So I’m a day or two late… Here is one for Saturday July 19th.
As many know, I am a Ham (amateur radio operator) for long. KB7UZO As part of other activities I participate in, they were asking for Hams to help in the communication part of this project, as many of the mountain ridges used for mirror contact don’t have cell reception.
The on target project is for Varsity Scouts. The objective is to make contact with other scout teams via mirrors, over many miles. I got lucky, and went up with a team on the R butte. Really the Menan Butte. It was kinda in the middle of a lot of the other teams.
Once we got up there we contacted the other teams through the HAM net that was setup for the occasion. Once we got the other teams coordinates, we typed them into the GPS, and then tried to make contact. We hit team 22 just above the Kelly Canon ski resort, about 33 miles away. They only had a 6 inch mirror, so we never saw them. But we could hear their excitement over the radio. then we aimed for team 177 at realy ridge about 29 miles straight east of our location.
We tried for about 20 minutes to get our mirrors aimed just right, and then their it was, a definite glimmer on top of the mountain. Like reflections of a diamond in the distance. So we tried to hit their location, and within 2 minutes, we received communication confirming our signals to them. Team 177 and team 373 (the one I was with) both had 2′ X 2′ mirrors.
This experience was really neat. I was really surprised to see the signals from the other side of the valley. From what I’ve been told, On-Target has been going on for over 20 years. Also, non scouting groups are invited to participate as well. I think the BSA in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico hold theirs in September, because of the cooler weather. Anyway, I can’t wait for next year. Hopefully we can have more teams, and more mirrors out there. Some of the other teams made contact with other teams in Wyoming, and further south of Idaho Falls.
Way to go my hot Ham man! I think it would be really neat if you made this a yearly ritual. you could put that new radio to good use.
Are those mirrors anything special? That 2′ x 2′ one sort of looks like a 4-pack of mirrors from Ikea bolted down with some washers to a piece of wood, and if that’s the case, I’m thinking all the teams should have had big mirrors!
Sounds really cool!
Those mirrors aren’t special, just cut to fit in the box that they’re mounted to, so they don’t get busted on the way up and down. It is something that the varsity coach built himself.