Category: Miscellaneous

The Personal Locator Beacons

The club now has two state-of-the-art GME Accusat MT410G EPIRB GPS-equipped emergency personal locator beacons, courtesy  Elaine Day’s family for one, and Bendigo Valley Foundation for the other.
It all happened after Elaine announced her family’s offer at the mid-winter dinner on Wednesday (24/6), to be followed in a very timely manner the next day with Bendigo Valley Foundation’s letter, accepting our grant application, having already deposited the grant in our bank account.
Each of our beacons are EPIRB – Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, and the 406 MHz GPS-equipped model. Designed for marine operation also, they are waterproof, float the right way up, have larger batteries for more transmit power, and can even be water activated. The 406 beacon transmits quick bursts of digital data. This data identifies the transmission as legitimate and has a coded identification enabling rescue authorities who decode the digital message to identify the owner of the beacon.

The Rescue Beacons are very simple to operate. One just flicks open the aerial, it springs up, and 60 seconds later, begins transmitting.

The signal is received at RCCNZ (Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand) by two methods:

1.  To get a rapid response, and to maximise the signal, one must be in clear air and high enough to see a clear horizon in the East-north-easterly direction. It will then be received by  GEOS-11, a geostationary satellite stationed above the equator in the mid-Pacific.

 

2. If the beacon signal cannot be received by the GEO satellite, it will be relayed by the first LEO (low earth orbiting) satellite. In this case, a wait of over two hours is not unusual.

The rescue beacon is a full Mayday or distress alarm, and will be acted on as such. So if the activation is accidental, or the situation improves and is no longer a Mayday, we must do more than just turn the beacon off (done by reloading the aerial) – we must also contact the authorities and withdraw the Mayday by contacting RCCNZ (0508) 472 269. ASAP. (Put this number in your mobile.)

– Information culled and adapted from a website Ken referred me to. Thanks, Ken.  – Ian

Scion Workshop

19/5/2009 Scion Workshop Evening.

Two club members, Ken and Ian attended from our club. We were the only tramping club there. Scion had invited all community forest-user groups around Dunedin, but only 20 had registered but only 8 had turned up, possibly because of the inclement weather. There were also several hunters and some mountain-bikers. Continue reading “Scion Workshop”

Draft Okia Reserve Management Plan

The DCC letter below includes the URL to click on for the draft management plan or you can click on consultation to find your way there and go on to download a submission form if necessary.
Doesn’t appear to restrict our club’s tramps in any way, as far as I can see.
Sorry about side rotation – can’t manipulate website to align otherwise.
click to enlarge

Okia
Okia

Club T-Shirts

The T-Shirts have proved a great success with those who have already bought them – and with others too.

So much so, that many are willing to place further orders, even if at an increased price. – $25.00?

They come in black, grey, white and pale blue colours.

Sizes: Men: s, m, l, xl, xxl; Women: 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20.

Wendy is quite happy to accept Elaine’s offer to take further orders so …

For club T-Shirts, either email (click) or phone Elaine your order and she will see if she can get a further bulk lot – so be in. Cut-off date: Friday 20 March.

RELAY FOR LIFE – in support of Colleen.

21/2/2009  RELAY FOR LIFE – in support of Colleen. Logan Park. Leaders: Peter and Wendy.

As it turned out – it rained, and the difficult conditions led to the event being shortened to 12 hours. A lack of information led to Site 20 proving difficult to find amidst the large number of teams taking part, as was the opportunity to make contributions not all that easy.

Club Members, Joyce, Dot T and Peg C were participants in the first lap of honour.

Lance, Les, Lex, Lois, Margaret, Neil, Peter, Shirley, and Wendy took part in later laps at different times. Thanks to these people for turning up and taking part in the difficult circumstances.

Recipe for Happy Tramping

1 pair boots or strong walking shoes
1 light woollen jersey
1 warm jacket or woollen bush-shirt (or similar)
Warm trousers
Waterproof jacket and hat and leggings
Spare pair of warm socks.

Combine with:
Adequate food and drink, carried in a comfortable pack, together with a map of the tramping area, warm gloves, warm hat and a scarf, and a small waterproof sheet or cushion.
Mix the above with an appreciation of the outdoors and concern for the flora and fauna of the area and you will be most happy with the result.