[HCRA] FW: BOSTON AREA HAMS PROVIDE COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT FOR ANNUAL MARATHON

[n1kxr at comcast.net]

Greetings, 
The below text message is being forwarded by; 
Richard H. Wheeler - N1KXR 
http://www.qrz.com/callsign/n1kxr 
http://www.geocities.com/n1kxr 

----- Begin Text Message Below ----- 

BOSTON AREA HAMS PROVIDE COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT FOR ANNUAL MARATHON 

More than 250 Amateur Radio operators provided communication support for 
the 113th running of the Boston Marathon < http://www.bostonmarathon.com > 
on Monday, April 20, also known as Patriots' Day 
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriots_Day >. With more than 26,000 
official runners and 500,000 spectators along the 26 mile route, the 
marathon utilized amateurs at the starting line, along the course at 
each water and first aid station, and at the finish line. 

"This is the largest public service event in New England in terms of the 
number of Amateur Radio operators required for a one-day event, and we 
can always use more hams to help us," said Marathon Amateur Radio 
Communications (MARC) < http://marc.mmra.org/marc/index.html > Course 
Coordinator Steve Schwarm, W3EVE. "We're glad that the weather was cool 
and the number of ambulance requests this year was lower than past 
years, where we had higher temperatures and more medical issues." 

Even with the more temperate weather, MARC Finish Line Coordinator Paul 
Topolski, W1SEX, said the medical tents at the finish line were near 
capacity by mid-afternoon. "Hams provided communications, status and 
logistical issue updates between the medical tents to our finish line 
net control as needed," he said. 

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) was active with 
operations at the State Emergency Operations Center in Framingham, with 
their operations room acting as a Unified Command Center (UCC) for the 
marathon. RACES members staffed the communications room at the SEOC, and 
ARRL Eastern Massachusetts Section Manager Mike Neilsen, W1MPN, staffed 
the UCC. Neilson fed status reports on any issues along the marathon 
route into the operations room, as well as issues from the UCC to the 
operations room. 

"This is the first time we've had an Amateur Radio Operator in the 
operations room of the UCC," said Massachusetts State RACES Radio 
Officer Tom Kinahan, N1CPE. "We have been coordinating with the Boston 
Marathon Net Control and the finish line communications in Boston to 
provide updates into our station and to our Amateur Radio operator in 
the UCC." 

The Net Control center is located with a line-of-sight to the Boston 
area and to the entire 26 mile route in case simplex communication is 
required. More than a dozen repeaters were utilized to provide 
overlapping coverage to the marathon route. The Clay Center Amateur 
Radio Club, the Minuteman Repeater Association, the Framingham Amateur 
Radio Association and many other clubs in the New England area support 
the marathon operations. 

With so many amateurs placed along the marathon route, ARRL Eastern 
Massachusetts Section Emergency Coordinator Rob Macedo, KD1CY, placed 
Eastern Massachusetts ARES on standby in case something went wrong along 
the marathon route, or a major incident occurred coincident with the 
marathon. "This is standard operating procedure for 'Marathon Monday'" 
he said. "We want our members to maintain a heightened state of 
awareness during the event." 

Patriots' Day -- a state holiday in Massachusetts and Maine -- 
commemorates the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, 
the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

Material from The ARRL Letter may be republished or reproduced in whole 
or in part in any form without additional permission. Credit must be 
given to The ARRL Letter/American Radio Relay League. 

----- End Text Message -----