[KL7AA] (no subject)

[Mike Willmon]

The SPIRIT of the IDITAROD 2003

Heather Hasper, KL7SP

COMMENTS BY MIKE WILLMON, AL1D 

Well once again Amateur Radio came to the rescue of the Last Great Race. OH
REALLY? A year ago I inquired to many long time Anchorage radio operators
why the Iditarod was so hectic and unorganized.  I was given the typical
response that the Iditarod had not been totally cooperative with the radio
operators for many years since obtaining other sponsors. READ MORE AND
YOU'LL SEE WHY. 

So this year when a last minute ARES meeting was called to come up with
people who could 'volunteer' to work and organize the Iditarod, ORGANIZE THE
IDITAROD, OK? I said what the heck, I've got the time. Little did I know
that time was not the greatest asset.  Patience and the ability to deal with
chaos and an unorganized organization would be the greatest assets of all.
Of the 10 people sitting in that room, only two people who had never done
the job volunteered.  I ASSUME YOU WERE ONE OF THEM. Now I have a full
understanding of why.  We then nominated probably the greatest asset of all
David Stevens KL7EB to be the coordinator. AT LEAST "WE" DID THAT RIGHT,
DIDN'T "WE"?  I TOO WOULD LIKE TO THANK DAVE FOR HIS HELP AS ONE WHO IS
TRUELY DESERVING. 


While to list all the challenges encountered by the "communications" team
would take more room then the newsletter has pages, let us say that to be
the communicator at the Iditarod means to be the problem solver for everyone
else but yourself.  DO TELL. Dealing with communication problems between
checkpoints is one thing.  But when you get an email from a Senior GCI
satellite specialist stating that they can't get their fax machine to work
HEY WAIT A MINUTE, THATS ME and is asking if you have a copy of the user
manual, then I question who is really doing the work for the race.  I WONDER
THAT MYSELF SOMETIMES. With a little resourcefulness as most Radio Operators
have, I got online and found the User Manual in pdf format on the
manufacturer's website.YEAH, BUT THE USER MANUAL DIDN'T TELL ME HOW TO
WHITTLE A ROLLER OUT OF SPRUCE BRANCHES TO REPLACE THE BROKEN ONE IN THE FAX
MACHINE. BECAUSE AS A HAM I WOULD HAVE TRIED IT IF I THOUGHT IT WOULD HAVE
WORKED.

Some of the Amateurs that saved the Race this year include John Hendricks,
AL7OK.  When John arrived in Tannana, he immediately tried to make
communications with Headquarters only to find the phone line did not work.
John has been on the trail before, and while he had never been to Tannana,
has a telecommunications background.  He was able to get the phone line in
TANANA repaired and operational.  He also brought some Amateur Radio
equipment with him, and was fortunate to be able to link into the NENANA
Amateur radio repeater and relay information as needed until the lines were
fully operational. HE PROBABLY JUST LINKED INTO THE LOCAL PHONE COMPANY
SWITCH AND TURNED UP THE PHONE LINE RIGHT?  I DON'T BELIEVE TANANA WAS ON
THE ORIGINAL PHONE ORDER LIST PRIOR TO THE RESTART MOVING TO FAIRBANKS.
HAVING A PHONE LINE THERE WAS PROBABLY A MIRACLE IN ITSELF AND I'M SURE JOHN
DID A LOT TO PUSH IT THROUGH.  CERTAINLY THANKS IS DUE.

This was one checkpoint, only the second checkpoint in the race.  By the end
of the race, when 8 out of 15 checkpoints had phone lines that didn't work,
you have to wonder who or what agency should be responsible for the failure
of being ready and prepared.  HMM, I WONDER HOW MANY OF THOSE CHECKPOINTS
ARE ON THE ORIGINAL TRAIL WHERE PHONE LINES WOULD HAVE BEEN ORDERED MONTHS
IN ADVANCE? At one checkpoint the phone line was wired to the wrong
building, at another it was wired to the outside of the building, but not
inside with a jack to plug in the phone.  At this location, if it had not
been for sending another Amateur to this location, MIKE HOLLAND, NL7RV, we
would not have had landline communications and would have been completely
dependent on the satellite phones and pagers for all race communications.  I
DON'T BELIEVE WE'D BE COMPLETELY DEPENDANT ON SAT PHONES WITH A HAM ON SITE.
BRAVO FOR MIKE FOR WIRING THE PHONE JACK.  FOR REAL HAMS THIS IS JUST PART
OF THE JOB AND ONE REASON ITC WOULD DO GOOD TO KEEP HAMS ON THE TRAIL.  The
satellite pagers rescued us this year even though they were not activated
until two days into the race.  DO THE WORDS 'WAR' AND 'NATIONAL SECURITY'
MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU. There were many conflicts in the communications
division of the IDITAROD that could have been prevented. As we evaluate the
challenges overcome this year by the communications team, we try to balance
prevention of future problems as well. THIS ARTICLE SHOULD FIX EVERYTHING
SINCE IT IS A FAIRLY COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION. 

