Saturday, November 6, 2010

"Flying Fortress 5K" Communications Support

Had a great time providing communications support for the "Flying Fortress 5K" race this morning at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum.  Nine members of the Coastal Amateur Radio Society (CARS) positioned at strategic locations along the race route to provide any necessary communications from the route back to the start/finish line.  Several of us met at the Cracker Barrell at 0630 to have some pre-race breakfast.  About 0730 we headed over to the museum to get our location assignments and agree on a frequency to use.  Once we all had maps and location assignments, we headed out on the course.  Steve-K4SDJ stayed at the start/finish line and acted as net control.  Once all operators were in place we all got good comm checks with net control and waiting for the race to start.  After a short kids race, the "Flying Fortress 5K" got underway at 0830.  Operators provided status of the lead runner as he passed the various check points and also kept thier eyes open for any injuries along the route.  It was a beautiful morning with temps starting on the upper 30s and rising to just about 40 by race end.  The winning runner finished the race in just over 15 minutes but the last runner completed to course by about 0930 or so.  Once the last runner passed each check point, each operator made thier way back to the start/finish line.  Awards were presented and all activites completed around 1030.  What a great event to raise money for the restoration of the B-17 "City of Savannah" and a great opportunity for us to practice our net procedures in other than normal conditions and without the benefit of our repeaters.  Thanks to the following radio operators:

Steve - K4SDJ
Sue - W4SWJ
Russ - K4YGD
Lynn - KD4POC
Mac - AF4KL
Irene - KF4RFF
Paul - KJ4FAV
Ken - W4JKG
Guy - K4GTM