Spent the day today with fellow CARS club members helping out with communications support for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Ride for Life event today.
CARS has been helping out with the event for the past few years, and today was my second time participating. It’s a pretty easy and laid back event to work out in an area where some of the spots have marginal cell service.
This year I was at the start/finish line helping out with the net control duties. Had a pretty good turnout of hams to help out with the ride this year. 7 rest stations on the course, with 6 of them having at least one amateur radio operator, one motorcycle mobile ham, one in a SAG vehicle and one more participating in the ride. We had pretty good coverage of the entire course.
The day started pretty early with riders on the 100 mile route starting off at 7AM.
They were followed by the 65 and 30 mile riders about 45 minutes later.
We were able to keep tabs on where riders were along the course and kept the race director informed of the riders’ progress. Aside from someone getting a flat tire, there were fortunately no incidents throughout the day.
The event lasted a few hours longer than I anticipated, with the final rider rolling in just before 3:30PM. Everybody came in under their own power, and nobody needed a ride back. All in all, a very well run event and a nice easy event to work, especially if you’re just getting into the public service part of amateur radio.
Note for next year: Bring a chair and see about getting an earpiece for my HT.
