Last June, while demoing amateur radio at the Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire, I was approached by a woman who asked if I’d consider organizing an amateur radio demo at a Girl Scout event in the fall called the International River Crossing. This event is held in Marine City, MI, which is on the St. Clair River, and attracts Girl Scouts from both the U.S. and Canada. While I might have done this, Marine City is an hour and a half away, and I didn’t think I could ask my fellow Ann Arbor hams to hike all the way up there.
So, I asked Stan, AC8W, who’s one of the mucky-mucks of the Eastern Michigan ARC (EMARC). They are a lot closer than I am, and I knew they’d do a great job.
A couple of days ago, Stan sent me the October issue of the EMARC Sparks. Below, reprinted with Stan’s permission, is an article describing what they did at the event…Dan
Girl Scouts 50th Annual International River Crossing
The Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan held their annual event International River Crossing in Marine City on September 30, 2017th Stan, AC8W, and President Tony, KE8BIT, went down to Marine City at 7:30 a.m. and set up a display.
Our table included a hidden transmitter (fox) and a DF antenna, a world map with DX QSLs, a Morse code oscillator, sample Arduino kit, a QRP transceiver and two “Paraset” Spy radios on display.
Many of the exhibitors around us had kits to build or games to play. Next to us was the Purple Protons robotics team with two operating bots which was very popular. Another booth had kids make a rocketfrom a sheet of paper, seal the end and place it on a home built air pump the kid would jump on. Flying rockets went everywhere, Great fun.
Tony, KE8BIT, showed the direction-finding equipment and explained about the hidden transmitter. He even had a few girls find the fox. Stan, AC8W, was busy spelling girls names in Morse Code and having them send a message back to him. Bob, K8WMW, came down in the afternoon and helped.
Several Hams stopped by along with their Girl Scouts including KC8MSD, VE3BBX, and the families of K1ND and KG4AK (Guantanimo Bay Cuba).
All in all a fun experience!