If you've never been to NARAM, you may not know what all these different potential jobs mean. Here is a brief description of each, to help you in selecting where you can best help out during the week. During registration, we'll ask for several preferences. We will try to meet your preferences when assigning range duty but we cannot guarantee to make everyone happy. No job is any more or less important than any other job, every position must be filled in order to run the contest range and have an enjoyable NARAM.
RSO: The Range Safety Officer is responsible for all activity on the range. They stand in the center of the contest range and run the range. They are very experienced rocketeers and ultimately responsible for qualifying (or disqualifying) each flight flown under their watch and interpreting the rules. Please sign up only if you have performed this job at NARAM or large regionals before.
LCO: The Launch Control Officer operates the launch controller at the command of the RSO and acts as a backup RSO, watching the pads and the range. They sit (or stand) under the range tent. This job requires some experience and lots of attention.
Queue Manager: At NARAM, flights are flown in a first-in, first-out queue. The Queue Manager adds flights to queue and removes them when the range is ready to fly each flight, passing the card to either the Tracking Communicator or the Chief Timer. The queue itself is a physical board that hangs from the range tent, with pad numbers on clipboards facing the range so that everyone can see their position in the queue. The queue manager, with the assistance of the RSO & LCO, is responsible for watching the range to add people when not handing off flight cards that are ready to be flown. This job requires some experience and lots of attention.
Chief Timer: The chief timer runs their timing shift. When a duration flight is ready, the chief timer hands the flight card to the next available timing crew. In a pinch, the chief timer will also time if necessary, and will help inexperienced timers acquire the model in the air and ensure that each flight is fairly timed. This job requires some experience and lots of attention.
Timer: Most NARAM competitors will be timers. Each shift will have several timing crews. Some crews prefer to pick a timing partner for the whole day, others prefer to rotate, both are fine. When a duration flight is flown, one team of two timers will be assigned to it. They watch the flight from lift off until touch down (or when the model disappears). Timers stay in the timing circle near range head, once a flight can no longer be seen from there, timing is over. This year, we have several multi-round events with maximum times. Once both timers are above the maximum time for the event, timing will stop so that they can time the next waiting flight. Timing requires good eyesight but since you have a partner and a Chief Timer to help you, this is an excellent role for first-timers who want to learn how to time.
Tracking Communicator: The tracking communicator sits at range head and communicates with the trackers over FRS radio. Their job is to communicate the upcoming flight to the trackers, confirm they are ready to track, copy the countdown from the RSO. After the flight is tracked, they communicate with the trackers to get their tracking data onto the flight card. This job requires good hearing, especially as they will need to hear with a lot going on around them in the range tent. This can be suitable for a first-time NARAM competitor, it requires constant attention but can be handled.
Tracking: NARAM will run 4 tracking stations on Monday through Thursday. Trackers will use their own theodolite and will track in pairs. If you've never tracked before, NARAM is the place to learn, as you will be teamed with an experienced tracker if necessary. The most experienced trackers in the world will show up at NARAM and will often have bragging rights over who gets the most closed tracks during their shift. If you have good eyesight and enjoy following models from liftoff to ejection from far away from rangehead, sign up. If it is your first time, please let us know so we can make sure to pair you with an experienced tracker.
Check-in: Check-in officers act as extensions of the RSO. They are responsible for checking in motors and models and assuring they meet the rules of the event and that the model will fly safely. They complete the initial flight card and pass it on to the pad assignment team. While some experience with the rules of competition rocketry and safety are necessary, experienced competitors who have not yet attended a NARAM can take on this role.
Pad Assignment: Pad assignment will assign modelers who are ready to fly to a pad. Once a pad is assigned the modeler cannot leave the rangehead without having their model on the pad ready to fly. If you must go back to your prep area to continue prepping, you'll have to release your pad for someone else to fly. Pad assignment is a good job for the first time NARAM attendee.
Runner: Often staffed by our youngest competitors, runners use their energy to help flight cards flow around the range tent, from check-in to pad assignment, from pad assignment to the queue manager, from the timing crews to data entry, from the tracking communicator to data entry, and back and forth between data entry and returns. There is quite a lot of running that needs to happen.
Returns: On some days, the returns officer will check payloads, returned streamer models, cluster altitude models, motors or other models the RSO impounds to ensure they met the rules of the event. This officer needs to understand the rules for returns for each event, but we can train you.
Data Entry: Responsible for entering completed flights into Contest Manager. If you are familiar with Contest Manager from running your own events or have lots of experience with computer data entry, this is a good job for you. In order to keep up, you'll want to be fast but also very accurate as we have to check all the flight data.
This covers the range duties that will run every day of the contest range. There are a few additional duties:
R&D Judge: The team of three judges will read the R&D reports, select from those entered to give oral presentations on Wednesday or Thursday, and agree on the final placing of the reports. Judges typically have significant experience with some area of science or education and would rather perform range duty in the comfort of their hotel room than on the field. We typically use experienced R&D judges but if you feel qualified you can select this as a preference.
Scale Judge: The scale judging team static judges the entries in their event and age division between Sunday night and Thursday afternoon, back at the hotel in the judging room. Head Judge Marc McReynolds coordinates the judging teams. There is some room to train new judges at NARAM, if you've judged events at your own club's contests and have an interest in judging excellent craft skills, please select this option as a preference. Scale judges are excused from duty on the field Monday through Thursday, but are expected to stay near the range head for the entire 6 hour range shift on Friday, so that models can be flown & judged quickly. Since scale judges often enter the events on Friday themselves, we make accommodation for them to prepare their models near the range head, in the part of the range tent used by the timing crews (since they won't be working Friday).
Finally, if we have enough range staff to cover all these essential positions, there is one "new" position we may try out this year:
Photographer: We'd like to get a lot more photos of NARAM than previous years have obtained, both of the range, rockets and rocketeers. If we have the numbers to run the range, we may also select a few people who are willing to take lots of photos. We would assign you to a shift with the other crews, so you'd be expected to shoot photos for 2 hours a day. We ask that you have your own camera and that you are okay sharing your photos without restriction on various internet sites like the NARAM website, Facebook and Google+. We expect each photographer to upload their photos to these various sites each day after the range closes. Additionally, some photos may be used in Sport Rocketry or on the NAR website, with photographer credit. Of course, people can always take their own photographs, it is encouraged.