In order to prevent some of the chaos and problems of this year and the
past, I have with the approval of the Race Director and the ARES Section
Manager, drafted a STATEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING (SOU) between the ITC and
ARES.  The SOU requires that should the IDITAROD TRAIL Committee want
Amateur Radio Services in any component of the race, they must contact the
District Representative by the close of business of the first week of
January of the year of the race.  An ARES representative must be allowed to
attend planning meetings and work side by side with the Communications
sponsor to ensure a safe and efficient use of our communication resources
and volunteer community.  THAT WOULD BE WELCOMED BY THE SPONSOR AND IN FACT
LAST YEAR IT HAPPENED THAT WAY.  I CAN TELL YOU RIGHT NOW I WANT HAMS
INVOLVED IN COMMS AT ALL LOCATIONS.

Some might question why an ARES person should be contacted, because this is
not an EMERGENCY SERVICES event.  It only becomes an Emergency every year
due to the lack of planning on behalf of ITC and lack of allowing
involvement by the Amateur Community.  I'LL GRANT THIS MAY BE TRUE BUT IT IS
BY NO MEANS CAUSE FOR FIGHT'N WORDS. Hopefully the SOU would prevent this
from happening in the future. For those of you who have worked this race for
many years and have other suggestions please feel free to submit them to me.
If not for the purpose of making the race easier to operate then simply for
the next volunteer who chooses to take on the communications challenges of
the Spirit of the Last Great Race.

One of the key principles of leadership is confidence under fire.  To be
clear, concise and confident during a crisis is what defines a true leader.
Also being able to let go of the negative and emphasize the positive. SO
NOW, WITH ALL OF THE NEGATIVE LET GO, WE MOVE ON TO THE POSITIVE.

The positive this year is all the volunteers who gave hundreds of hours of
time and energy to assist in the race being a success once again this year.
DITO  David Stevens, KL7EB for stepping up to an assignment that he did not
want, but knew could not be accomplished successfully without someone with
previous experience in the title. THANKS DAVE FOR THE PROFESSIONALISM IN
YOUR HELP To Kathy O'Keefe KL7KO for keeping HQ staffed and addressing
questions and problems that continued to arise.  Tom Choate, KL7JA and Jerry
Trodden, KL1HD came in daily to help organize the checkpoint boxes and the
office.  AL1W, Gordon for organizing the start and Dan O'Barr KL7DR for
running the restart.  And to the many non-amateurs who spent many hours
every day for the last month helping at HQ to organize the chaos.  Sam
O'Connor, Bernie Fraties, Diane Olson, Sharon Heiny, Stan Hecker Joe Murdy,
and Grant Jacobson are a few that come to mind.  DITO AGAIN.  

Bottom line, the IDITAROD is a community service event.  To participate in
it means working with your community with the resources available.  You
won't be able to solve all the problems, but you might be able to bring a
little organization into an organization full of chaos. AND THATS ALL
IDITAROD EXPECTS OUT OF ITS VOLUNTEERS.  Because of your efforts, the race
was completed successfully again this year. To all of you who came to the
RESCUE of the IDITAROD and your fellow Amateurs this year, THANK YOU.
KL7SP

THANKS FROM ME TO.  EVEN THOUGH I'M THE POOR "SENIOR GCI SATELLITE
SPECIALIST" (NOT REALLY SENIOR) THAT CAN'T FIX A BROKEN FAX MACHINE I DO
APPRECIATE ALL OF THE HELP FROM THE PEOPLE AT THE MELLINNIUM THAT HELPED IN
OUR DELAYED DEPLOYMENT TO EAGLE ISLAND.  AND ALTHOUGH I WAS NOT ANYWHERE
NEAR THE START I KNOW HAMS DID OUR HOBBY PROUD WITH ALL THE HARD WORK AND
RESULTS YOU ACCOMPLISHED.  I KNOW SWITCHING GEARS TO FAIRBANKS WAS JUST ONE
OF THE FUN CHALLANGES.  AND QSL TO THE CONTACTS I MADE (SOME QRP) FROM EAGLE
ISLAND AND MCGRATH ON 40M AND 80M.

Mike Willmon, P.E. (AL1D)
GCI Inc. 


 


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