Note: This was supposed to be published in the November issue of The SPARC, the Boston Amateur Radio Club newsletter, however, due to unforeseen circumstances, it was never published, so here it is for the first time in print!
It was a busy public service month for
me. First off was MassJam 2023, the multi-state scout jamboree that
is held every five years at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds in Falmouth.
While the communication staff was made
up of entirely of hams, the event did not use amateur radio for its
operation as obviously, while there are hams in Scouting, not
everyone is a ham and therefore, commercial band radio was a must for
the event. Using radios provided by DC Rentals (who seem to provide
the commercial radios for practically every large event in Boston)
MassJam got underway. Net control was a 24/7 operation with shifts
scheduled in blocks and food for the net controllers was cooked on
site. Despite some hiccups, the event itself was mostly successful,
including exodus from the campground was went really well and
finished practically on schedule.
After a week and a half off, it was
time for the next major public service event, the 2023 Head of the
Charles Regatta. I was stationed all 3 days at the Attager (which is
Regatta spelled backwards) Row First Aid tent. A ham’s job at the
regatta is to be the primary link for the first aid tents to net
control and from there to the event’s roving bike teams on
commercial radio (again, provided by DC Rentals) and if needed to our
public safety partners such as the Massachusetts State Police (who
provide their command post for the weekend where a ham is stationed
as a link between net control and them), Boston EMS and Cambridge
Fire. Joined by a rotating motley crew of hams, including our very
own public service chair, Ethan KC1OIP, we made the best of it
despite pouring rain on Saturday and cold winds on Sunday.
All in all, a good month of public
service. I recommend the Regatta as a good place to start if you’re
interested in the public service side of this great hobby. Now to
look forward to next year’s public service season with the Boston
Marathon!
Sorry, for the delayed post, just been busy with work.
It's back! The Marathon is back! At last, we had a Marathon on Patriots' Day again! Although, COVID is by no means gone, it felt good to be back to somewhat normal. Speaking of COVID, this year all Marathon volunteers had to be vaccinated.
Anyways, this year I once again provided communications for a medical tent. In fact, the same medical tent as last year although with a different team, well actually, more like the some of the same team as I had in 2019.
This year was mostly uneventful, and I had a competent ham partner this time around. The last two times left something to be desired.
Well, it took a year and half, and it wasn't in April on Patriots' Day but the Boston Marathon is finally back in person, after last year's "virtual" Marathon due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In my 3rd year of service to the Marathon, I was stationed at the same Medical tent as 2019, Medical Tent 6. To be a medical tent volunteer at this tent, you had to be vaccinated against COVID-19, no exceptions. Hydration stations also checked in at the tent and were tested for COVID if they weren't vaccinated. There was also no meetup at Babson College or Newton North High School this year. Although, our convoy of hams including the Course Coordinator, Jim Palmer, KB1KQW, enlisted me to help do some last minute preparations at Babson involving getting jackets ready.
Although, it was in a different location than last year and that caused me some headache as it appeared to be a last minute change that wasn't properly communicated, leading to me searching and calling on my net control channel to find it. Turns out it was moved down the road a bit next to Wellesley College.
Which was fun because it was just a bit down the road from the famous Wellesley "Scream Tunnel." What wasn't fun was the porta-potties weren't close to the station, which required a small hike, maybe a quarter of a mile, from the medical tent to the porta-potties which was inconvenient for me and everyone else at the tent. For me, it was because I would be out of earshot of the station staff if something needed to be relayed back or forth. And at one point, the doctor assigned had gone to use the bathroom when our first patient of the day showed up and her presence was required.
Other issues cropped up, such as missing supplies which required to requisition some supplies from another medical tent which had supplies to spare after talking with the ham at the next tent down.
Another issue was of my own doing, that being, I kept my radio attached to my hip all day instead of getting it off my hip and up in the air for better signal coverage. There were times were I didn't hit the repeater well and that probably could have been solved by getting the radio off my hip.
Also, there was issues with the sweep buses at some points as there was one sitting at my station for a quite a while but that was mostly due to only having one runner who dropped out on board and apparently the sweep bus will only move when there's a certain number. Eventually, the station captain had me advocate on her behalf and the bus finally took off.
But not all was bad, I helped to relay a call from our Division Supervisor to the Team Lead about a down runner a tenth of a mile from our station. Although, it did require some more transmissions to find out which part of the course they were on.
But it felt great to relay that message, as it shows that we're still relevant in providing public service to our partners.
After my shift was done at my tent which was around 3:00pm, I made my way over to the Course Net Control Operations Center is and helped out there, it was my first time visiting Course NCOC in the years I've volunteered and it was great to see what was going on the other end of the radio behind the scenes.
