The Chicago Area Radio Monitoring Association was and remains one of the most active scanner clubs in the country. While these days most activities have transitioned to Facebook, email and RadioReference, along with the occasional in-person get-together, for years we held regular meetings, hosted tours of facilities and had an annual outdoor picnic. These picnics were well attended with upwards of a hundred participants. From the Mid 1980’s thru about 2014 we held an annual picnic almost every summer around the area.
One of our members and (by then) a former group leader, started the tradition but when the site that was chosen one year was not the one he wanted, he claimed it was “Low Ground”, meaning our radio reception would be hampered. We proved to him that the elevation there was quite a bit higher than his preferred location and he eventually backed down. “It’s Low Ground” is now a catchphrase for those of us who knew the late, great “Father Ed”.
Usually, these picnics were held at local forest preserves or picnic groves. Some of these were places like Shoe Factory Woods near Schaumburg or the Argonne Labs picnic grounds near Darien. Later picnics were combined with those of the Bensenville/O’Hare Airport Watch group, many people were members of both groups so there was plenty of overlap.
Over the 30 years or so of these picnics we had many memorable moments. I mentioned in one of my previous tales of an incident where we almost decapitated an equestrian rider on a bridal path. This occurred at Shoe Factory Woods when we arrived well before sunrise to set up as we expected (and had) a huge turnout. About a dozen of us showed up early to make sure we got our permitted shelter as it was common for groups to show up and not leave when a permitted group who had a reservation for that shelter arrived.
One of the things that we always did was set up radios, we are a scanner club after all. Besides the dozens of scanners, we often had ham radio installations. I had recently purchased a used IC-735 as well as a 165-foot-long dipole antenna and an MFJ tuner. Using a deep-cycle marine battery we powered up that Icom as well as a whole bunch of other radios all day long.
That long wire antenna was strung between trees and one of the first things we set up upon arrival. It was still dark when we did it, but with the use of flashlights and car headlights we got it set up 10 or 15 feet above ground handily. We tied the wire ends to a softball (Since this was Chicagoland it was of course a 16-inch one) and used that to throw the wire across the branches near the ends. We tossed a rope around a branch to hold up the balun in the middle and we were off to the races.
All went well until sometime later that morning. What we didn’t notice was that part of the antenna was draped over a bridal path, apparently at just the right height to clear the horse but impact the neck of the rider. We heard someone gallop on by followed by a very loud “Whoa! What the F…!!!” When we looked over, we noticed that he had stopped just short of our antenna wire. Oops!
We ran over, pulled down (and later relocated) the antenna wire and profusely apologized to the rider as well as to Trigger. We offered him to join us for lunch later, mostly to avoid him calling the Forest Preserve Rangers. While he apparently did, since we got a visit from them later, he did stop by later and ate with us and all was forgiven if not forgotten. Even the ranger had a hot dog with us!
There were probably 5 or 6 other CARMA picnics at Shoe Factory Woods over the years and the stories from them get melted into a single pot so some of these occurred at different ones. One year we had a member who owned a mobile catering service and had a trailer-mounted grill. He brought steaks, kabobs, ribs and corn and we all ate like royalty. Another year we had a couple members collect money and go on a run to get broasted chicken. We provided them with callsigns of “Chicken 1” and “Chicken 2” as they drove the half-hour to the restaurant and back; we kept track of them on a Two-Meter frequency during the drive.
One of our members had a fiberglass military surplus tent pole set up that he used to mount antennas upon. This contraption would go up 40 or 50 feet and he used guy ropes to keep it steady. By use of hose clamps, duct tape and U-bolts we would mount a variety of antennas on it. One year we had a Scantenna ST-2 set up at 50 feet and listened to tons of low-band skip along with the more local stuff. In those days the Illinois State Police still used low band 42 MHz. for most operations, as did many of the other states we heard then. We would also stack picnic tables to allow us to climb onto the roof of the picnic shelter and set up antennas. We sure got a lot of odd looks when we did that.
Another year we were harassed by some bikers who wanted to use the shelter we reserved and had a permit for. When they squared up and tried to get intimidating the dozen or so off-duty cops among us set up a skirmish line. They backed down quickly and left for some other group to exert their dominance over.
