On Sunday the 10th of May 2015, hundreds of walkers turned out to “Walk for Life” and raise money for Farleigh Hospice. Over 850 walkers took part, raising an estimated £73,000 in pledges.
Supporting this event with radio communications, was the team from Essex RAYNET. The team had two walks to cover – a 23km walk from Heybridge and a 10km walk from Paper Mill Lock.
Around 15 members of the Essex RAYNET team were active on the day, some with very early starts setting up the control centre at the finish line in Chelmsford, the portable repeater and the various checkpoints.
Here, you’ll find a few photos from the day, captured by the camera of Pete M0PSX, who was one of the three “sweeps”, charged with keeping an eye on the tail-end of the walk.
The main control point was located at the event finish line at E2V in Chelmsford. The newly-equipped control van kept track of the teams locations using APRS, and also made use of DMR, VHF and UHF for the event’s comms.
Start point for the longer of the two walks was at Heybridge Basin. Pete’s duties started at checkpoint 2 with Phil G4RPF completing his leg of the sweep and, Olympic-style, passing the APRS beacon baton to Pete. Here are some of the Essex RAYNET team at CP2 completing the handover:
Pete M0PSX and Nick 2E0DVX picked up the pace and made their way to Checkpoint 3 a few miles on, where many walkers had stopped for lunch – a good excuse for the team to take a break too.
Mid-way between checkpoints, we met Paul M0LOM, who was on duty at a road crossing. One of the ‘joys’ of walking the sweep, is that everyone’s pleased to see you, as it marks “home time” for checkpoint staff as well as Farleigh volunteer marshals.
Finally reaching the fourth checkpoint, the APRS beacon was passed to James 2E1GUA, who completed the final leg of the sweep ‘bike mobile’.
Whilst Nick and I made out way back to Control, the event continued, and was a succewss both for Farleigh Hospice and for the Essex RAYNET team
Well done to all involved with the Walk for Life: Farleigh Hospice helpers, Essex RAYNET, the event organisers, and of course, the walkers.
| If you’d be interested in putting your radio skills to good use to help the community, consider finding out more about Essex RAYNET and helping out at a future event – it;s very rewarding, and great training for those with an interest in helping out with emergency comms should the need arise. More details at www.essexraynet.org.uk |