All in all, I had a good time, despite the differences this year due to the pandemic and I'm looking forward to going back in six months when the 126th Boston Marathon happens on it's regularly scheduled day. But now, it's time to prepare for NEAR-Fest and the Head of the Charles Regatta!
On Saturday, October 19th, 2019 and Sunday, October 20th, 2019, I participated as a volunteer in my first ever Head of the Charles Regatta, I visited the Regatta a few years prior to becoming a ham, but this was my first time being there long term.
This was the fifty-fifth edition of the Head of the Charles, which first began in 1965. The Head of the Charles Regatta (HOCR) is the world's largest two day regatta. Outside of the major league team sports and the Boston Marathon, the Head of the Charles is probably one of the biggest sporting events in Boston.
To quote rowing coach Susan Saint Sing:
Regattas such as the Head of the Charles in Boston and the Head of the Schuylkill in Philadelphia are to the rowing world what the New York Marathon and the Boston Marathon are to running.
Myself and two volunteers on a walking team.
The job of the amateur radio operators at the HOCR is to be the radio communications for the volunteer first aid teams on shore and on the safety launches on the Charles River. There are various things that can happen during the regatta such as boat collisions, oars to the face, distressed rowers and even spectator injuries. Thankfully, the first aid teams are well equipped and well trained to deal with it, from Red Cross volunteers to EMTs to actual doctors of varying experience.
Generally, one ham and some first aid members will remain on station at a first aid tent while other hams will proceed out with a walk team to do a patrol along a designated section of the course looking for anyone who needs assistance or to respond quicker to medical incidents.
The regatta is officially two days since the races take place on Saturday and Sunday, however, practices do take place on Friday also, so there are some hams and first aid members on site, but at reduced coverage.
Net control's trailer
The call sign for event and net control is W1R and has been since at least 2012 according to the 1X1 callsigns website. Net control runs a hybrid net similar to the Marathon, which means that locations can call each other direct if needed and not need permission from net control.
Also on site are rented commercial radios for HOCR staff to use. However, unlike the Marathon, the first aid stations do not have a commercial radio assigned to them, it is strictly amateur radio. Just make sure you don't lose them to the "dirty water" of the Charles River, as happened twice over the weekend.
Of course, just like the Marathon and any large event, public safety radio is also on hand for obvious reasons and since the Charles River is the city line between Boston and Cambridge, their public safety is on hand, along with the State Police as the majority of the Charles River basin is state parkland controlled by the Department of Conservation & Recreation. For any major medical emergencies, public safety is on standby.
All in all, the Head of the Charles Regatta is a great two to three-day event for any ham to participate in. I'd say it's a more relaxed environment compared to say the Boston Marathon and a great way to get your feet wet (literally in some cases, although, we really don't want that to happen) in amateur radio public service.
Just make sure your radio is programmed properly please. Unless you want to see an angry tweet from me about it.
I've participated in the Boston Marathon for the past two years and here's some survival tips for new hams. This is inspired by W3ATB's original Survival Guide. (Although it should be noted that the guide has been superseded by newer documentation.)
Be prepared
As the Scout Motto goes, BE PREPARED. The Boston Marathon is probably the preeminent public service event in all of amateur radio. (My opinion, of course.) Mind you, the course spreads over 26.2 miles from Hopkinton, Massachusetts to Boston, Massachusetts.
You need to be prepared in various ways.
1. Make sure your radio is programmed beforehand. Whether you have a top of the line Kenwood or a bottom of the barrel Baofeng or somewhere in between, make sure it is programmed with the various repeater and simplex frequencies before the event. Make sure you have the offsets and tones correct also. You don't want to be hand punching in frequencies and tones on the front panel at the volunteer meetup, it wastes valuable time. You may get lucky and have another ham with a programming cable for your radio or you may not.
The ICS-205 form with all the frequencies and tones. is usually released a few weeks beforehand on hamradioboston.org, so check it out and start programming. Usually, one of the hams will release a CSV which you can load in the radio programming Swiss army knife of a program known as CHIRP or whatever software you use to program your radio. Take advantage of it. In closing, I'll say it again, make sure your radio is programmed beforehand.
2. Make sure you have adequate radio accessories. What do I mean by adequate? You should have the following:
A headset and shoulder mic. The Marathon is a very loud event, you're going to have lots of cheering spectators yelling, screaming and ringing cowbells and the lot. You need to be able to hear your radio and what others are saying.
Extra power. Depending on your assignment you could be on your station for a couple of hours up to dozens of hours, your battery may not make it all the way, so bring a fully charged back up battery. Or better yet...
Extra radio. Bring a backup just in case something happens with your primary, if your radio goes down and you don't have a backup, you're essentially useless.
No stock antennas. An aftermarket antenna for your radio is highly recommended. Stock "rubber duckies" are a compromise, they work well when you're near a good, strong repeater, but you may not have that luxury on the course due to coverage or a weak spot. So go and get one.
