[SMCARA] The Christmas Village Hams

[Tom Shelton]

First, I'd like to thank the organizers of The Christmas Village for taking
a chance on us and letting Hams help out with Event.  I think when I first
approached them, they weren't really sure how we would fit into their plans.
But we showed up, did what we were trained to do, and were an overall asset
to their operation.

 

Second, I'd like to thank the Hams who gave up their valuable, weekend
before Christmas, time to make this one of the biggest and most successful
events that Southern Maryland has seen for many years.

 

Frank Brooks, KB3WJN - Mike Souders, KB3ZWM - Mike Landmann, KA6DLN  - Allen
Landmann, KB3WEY - Lizzie Landmann, KB3WIA - Jeff Hein, W3JHH - Dan Metcalf,
KB3UUN -Kaylee Metcalf, KB3WFA - Mark Coppenbarger, KB3WYU - Tammy Shelton,
K3TAM - Chris Ordiway, KC3DIG - Dora Tak, KC3DQB - Paul Needham, KB3YXS -
Steve Dagey, KA3WAP - Dave Carlson, AB3TU - Marty Airhart, KC3ZIX

 

I think I should also thank the spouses and families who gave up their Hams
over this weekend.  Thank you for giving up your family time so we could
support this event.

 

The story by the numbers.

 

Number of Volunteer Hams: 17

Number of Ham Man-Hours worked: 132

Number of Amateur Radio HTs: 20

Number of Go-Box/Antenna base: 1

Number of event hours: 21

Number of Visitors to TCV: 37,000 +  (or an average of 1,750+ per hour)

 

As I noted above, TCV wasn't sure how they would use us.  We were co-located
with their security HQ and about 30 minutes into the event I (working
Net-Control) overheard the security lead speaking with one of his team and
expressing concern that they didn't have communications to the parking lot
and that things were threatening to go south quickly.  I caught his eye and
let him know that that was exactly the kind of thing we were there to help
with.  From that point on, the security team put us to work and came to
depend on us to be their eyes and ears, provide communications, and
generally help wherever we could.

 

We provided reports back to the security team about people driving onto the
venue through the back gate, kept them abreast of parking lot and traffic
concerns, and were available to the visitors to help direct them to
different activities.  The incidents that we were involved with ranged from
Major (a lost child, found and returned to her Mom with a lot of involvement
by Hams) to the mundane (power outages in the vendor areas, the ATM machines
not being turned on), and somewhere in between (depending on if you're a guy
or a gal) - no toilet paper in the ladies restroom.

 

In the end, the TCV organizers were very pleased with our professionalism,
our capabilities and skills, our willingness to work, and how easy we were
to integrate into their operations.

 

BZ SMCARA!!!

 

 

Tom Shelton, ND3N

Ham Radio, Motorcycling, and a Loving Wife who lets me play with both

What more could a man need