I don’t think I’ve seen a more polite and thankful group of people in my volunteer ham radio communications experience. A large number of racers in the High Cliff Triathlon bike race portion of the event took the time to break their breathing pattern and say a nice “Thanks for being here!” or “Thank you for volunteering…”. While it’s not needed it sure is nice to hear. I chuckled and thought to myself that they were just glad to see someone looking out for their welfare after swimming a mile an biking over 40 miles!
Why is it nice to hear a thank you from a racer? Well – from someone that served about ten years on the National Ski Patrol system – at that point in the race – it’s nice to know that the racers are not overly exhausted and can think clearly enough to express themselves. I worry about the ones that don’t say anything.
I get more out of the High Cliff Triathlon ham radio communications event than the racers do which is ONE, but not the ONLY, reason that I volunteer to provide ham radio race communications. The main reason that I volunteer is that, back in the day, I was a ski racer. Captain of my high school ski team actually. The West Iron County Wykon Ski Team – around 1974 actually. We had a lot of people that came out for every race and endured the cold and winds to help put the race on. I didn’t think much of it at the time but as you age you appreciate those that have helped you in your lifetime. Another reason I participate is that it helps to enhance my ability to work with other ham radio operators in an organized communications network with real-life random events occurring. This training, if you will, pays off when it’s time to do some severe storm spotting, for example, when we have 20 – 30 ham radio operators in one county keeping an eye on fast moving severe weather.
Interoperability. That’s a fancy word that means the
ability for two organizations or even people to be able to work together to accomplish a common goal. If you think of the 9-1-1- attacks it meant the ability for one city’s fire department to communicate with another city’s ambulance’s crews, for example. That’s tough when you have different radios, different antennas, different procedures that you are used to, different people that you are used to reporting to and taking directions from, etc.. By volunteering for the High Cliff Triathlon race I had the chance to work with another county’s A.R.E.S. (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) group. This helps to ensure “interoperability”. It also gives me the opportunity to meet the people I could be working with in a different county and develop a relationship based on trust gained trough experience.
The use of ham radio operators for race events is a win for the group that sponsors the race. In my case I bring to the table more than a thousand dollars of portable ham radio equipment. I also bring to the table a person trained in radio communications in a many to many network having no single point of failure. Great – what does that get the racers? One more set of eyes to keep an eye on them. A person along the course to say “I need help getting my bike fixed or hauled back to the finish line…”. Someone to ask “what time is it – how long before they tell me I’m out of the race?”. One more person for a Dad from Virginia to stop and talk to as he waited for his son to race by. And one person that knows how to get an ambulance on the way in seconds if needed. One more person to communicate with the net control operator and verify that all racers have passed his location before leaving for the day. Etc..
At this race I made a new friend. A volunteer fire 
fighter from the Hilbert Fire Department. We spent about 5 hours together at our location. We both directed a bit of traffic and communicated with racers. I was glad to hear him say that the amount of communications he heard this year far exceeded the amount of communications he had heard in past years. A ham radio operator is not necessarily assigned to each public service person (police officer, fire fighter, etc.) for every location every year. It depends partly on the number of volunteers.
The downside of the event? Having to get up to a loud alarm clock at 5 am (on a day off) to be on-course by 6:30 am and on station until around noon that day. And – no rest room close enough that you can get to one and back before the next racer passes by.
So – I say “Thank You!” to the racers and organizers of the High Cliff Triathlon race for helping me to hone my ham radio communications skills!
Stay radio active!
Jon Kreski – AB9NN – Appleton, Green Bay, Wisconsin area
http://www.HamRadioResources.com http://www.Twitter.com/AB9NN
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