Marathon Monitoring

[blindfire]

All, I've setup my radio to scan the MMRA boxes and have linked it to my Echolink node.

Don't worry, I disabled the XMIT settings so people will not be able to inadvertently xmit.

If you want to hook to my Echolink node, PM me and I'll share it.

 

[cockpitbob]

I was going to reply to your post in the Boston Marathon thread, but that thread went fill retard, anti-Obama/Kenyan in the first dozen posts. So, I was at Med tent 6 and we had terrible transportation service. We had an elite runner drop out and it took almost 2hrs to get a ride for her, and they have busses designated just for the elite runners. The 2 times we had regular runners drop out it took almost 2hours to get them rides. Something was quite wrong in Transportation today. BTW, that wasn't me yelling, but the other ham at med tent 6. Good guy from NH.

 

[blindfire]

I was going to reply to your post in the Boston Marathon thread, but that thread went fill retard, anti-Obama/Kenyan in the first dozen posts. So, I was at Med tent 6 and we had terrible transportation service. We had an elite runner drop out and it took almost 2hrs to get a ride for her, and they have busses designated just for the elite runners. The 2 times we had regular runners drop out it took almost 2hours to get them rides. Something was quite wrong in Transportation today. BTW, that wasn't me yelling, but the other ham at med tent 6. Good guy from NH.

That was you?!?!?

That poor freakin' elite runner must have been PISSED.

I think your partner had every right to be sarcastic and annoyed. That was a bit ridiculous to keep asking for the bib number 5 times. I mean...really?

I really did enjoy listening. It gave me a good perspective on what to expect.

I'm working the Groton Road Race next Sunday. While no where NEAR the scale of Boston, I figure it was a good example of what to do and what NOT to do.

Hope you enjoyed it.

 

[crazymjb]

I was going to reply to your post in the Boston Marathon thread, but that thread went fill retard, anti-Obama/Kenyan in the first dozen posts.

NES never disappoints.



Sent from my cell phone with a tiny keyboard and large thumbs...

 

[cockpitbob]

That was you?!?!?

That poor freakin' elite runner must have been PISSED.

I think your partner had every right to be sarcastic and annoyed. That was a bit ridiculous to keep asking for the bib number 5 times. I mean...really?

I really did enjoyed listening. It gave me a good perspective on what to expect.

I'm working the Groton Road Race next Sunday. While no where NEAR the scale of Boston, I figure it was a good example of what to do and what NOT to do.

Hope you enjoyed it.

They give us "tactical call signs". The guy yelling was M06A: 6th medical tent on the course, ham "A". I was M06B. You might have heard me trying to call in the hourly reports of how many runners we had in the tent, how many they've treated and how many left by ambulance. We had really bad problems with the repeater. It was coming in S9++ but half the time it couldn't hear us or we would break-up in the middle of the transmission. It acted like someone had a stuck mic into the repeater, but you usually hear audio from the mic and there wasn't any. It was weird. It stopped after a few hours making me think the guy who's mic kept sticking ran out of battery.

Regarding the buses, it was really bad. We'd request a bus, then after half an hour call to ask for status on the bus and be told "well get back to you" but they never would. At one point I got out my backup radio (cheap UV-5R which works great) and monitored the transportation net. Things weren't going smoothly or on schedule. I was just getting ready to break protocol and call the transportation net directly (knowing I'd probably get spanked for it) when the bus arrived, almost 2hrs after I called for it. In the whole event we only had 2 "tired runner" buses arrive, and they were well over an hour late.

Other than the bus stuff, it was a great day with great weather.


6:00a.m. briefing for the medical tents and hams for just the mid section of the course.

This always gets me. Those are tongue depressors with gobs of Vaseline. The runners grab one and grease whatever is chaffing. There is no modesty after 13 miles of a marathon.

 

[blindfire]

That's awesome. I'd love to do this next year, but since I can't drive, I'd be limited in where I could work. I'd have to find another ham who lives up near me and bum a ride. Even then, I'd have really no way to get where I needed to on the course unless I was at the start or finish.

Yeah, I heard the issues with the repeaters too. I've seen issues with the MMRA boxes a lot recently. Not sure if Mendon and Brookline are the healthiest of boxes. Waltham was solid though for the transit net. Since I wasn't watching the radio, were you on Framiningham or one of the other boxes?

 

[cockpitbob]

BF, there's a fair amount of carpooling going on, and they are always looking for more hams. They didn't have enough this year and had to have a few stations with only 1 ham when they usually have 2. You can request (and apparently often get) specific locations. The ham I worked with at Med-6 has been at that same station for 8 years straight, and the med team there hasn't changed in 6 years. So, if you can find a ham to pair with I bet they would keep you together. The ham organization is personal enough that you can email the guys directly with requests.

BTW, as a volunteer you get a cool Marathon logo sports jacket (that I never wear) like the red ones you see in the pictures above, a BAA-Marathon pin and free entry to the after-party at Fenway. I went to the after-party last night. We got to walk the warning track, take pics standing in front of the green monster score board, drink Sam Adams "26.2 Ale" and take pictures with the Sox's 3 recent World Series trophies.

 

[blindfire]

BF, there's a fair amount of carpooling going on, and they are always looking for more hams. They didn't have enough this year and had to have a few stations with only 1 ham when they usually have 2. You can request (and apparently often get) specific locations. The ham I worked with at Med-6 has been at that same station for 8 years straight, and the med team there hasn't changed in 6 years. So, if you can find a ham to pair with I bet they would keep you together. The ham organization is personal enough that you can email the guys directly with requests.

BTW, as a volunteer you get a cool Marathon logo sports jacket (that I never wear) like the red ones you see in the pictures above, a BAA-Marathon pin and free entry to the after-party at Fenway. I went to the after-party last night. We got to walk the warning track, take pics standing in front of the green monster score board, drink Sam Adams "26.2 Ale" and take pictures with the Sox's 3 recent World Series trophies.

Yeah...I am loving the public service aspect of the hobby. I'll be on my second this Sunday. Small events to break myself in. I think there is a third coming up in May...the Alzheimer's ride on and around Devens. That is close enough for me to walk to...so...that would be great.

I will network at my clubs up here to see if anyone is working it next year and see if I can line up a ride.

What kind of headset did you use? I have a Heil Mono Ear with a boom mic...would that work? I ask because I heard a ton of crowd noise from some of the stations...like M10. The bus service might be fun, but I'd need to buy cable and a mag mount to hook up to my HT.

 

[chaser001]

BF - you should definitely apply next year. I would recommend working START. It's really early but we all park in the same lot then get bused downtown for our assignments. At the end of the day (around noon), we get lunch and bused back to our cars. I met up with 4 other hams in Littleton and we all drove down together.

For downtown I used a throat-mic with an earpiece; I got weird looks from people when I had to transmit but I could hear the radio fine and I didn't have all the background noise that others did. For start they recommend a headset with a boom mic. The first couple of years working Start I was in the parking areas with no crowd noise so a hand mic worked fine.

 

[cockpitbob]

What kind of headset did you use? I have a Heil Mono Ear with a boom mic...would that work? I ask because I heard a ton of crowd noise from some of the stations...like M10. The bus service might be fun, but I'd need to buy cable and a mag mount to hook up to my HT.

I just have a speaker-mic clipped to my jacket and ear buds plugged into the speaker-mike. I had to make a mono-stereo adapter to use the ear buds but I like buds because I can just have one in one ear or if things are loud, jam them in both ears. My buds have the round rubber things and act like ear plugs.

Lots of hams use the headset and boom mic with the in-line PPT switch. I already had the speaker-mic, and I'm cheap, and I like being able to have the ear buds act like ear plugs, so that's the rout I went. I also have a cheap chest harness. If I clip the radio to my belt I can't sit in a chair without doing something with the radio. This one seems to be most ham's favorite.