One of those years, well before I met my wife, the girlfriend of the week joined me, and we snuck off into the woods for some alone time. One of our more naïve members was worried we may have gotten lost and started to look for us. I heard another guy tell him “Maybe they don’t want to be found”, to which he asked why. Imagine trying to explain that to a (likely) 30-year-old virgin.
As for the scanner stuff, we always had whatever desktop and handheld scanners from that era set up on picnic tables. This was most evident in the BC780XLT and PRO2004/5/6 days, some years we would have dozen’s set up. Occasionally we would hide a 49 MHz. baby monitor out in the woods and hold an impromptu fox hunt.
Since many of us were public safety professionals we would occasionally have visits from on-duty personnel and specialty vehicles from those or other agencies. When in-car computers were a novelty one of our members got permission from the chief to take his squad car and show off the new-fangled technology.
During the 2010’s we combined our picnics with those of the Bensenville/O’Hare Airport Watch (BORD-W) group as many people were members of both groups. We had a picnic in the large front yard of the Aviation Universe store, a sponsor of the BORD-W. This was on York Road and across the street was a busy railroad track (great for us railfans!) and the west edge of O’Hare Airport, directly under the flight path for a couple of the main runways. This was an awesome spot for such an event, and we had a great time until l about 2:00 PM. Suddenly, a strong thunderstorm rolled in. It went from clear and sunny to dark and windy in an instant. We rushed to get the couple of canopies taken down before they flew off to who knows where. Next thing you know there are a hundred people crowding into the store, many of which had questionable hygiene on a good day much less after spending hours out in the July sun.
The last picnic was in downtown Bensenville near the Metra station and next door to the new location of Aviation Universe. I think this was 2014, the year before I moved to Arizona. I had a portable Weber gas grill, and we went thru two full-size LP tanks. One of our members was appointed as Grill Master and he cooked all day long. I had to leave the grill out and come back and get it hours later as it was way too hot to put in the trunk of the car for the ride home. We went thru hundreds of hot dogs, brats, sausages and burgers courtesy of Aviation Universe and the Bensenville PD. We had the entire Day Shift show up over the course of the picnic as well as the on-duty fire shifts. We made sure they were well fed.
CARMA Picnics were legendary during their time. They were always fun and unpredictable. We were always well fed and hydrated. No one ever got hurt and even the grumpy guys were known to crack a smile.
One of our members and (by then) a former group leader, started the tradition but when the site that was chosen one year was not the one he wanted, he claimed it was “Low Ground”, meaning our radio reception would be hampered. We proved to him that the elevation there was quite a bit higher than his preferred location and he eventually backed down. “It’s Low Ground” is now a catchphrase for those of us who knew the late, great “Father Ed”.
Usually, these picnics were held at local forest preserves or picnic groves. Some of these were places like Shoe Factory Woods near Schaumburg or the Argonne Labs picnic grounds near Darien. Later picnics were combined with those of the Bensenville/O’Hare Airport Watch group, many people were members of both groups so there was plenty of overlap.
Over the 30 years or so of these picnics we had many memorable moments. I mentioned in one of my previous tales of an incident where we almost decapitated an equestrian rider on a bridal path. This occurred at Shoe Factory Woods when we arrived well before sunrise to set up as we expected (and had) a huge turnout. About a dozen of us showed up early to make sure we got our permitted shelter as it was common for groups to show up and not leave when a permitted group who had a reservation for that shelter arrived.
One of the things that we always did was set up radios, we are a scanner club after all. Besides the dozens of scanners, we often had ham radio installations. I had recently purchased a used IC-735 as well as a 165-foot-long dipole antenna and an MFJ tuner. Using a deep-cycle marine battery we powered up that Icom as well as a whole bunch of other radios all day long.
That long wire antenna was strung between trees and one of the first things we set up upon arrival. It was still dark when we did it, but with the use of flashlights and car headlights we got it set up 10 or 15 feet above ground handily. We tied the wire ends to a softball (Since this was Chicagoland it was of course a 16-inch one) and used that to throw the wire across the branches near the ends. We tossed a rope around a branch to hold up the balun in the middle and we were off to the races.
