of the larger regattas, but the setup can
be scaled.

Recently we have added APRS, which transmits a signal from each launch
with its GPS location. This allows Net Control to have a visual map
showing the current location of each launch, to help in deploying the
closest one.

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
--
At the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 23:26:32 -0400, "Mitch Berkson"
wrote:

Ed wrote:

Is this event held over line-of-sight water? If so, the FRS radios
should work, though close to maximum range there. If there is
terrain or just trees in the way, then 2 - 3 miles won't work. Be
easy enough to probably get a pair to check the path over your
maximum range, though.

There is a slight outcropping between the start and finish which is probably
enough to rule out the FRS radios.

As others have said, you'll get a much higher quality
communications system if the local hams do it.

I have contacted them and will see what they say.

If they have questions, I could get them in touch with the hams who
set up the Head of the Charles.

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
--
At the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom