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PSA - Assistance Needed!
Louis <k1stx@...>
"A few Good Ham's Needed!"
Where: Hill Country State Natural Area - Bandera County Texas When: January 10 and 11th, 2009 What: Hill Country Trail Runners - Bandera 100k Ultra Marathon A unique situation to train and test EmComm abilities in a remote environment, provide a much needed public service, as well as enjoy the Texas Hill Country! The Hill Country State Natural Area is about 10 miles outside of Bandera, and is in an area where cell phone coverage is very poor (hilltops only, standing on one foot), and existing ham repeaters are too far away to provide reliable coverage, even with mobiles (totally dead in the lower elevations, where the aid stations are located). The event site is about 4 miles across at the furthest points, and there are some huge hills in the middle that make even mobile to mobile communications unreliable between some of the Aid Stations. To top that off, only 2 of the 5 locations where we provide communications have electricity available. The good news is that all sites are vehicle accessible, although one of them may be a little muddy if we have rain. So it is the perfect challenge to ham operators – to provide reliable communications for a 24 hour event in an area where there is almost no infrastructure. Needed: We have 5 posts to cover for 24 hours – 4 sites that provide food and water to runners and the headquarters. In addition, we provide liaison to the event manager, and to the horse patrol (one or two riders are are hams, and they use commercial radio (which we provide) to talk among themselves. Usually we need 20 or so license Amateurs to assist with this event (two operators per site for 12 hour shifts), but it has been done with less! Hill Country REACT and San Antonio Radio Club has supplied most of the operators the last 3 years. We have done this event with a solar powered uhf repeater, and last year we used a cross band repeater. The hill tops in the middle of the park are accessible by horse or ATV only, and none have power. Operators need to have Dual Band radios. If all is going well with a repeater, HTs will do nicely (but bring the instruction book to program a HT to operate with a cross band repeater). but dual band portable/mobile EmComm type set-ups preferred as a back up in case the repeater fails. Some operators have set up HF stations for their own entertainment late at night when the demands of the event are light, but we have not had enough hf operators in prior years to utilize hf for our event communications. This is a great opportunity to test HF antenna's and equipment in remote situations! Duties: This is a 24 hour event! Amateur operators man the Aid Stations at about 6:00 am on Saturday morning and duties are basically like any other bike or running event (MS150, River Safari, etc), relaying supply needs, runner counts and times, and coordinating the Horse Patrol for rescues! Operators support Race Control, Aid Stations and the HCSNAP Coordinated Horse Patrol! Operators are released as their aid stations close, which varies from about 10:00 pm Saturday night to 6:00 am Sunday morning. All runners must be off the course by 7:00 am Sunday. 2009 Concept: What I am attempting this year! To further the coordination, enjoyment and opportunities to train and learn! For 5 different organizations to adopt an aid station! Much like the various ultra runner groups come together and adopt a station to work! Each group would coordinate and man the adopted station! Any takers??? Individuals and Teams(Organizations) encouraged to participate! The scenario presented by this event creates some unique training and testing opportunities! The Amateur Operators, coordinating with the Horse Patrol have been instrumental the last couple of years in extracting injured runners from remote areas of the trail! Amateur Operators, that are also Equestrians, are also needed to extend our capabilities even further! Other quick details: Camping: yes, at all the Aid Stations - no charge to our volunteers! (Quiet!!) Generators will be allowed in most areas, for this event only! <Question - ask K1STX Food: Several really great meals are provided to the runners and Volunteers! Rumor has it, that there will be a big pot of Gumbo Friday night! Weather/Environment: This is January in Texas. Go figure. From wild to mild! Anything that Texas can dish out is possible! Hill Country State Natural Area is just that, a natural environment, not changed much since it's donation to the state by Louise Merrick! We have to be prepared to protect ourselves, as well as to assist about 400 runners, many of whom are running 100k – twice the length of a normal marathon on rocky trails through the woods at night. Links of Interest: HCSNA Park Information: http://tinyurl.com/o99sw Hill Country Trail Runners: www.tejastrails.com/Bandera.html Hill Country State Natural Area Partners: www.hcsnap.org Other details will be placed on my web page in the near future! Link tba To volunteer or if you have other questions, please contact K1STX at k1stx at arrl dot net, k1stx at yahoo dot com or cell phone - 210-687-4347.
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