All went well until sometime later that morning. What we didn’t notice was that part of the antenna was draped over a bridal path, apparently at just the right height to clear the horse but impact the neck of the rider. We heard someone gallop on by followed by a very loud “Whoa! What the F…!!!” When we looked over, we noticed that he had stopped just short of our antenna wire. Oops!
We ran over, pulled down (and later relocated) the antenna wire and profusely apologized to the rider as well as to Trigger. We offered him to join us for lunch later, mostly to avoid him calling the Forest Preserve Rangers. While he apparently did, since we got a visit from them later, he did stop by later and ate with us and all was forgiven if not forgotten. Even the ranger had a hot dog with us!
There were probably 5 or 6 other CARMA picnics at Shoe Factory Woods over the years and the stories from them get melted into a single pot so some of these occurred at different ones. One year we had a member who owned a mobile catering service and had a trailer-mounted grill. He brought steaks, kabobs, ribs and corn and we all ate like royalty. Another year we had a couple members collect money and go on a run to get broasted chicken. We provided them with callsigns of “Chicken 1” and “Chicken 2” as they drove the half-hour to the restaurant and back; we kept track of them on a Two-Meter frequency during the drive.
One of our members had a fiberglass military surplus tent pole set up that he used to mount antennas upon. This contraption would go up 40 or 50 feet and he used guy ropes to keep it steady. By use of hose clamps, duct tape and U-bolts we would mount a variety of antennas on it. One year we had a Scantenna ST-2 set up at 50 feet and listened to tons of low-band skip along with the more local stuff. In those days the Illinois State Police still used low band 42 MHz. for most operations, as did many of the other states we heard then. We would also stack picnic tables to allow us to climb onto the roof of the picnic shelter and set up antennas. We sure got a lot of odd looks when we did that.
Another year we were harassed by some bikers who wanted to use the shelter we reserved and had a permit for. When they squared up and tried to get intimidating the dozen or so off-duty cops among us set up a skirmish line. They backed down quickly and left for some other group to exert their dominance over.
One of those years, well before I met my wife, the girlfriend of the week joined me, and we snuck off into the woods for some alone time. One of our more naïve members was worried we may have gotten lost and started to look for us. I heard another guy tell him “Maybe they don’t want to be found”, to which he asked why. Imagine trying to explain that to a (likely) 30-year-old virgin.
As for the scanner stuff, we always had whatever desktop and handheld scanners from that era set up on picnic tables. This was most evident in the BC780XLT and PRO2004/5/6 days, some years we would have dozen’s set up. Occasionally we would hide a 49 MHz. baby monitor out in the woods and hold an impromptu fox hunt.
Since many of us were public safety professionals we would occasionally have visits from on-duty personnel and specialty vehicles from those or other agencies. When in-car computers were a novelty one of our members got permission from the chief to take his squad car and show off the new-fangled technology.
During the 2010’s we combined our picnics with those of the Bensenville/O’Hare Airport Watch (BORD-W) group as many people were members of both groups. We had a picnic in the large front yard of the Aviation Universe store, a sponsor of the BORD-W. This was on York Road and across the street was a busy railroad track (great for us railfans!) and the west edge of O’Hare Airport, directly under the flight path for a couple of the main runways. This was an awesome spot for such an event, and we had a great time until l about 2:00 PM. Suddenly, a strong thunderstorm rolled in. It went from clear and sunny to dark and windy in an instant. We rushed to get the couple of canopies taken down before they flew off to who knows where. Next thing you know there are a hundred people crowding into the store, many of which had questionable hygiene on a good day much less after spending hours out in the July sun.
The last picnic was in downtown Bensenville near the Metra station and next door to the new location of Aviation Universe. I think this was 2014, the year before I moved to Arizona. I had a portable Weber gas grill, and we went thru two full-size LP tanks. One of our members was appointed as Grill Master and he cooked all day long. I had to leave the grill out and come back and get it hours later as it was way too hot to put in the trunk of the car for the ride home. We went thru hundreds of hot dogs, brats, sausages and burgers courtesy of Aviation Universe and the Bensenville PD. We had the entire Day Shift show up over the course of the picnic as well as the on-duty fire shifts. We made sure they were well fed.
CARMA Picnics were legendary during their time. They were always fun and unpredictable. We were always well fed and hydrated. No one ever got hurt and even the grumpy guys were known to crack a smile.
