Staffing and Volunteer Info for the Core Group

In 1996, the Fremont Police Department Team finished first in their division and 21st overall, Team S.F. F.B.I. finished first in their division and second place overall, and the Alameda County Sheriffs Office team finished! We would like to think that Ham Radio played a beneficial role for each of these teams.

Putting together the voice and data networks that supported our operations last year took more than 25 people that were dedicated to the operation of the voice and data networks. These people were the technical staff, building & testing of equipment before the event, performing the installation & deinstallation of the network equipment and the mobile units. They were the Net Control Stations, they staffed the hub and node sites on the network, the HF Gateway for APRS, and were the logistics and operations staff.

This crew was separate from the volunteers who supported team-specific positions. That is, the size of this crew was fairly large, just to support one team. But, as we added more teams, the size of this group didn't get much bigger.

In 1997, each of the running teams that will be supported by the Core Group will be responsible for recruiting their own volunteers to staff their team-specific positions. There are separate pages for staffing information for each of these other groups that have committed running teams and have requested our help (Fremont P.D., the S.F. F.B.I., and the Alameda County S.O.).

The Core Group will also be soliciting volunteers for the technical supporting positions. Many of these positions are needed well in advance of the event, for; building and testing equipment, and testing various configurations in the S. F. Bay Area; for building cables for the various teams; for creating documentation, and putting on the technical training for the various positions. Other positions require the volunteers to be in Las Vegas a few days before the event (Friday 4/11 through Monday, 4/14), to put equipment together and set the network up before the event, and take it all down again after the event.

If you would like to volunteer to help the Core Group, please use the sign-up form on the Volunteers Page, or you can send questions by sending email to staffing@semo.tio.net

There is a block of thirty the Fairfield Inn in Las Vegas (702-791-0899, $65.00/night for up to 4 people), and another block of thirty rooms reserved at the Circus-Circus Hotel again this year. The Las Vegas Command Post will be at the Fairfield Inn, but Circus-Circus is better suited towards families (more activities in and near the hotel for kids and spouses).

When you volunteer for a staff position for any team, the staffing coordinator will tell you what the access code is for either hotel. We do this so that we know roughly how many of the rooms have been committed, for planning purposes.

Make sure that you make your room plans early, as there are ALWAYS other events during the week before and after Baker-to-Vegas which tie up all of the local hotel rooms! Try to share a room with other team members if you can, since this can lower the cost of the trip for everyone. We may try to have a single Lodging Coordinator this year, to try to help match up folks that want to share a room with someone.

Positions For Baker to Vegas 1997 for the Core Group Team

(There will also be some team coordinator and group supervisor positions, which will be assigned to volunteers who are actively taking parts in the planning and testing portions of our preparation.)

Staffing Coordinator (pre-event, event, after event)
Lodging Coordinator (pre-event, event)
Equipment Coordinator (pre-event, event, after event)
Transportation Coordinator (pre-event, event)
Training Coordinator (pre-event, event)
Las Vegas Net Control (4+ early shift, 4+ late shift, 4 morning shift)
Pahrump Net Control (4 early shift, 4 late shift)
APRS Gateway Station (2 persons, camping out 2 days)
Fremont P.D. APRS Gateway (1-2 person(s), at Fremont P.D.)
Hub Staffing (2 persons, camping out 2 days)
Network Node 1 (2 persons, camping out 2 days)
Network Node 2 (2 persons, camping out 2 days)
Network Node 3 (2 persons, camping out 2 days)
Logistics Team (4 early shift, 4 mid shift, 4 late shift)

We have some other pre-event jobs in the Bay Area

There will be plenty to do, to help support our efforts. This will also be a great opportunity for some hams to broaden their skills, and to learn what goes into planning a large scale event. Even if you will be supporting a different team during the race, you can also sign up for these jobs

APRS Gateway Team will develop plans for sending data from the race back to the Bay Area for display at our served agencies. This will include both the the originating gateway with us in the desert. The Orange County folks may also be interested in participating.

Data Network Stress Tests here in the S.F. Bay Area will help us refine the settings that we will depend upon during the race. You should have a mobile APRS tracker available for these tests, or (at a minimum) a fixed-location APRS station that can perform messaging and capture log files.

Cable and Harness Building Efforts may be needed by volunteers for other teams. (Believe it or not, there are some hams who own good equipment, but don't know which end of a soldering iron to hammer with!) Since all mobile APRS trackers must comply with our packaging standard, we expect that there will be some folks willing to pay for the parts, but needing someone else to put them together for them. You must have good assembly skills to do this work, since you will be using someone else's parts and equipment!

APRS Configuration and Documentation Team will work with a variety of GPS receivers and TNC's, in an effort to identify the settings needed for APRS for the race, and the TNC settings for GPS modes, and the settings of the GPS units to send the proper information...and then document these settings, and the procedures to set them, so that other people can work from those directions. (This was a major weakness last year, and we need to make sure we have this completed before the end of January!)

Voice Systems Testing Team is a perfect opportunity for Bay Area Radio Fanatics members to get familiar with the set-up and tear down of the portable repeater equipment. Practice and testing with the equipment will make sure that parts are working, properly labeled, and stored together. For information on B.A.R.F., email Paul Carlin, KE6NVU. (Hopefully, members of this group will also be able to come to the desert and set it all up again!)

Other Team Pages: [Team Fremont] [S.F. F.B.I.] [Alameda County S. O.]
Other Links: [Wiring Overview] [Tracker Packaging] [Equipment Donations] [CLUES]
[the Staffing Mailbox] for questions, fill out the [Volunteers Form], and the [Headquarters Page].