[Phillip Beall]

All,

Following our collaboration with the Fannin County Amateur Radio Club (FCARC) for the Autumn in Bonham bike rally, FCARC President Mark Hetherington (KF5KU) extended the offer that anyone from our Club that wished to join them tomorrow (Saturday, October 21, 2023) would be welcome.  They will be having a “Radio Go-Bag/Box” event, described as a combination fellowship, informal, bring your own go-bag/box, meet and greet.  They will also have a short club meeting.  The location and time are the Coffee Mill Lake recreation area, north of Honey Grove (see maps below) at 0900.

In previous years persons have brought an assortment of packages.  They have ranged from light-weight and portable comms and emergency power configurations, up to and including off-road vehicle/trailer combinations.  Some use it as an opportunity to camp out on Friday and/or Saturday night.

The Coffee Mill Lake location is picturesque with the fall leaves and the weather forecast is for a gorgeous day.  Kathy and I literally live between the two lakes (Crockett and Coffee Mill) and both planned to go, but on Tuesday I was diagnosed with covid.  It aggravates me a lot to not be able to go, but out of respect for everyone else we will stay home.  I really hope a bunch of you go and have a great time.  Please take pictures and notes and follow up with a debrief here.  I will again try to make the one next year.

Phillip Beall (W5EBC)

[Phillip Beall]

All,

I just updated the entire thread to remove the word “tomorrow” so as to not confuse someone in the future.

The Fannin County ARC had their event at Coffee Mill Lake yesterday.  Our own Randy Holland, DDS, attended. He observed there were about fifteen people in attendance.  No 4×4 off-road equipment this year, but people did come and set up and show off some of their “Go-Bag/Box” gear.  I am posting up a handful of pictures.

Allen Shutt (KE5VOH) showed up with a truck bed full of the blue “roll-aboard suitcase” looking things you see in this series of pictures.  His employer uses them to transport “ball robots”.  I surmise they are used to inspect pipe runs or something like that.  Update: Kathy informs me that Dr. Holland told her they are used in educational programs, so maybe not industrial.  In any case, when they are done transporting the robots the cases are discarded.  Shutt told those in attendance that he cannot sell them, but he can give them away to keep them out of landfills.  He is out of Greenville and drove up specifically to give some of the cases away.

As you can see, it appears that one is already in conversion to a “Go Box” configuration.

This gentleman, set up on his pickup tailgate, is Jim Thomas (N5OMD), a FCARC member from Bonham.  Seated with her back to the camera is FCARC member Sharon McEachern (KK5SM).

Here is another “Go-Box” someone was kind enough to share with those assembled.

Randy obtained Mr. Shutt’s contact information and passed it along to me.  He also invited him to our meeting next Saturday.  I followed up with Shutt and reiterated to him that he was welcome to come and that breakfast was on me if he made it.  He was not sure he could make it, but if he commits that he is we will send a blast email notifying the group so that you can come and get a blue box.

All-in-all the weather was gorgeous, those that attended had a good time and it is my hope that we can get even more people and preparedness gear there next year.

Phillip

 

• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Phillip Beall.
• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Phillip Beall.
• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Phillip Beall. Reason: Reformatted pictures, fixed minor grammatical errors
• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Phillip Beall.
• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Phillip Beall. Reason: Added pictures provided by FCARC Member Sarah Richardson (KI5PZF)
• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Phillip Beall. Reason: Corrected possible error
• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Phillip Beall. Reason: Added Sharon McEachern (KK5SM) label to picture in post
• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by Phillip Beall. Reason: Modified verbiage of last paragraph for clarity

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