3RF PARADE PARTICIPATION

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OTA MEETING FOR THE THREE RIVERS FESTIVAL PARADE
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The Fort Wayne Radio Club is proposing that we (Amateur Radio Operators of the
Fort Wayne and surrounding area) should participate in the upcoming Parade on
the opening day of this year’s Three Rivers Festival. The date is July 11th, and
the Parade will take place between 10:00 am and 12:00 noon on that Saturday.

The reason for participating is to put Amateur Radio in the spotlight at a venue
where over 100,000 people will see it. It is a lot of publicity in a small
amount of time. Our plan is to showcase several different aspects of our hobby
and service.

There will be an initial On The Air planning meeting on Wednesday night, may
13th, at 7:00 pm on the FWRC 146.94 repeater. We need to begin nailing down some
of our operational details. We need the inputs of the amateur community in
putting together this operation. Please consider the following points:

1.) The theme of the parade this year is “Here’s to ZOO”. This is a reference to
the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo 50th anniversary. We need to somehow tie our
parade theme into this is some way, although not necessarily a strick tie. We
need ideas, here. We have proposed something like “Safari World Wide via Radio”,
or “Wild Adventure on the Air Waves” ; etc. (got any ideas??)

2.) This is not just a FWRC thing. Hams from all clubs in the surrounding area
are welcome to join us.

3.) We want to showcase all the different aspects of the hobby. So we will want
to show off Community Service; DXing; ARES; Skywarn; Fox Hunting; Contesting;
Technology; STEM; you get the general idea.

4.) We are thinking of a combination of walking and vehicles. The parade is
about 1.75 miles in length, so it is not a difficult walk, but we would like to
have vehicles, cars and trucks and vans, with amateur equipment; antennas; etc.
We also need these vehicles to take care if someone cannot complete the walk for
whatever reason.

5.) We are allowed to hand out printed material about Amateur Radio. The parade
requires that material not be commercial or political in nature, and that’s
suits us easily.

6.) New banners are in order, to get our message to the public. Suggestions are
needed here. This is another part of the planning process.

7.) This effort will be co-ordinated by Kim Machamer, KB9DOS, and Steve Nardin,
W9SAN. We need others to step forward and help with the planning process and
coordination of effort. We don’t have a lot of time, and there is another big
event to plan: Field Day on June 26, 27, and 28.

Please consider these proposals and volunteer to help any way you can. If you
can’t make the on the air meeting, but would like to help, please contact Kim or
Steve via e-mail.

Steve Nardin, W9SAN, w9san@arrl.net 260-482-4039 (leave message)
Kim Machamer, KB9DOS, kimandjim@juno.com

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