Ramsay, KC2GMW Wins Rally New York USA 2007 Ham Radio Drawing

April 18, 2007

Middletown, NY

*The drawing for the Ham Radio volunteer operators was held on Tuesday evening April 17, 2007. The lucky winner of the Kenwood TM-271A 2 meter transceiver (provided by Rally New York, with help from Kenwood of America) is Ramsay Seielstad, KC2GMW from Niskayuna, NY. Ramsay is a long time RNY radio operator volunteer & is very actively involved in emergency communications in Schenectady County. I notified Ramsay last night via email, please read his response below,

[Rich,

   Wow, I'm honestly flattered to have been chosen for this honor.  I
have always enjoyed participating and enjoyed the satisfaction of doing
the best I can in my assignments.

   I do have to admit that I already have quite a lot of equipment that
is under utilized as it is.  Would you be kind enough to accept the
donation of the radio towards the use in developing, or implementation,
in future Rally NY events of a packet system?  (APRS and/or packet
messaging or digipeater?)

                  Ramsay, KC2GMW]

My answer was of course yes with many thanks!

2007 marks the third year that Rally New York has provided a drawing for Ham Radio operator volunteers, this is a way of saying “thank you” to the 35 plus radio operators that donate their time, equipment , & emergency communications skills. The “Radio Net” is an essential part of the Rally Safety Plan & I’m pleased to say that RNY has the best radio communications of any Rally in the United States. This does not happen by accident,  as you all know by now “the best place for a Rally is always the worst place for communications” it take many hours of planning, testing, & training to make this happen, but most of all it is each & every volunteer that makes this work.

Rally communications are coordinated by the Mt Beacon Amateur Radio Club (www.WR2ABB.org ) which provides a portable 2 meter repeater for voice communications, in addition this year we have set up an APRS (automatic packet reporting system) tracking system which uses Ham Radio & GPS to track the location of equipped vehicles. It is my hope that competitors will see the safety advantages of this system & install Ham Radio APRS equipment in their Rally cars (after obtaining the appropriate license of course). I will be putting together a power point presentation outlining the advantages & implementation of such a relatively low cost system; this will be distributed to competitors throughout the country.

I welcome any feedback from operators that participated in this past event & look forward to working with you again in the future. Please send any comments to me via email

Hope you’re the winner of the radio next time!

Thanks & 73

Rich Otis, N2ZKX

Chief Communications Officer for Rally New York

Rally Control

Vice President Mt Beacon Amateur Radio Club

*These drawings are not & should not be considered as payment for communications services. All licensed operators that participated in the set up, operation, & tear down of the net & equipment have been entered in this drawing. A list of those entered is available on request.