3. Dress for the weather. Even though Spring begins every year on March 20th, New England weather is a strange beast in April. It could 32°F and snowing, it could 50°F and raining or it could be 85°F with sweltering heat and humidity. You need to dress for the weather. Take it from me, I learned the hard way my first year when it was a monsoon of freezing rain, I just wore cargo pants and non waterproof boots, with a fleece jacket underneath my volunteer jacket along with a poncho. My upper half stayed warm and dry, the lower half did not and my boots got ruined. Dress for the weather.
4. Pack light. 2013 changed everything. The days of any type of backpack are over, unless it's see through. Bring a small waist pack and carry as much as you can on your person, cargo pants are highly recommended. If you bring a backpack, you're liable to be searched or stopped by local law enforcement which takes away from your listening watch. The only slight exception is if your doing transport on the medical sweep bus, because a mobile radio with a mag mount is recommended for those assignments. Nevertheless, transport buses could be boarded and searched so be prepared for that and cooperate with law enforcement. Pack light.
5. Read the documentation. Even with all my advice, this is not official guidance. Everything official is posted on hamradioboston.org, by the BAA Communications Committee staffed by fellow amateurs. Everything you need is there. Plus, there is a forum where you can ask questions. I highly recommend checking it out.
In closing
Again, these are just tips. The official documentation is what you should rely on. Nevertheless, don't be daunted by all this. Step up and make yourself available. The Boston Marathon is an exciting event and helps you get baseline of what amateur radio public service is all about, and what better way then on the biggest stage of them all.
Yesterday, I participated in the 123rd running of the Boston Marathon. Not as a runner mind you, but as a volunteer; specifically an amateur radio communications volunteer. Amateur radio is one of the three radio systems going during the Marathon, operating along aside public safety radios that are interoperable for the event and the commercial DMR radios that the Boston Athletic Association (BAA), the race organizers, have rented for the duration of the event.
There are various roles amateurs play at the Marathon and it is divided into four segments, Start, Course, Finish and Transport. Start and Finish work obviously the start and finish line. Course, which was the segment I was assigned to, is split among the hydration and medical stations along the course and Transport works the sweep buses to pick up runners who have dropped out. Course and Finish also have Net Control Operation Centers that serve as the focal point of relaying operations for their respective segments.
There are also amateur radio operators assigned to other roles such as shadowing VIP race officials to provide information and there is even a ham or two assigned to the MEMA Bunker in Framingham.
Most of this came about due to the after effects of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. The BAA setup a Communications Committee which created standard operating procedures for hams to make everything more organized.
The sheer amount of volunteers makes this one of the biggest, if not the biggest ham radio public service event. One of my fellow hams from reddit who contacted me for help said he was amazed the amount of ham radio volunteers alone, not to mention the medical and hydration volunteers needed.
The race
Last year, was my first year and I was assigned to a hydration station in Wellesley's College Sqaure, where I promptly got soaked in a monsoon of freezing rain, but at least I had convenient parking to park in the parking lot of the library right there and duck into my car from time to time.
This year I wasn't so lucky parking wise, as I was on a side street due to the station being located on the Natick/Wellesley line. However, it was a medical station, which means a bit more shelter should the rain come pouring down.
It did, but only before the race began, a thunderstorm came plowing through leading to us being held at our volunteer meeting location of Babson College's auditorium. The same went for other volunteers down the course who were held at Newton North High School. Luckily, the storm passed and the all clear was given to proceed out.
The race began, and other than having some radio trouble with my partner not being able to hit the repeater, it was mostly uneventful for the first couple of hours as the wheelchair runners came through followed by the elite men and women and eventually the first waves of regular runners.
One of our main jobs was to report the hour stats of how many runners are being treated which was thankfully zero, so the medical staff mostly handed out water and Vaseline on sticks for the runners, some of whom had to be reminded it was Vaseline and not to eat it. (My opinion is I think some of the runners mistook it for energy gel which was also being handed out.)
However, towards the end of the race, we started to see runners coming in with various ailments, some minor but some major. I started getting reports from the hydration stations from the east and west of me that we had runners in distress who couldn't make it the medical station and required pick up. I relayed this information to medical station lead who had a Gator cart dispatched to each location to pick up the runners.
Thankfully, that was the most excitement I had as one of the other fallback tasks an amateur radio operator has at a medical station is to make EMS requests should all other methods of requesting help fail.
My only major gripe is the location of the station as their is a minor radio dead zone where I am because while I could receive net control, it was very hard to hear the hydration stations next to me with many garbled transmissions until they could into a clearer area.
Conclusion
All in all, a great time, a great Marathon and I hope to return next year and do it all over again. But maybe sit down a bit more because my legs and body were gassed by the time I got home... and I didn't even run! But I did sleep like a baby.
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