We re-draped the coax and the tower now rotates as designed. Some of you witnessed firsthand the gratitude Ray had for the volunteers and the SARC club answering his SOS to get his tower back in shape. When all is said and done, I believe this is the CORE what AR is all about, helping each other, learning as you go along and having some fun while doing it. On behalf of Ray, I want to THANK everyone for taking time to help get his shack back in shape.
Our meetings will still take place at the Schaumburg Community Recreation Center on the third Thursday of each month. Our usual room, which was directly across from the elevator, is unavailable as it is being renovated. The new location is the Community Room which is upstairs, down the hallway east of the restrooms.
May’s SARC in the Park was moved to the fourth Saturday of the month because of inclement weather on the original date. Quite a few radios and operators got on the air outside Schaumburg’s Community Recreation Center this morning.
Plenty of club members volunteered their communications skills to help relay information throughout the course for the Chicagoland Marathon. Sunday, May 20th started off with a good downpour that postoned the start of the race about 30 minutes. And things didn’t get any drier from there. We thank everyone who braved the elements for this event. The Schaumburg EMA coordinadator was very thankful for our comittment.
Our members were assigned to various locations including water stations throughout the course, the event command vehicle, “shadowing” event officials, and some even followed the race from on their bikes. Most of the information passed over the radio was regarding the progress of runners through the course which helped water station volunteers operate their stations effectively and provided race officials with eyes on the course which they would not have otherwise had from their fixed location at the command post.
Below you can see some of our members working the event.
Bill KD9JQM operates bicycle mobile to keep track of the marathon’s progress logging about 25 miles.James AC9PH staying dry while working at mile marker 19.Matt AC9IG monitors the course from mile marker 4.Three rounds of rain made the course, runners and volunteers very soggy.
