comms plans for Darby Dog Derby

The 2020 Bitterroot dogsled race weekend is coming up. I have the two-way-radio support plan mapped out, radios programmed, testing complete, batteries all charged up … I think we are as ready as we can get.

For more details about the weekend, the participants and the races, go to The Bitterroot Mushers website.

Each year we learn more, adding refinements to patch holes as we find them. Ideally we have 8 checkpoints with a checkpoint worker and a radio operator at each. That’s a bit dreamy as the last couple years we are lucky to have one person serving both roles at each.

Bitterroot Emergency Amateur Radio Services (BEARS), the comms team, recently changed affiliation to Corvallis American Legion as our parent organization. This brings valuable resources to each. I have been promised several snowmobilers from Post 91 who are also interested in radio work adding to our regular team. I’ll let you know in my after-action report how that went.

I made a modified version of the Chief Joseph Pass Trail Map so I can share the checkpoint names and locations via the Internet. Below is the layout in a .pdf link if you want to download it, and a picture you can see right here.

BEARS Chief Joseph Pass Trail Map

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Paper maps without my markings are available at businesses throughout the Darby area. Any place that services tourist traffic will have one.