Parade 2023 AAR
Weather was 40-45 degrees with a 5-15MPH wind most of the day.
Used portable digipeater kit for the event. This consisted of a Pi Zero running on a cell phone battery bank and the FT65r running on HT battery. Digipeater was put on the air around 0930. The Ed Fong roll up jpole was used as the antenna. It was put on the same mast that the portable repeater used. K1KY/KU4B supplied the repeater. Dave put up the repeater while I got the digipeater on the air. The only issue getting the digi going was the Pi assigned a different card number (ttyUSB2) to the digirig sound card and USB0 was defined in dire wolf. A quick change in the dire wolf config file cleared this error. The start up script needs modification to check the sound card assignment and modify the dire wolf config file automatically.
Digipeater lasted until 15:15 PM before battery on HT was depleted. There was little to no shelter for the repeater or digipeater. While we can put stuff inside the stairwell on the parking deck, blowing rain could still get the equipment wet. Need tarps to cover equipment? Could put digipeater in waterproof case. We might also add a bigger battery to the HT so we weren't relying exclusively on the HT battery. 3Ah Bioenno?
Battery for Pi Zero still had 78% remaining at end of day
Over all my load out carried in the Peak Design 6L sling was fine. Maybe a bit overkill. However, the earpiece used with the FT5 died about an hour before the event ended. Also, the battery on the FT5 needed to be replace a couple of hours before the event ended. I used the regular FT5 batteries since there was a threat of rain during the planning phase and the extended aftermarket battery isn't waterproof. Since I was with Dave Wilson and responsible for the repeater and digipeater, there wasn't a need for my pack. We utilized a car most of the day. Reference Parade Pack List 2023 and this video https://youtu.be/2tt5T-Ow1rM
NEED BETTER MAPS!! And need them in advance of the parade day. Parade Route Show various locations Printed & Digital Versions both needed
Possibilities for next year
Should include APRS into event more - [ ] Add objects to map in advance/Could add last minute objects day of from command - [ ] TV Crew - [ ] Each Staging area - [ ] command post - [ ] Anything else of interest
- [ ] APRS tracker in lead car
- [ ] APRS tracker in tailing car (santa float)
- [ ] APRS on all of our members (see below)
Create APRS command post with map so we could see everything. EVERY station should be running APRS. Even if they don't have an APRS radio, they should be running either APRS.fi or APRSdroid on their phone at a minimum.
The APRS command post will need a complete APRS station so it can RX/TX to the digi and display all of the objects/stations on the map. Command should also have APRS messaging capabilities. Group text messaging could also be configured with a custom group (ie PARADE)
It would be possible to take my RV and put in parking lot next to ARES trailer. The APRS command could be run from the RV. In addition, the Pi Display could be setup to display the APRS map on the out side of the RV. This would require some sort of stand for the TV. The RV could also double to stock snacks and serve as a warm up site. Keep in mind that the RV will already be winterized.