Whatever you do, must make sure you don't end up looking like this guy
Last year I was paired with a close equivalent that showed up in a day-glow green vest that said EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS (or something similar) across the back. He was a little too into dress-up play.

 

[blindfire]

lulz...and here I just ordered a day glow green vest with Amateur Radio Communications on the back.

Oh...and a hat of the same color with my name and call sign on it.

Oh well....

 

[cockpitbob]

"Amateur Radio Communications" is fine. It's good public relations for us. This guy having the word "Emergency" on his back just looked wrong and seemed to me it would spook the casual observer.

 

[chaser001]

"Amateur Radio Communications" is fine. It's good public relations for us. This guy having the word "Emergency" on his back just looked wrong and seemed to me it would spook the casual observer.

I think I've worked with that guy before. At the Alzheimers ride I saw one guy who converted an old MOLLE rig to have an antenna mounted on his shoulder with his HT in a pocket on the front. It was cool and weird all at the same time.

This was me yesterday in the Corrals at Start:

 

[cockpitbob]

I think I've worked with that guy before. At the Alzheimers ride I saw one guy who converted an old MOLLE rig to have an antenna mounted on his shoulder with his HT in a pocket on the front. It was cool and weird all at the same time.

This was me yesterday in the Corrals at Start:
View attachment 164936

Nice jackets this year. I might actually wear it again. But did you notice the 2 strange features? Thumb holes in the cuffs just isn't my style. But the really weird one is the hood zips all the way up over your face. Sort of like a body bag with arms

 

[drgrant]

It's funny I remember years ago people used to practically get waitlisted to work that event. "I might be able to work the marathon next year" etc.

Part of me says its a good thing part of me thinks that they should pay for their own comms instead of using free shit. (theres only millions of dollars in cash floating around the thing at this point) Then again as hams it is useful in the respect that you find out what works and what doesnt work, it is sort of a mini iteration of field day in that respect, so I can understand the appeal.

-Mike

 

[cockpitbob]

It's funny I remember years ago people used to practically get waitlisted to work that event. "I might be able to work the marathon next year" etc.

Part of me says its a good thing part of me thinks that they should pay for their own comms instead of using free shit. (theres only millions of dollars in cash floating around the thing at this point) Then again as hams it is useful in the respect that you find out what works and what doesnt work, it is sort of a mini iteration of field day in that respect, so I can understand the appeal.

-Mike

Yeah, we do learn about what works and what doesn't. There was a fair amount not working yesterday. The volunteers are usually a fun crowd too. I had a fun day yesterday.

We also get a free event jacket. It's a good quality Adidas with the $80 price tag still attached. They sell on eBay for about $30. I've never worn the ones I got in 2014 & 2015 but this year's jacket is an OK color. I just might wear it again.

We also get into the after-party in Fenway free. I went last night. I won't go again, but it was kind of fun once.

 

[ghettomedic]

I was going to reply to your post in the Boston Marathon thread, but that thread went fill retard, anti-Obama/Kenyan in the first dozen posts. So, I was at Med tent 6 and we had terrible transportation service. We had an elite runner drop out and it took almost 2hrs to get a ride for her, and they have busses designated just for the elite runners. The 2 times we had regular runners drop out it took almost 2hours to get them rides. Something was quite wrong in Transportation today. BTW, that wasn't me yelling, but the other ham at med tent 6. Good guy from NH.

I was working on the transport net and having been listening to the whole thing let me explain a little. The 2 hour elite situation is because the elite bus that was assigned to your loop broke down (Overheated) so they had to pull one of the other loop elite buses. The BAA does not want the elite runners riding the regular buses with us peons and with the traffic it took forever for them to get to the opposite side of the course and get to you.

Also you were on loop B which also services the Wellesley area. The runners were dropping like flies on loop B so the busses were filling up at every tent so instead of doing the normal 4-5 stop loop then dropping off at the rendezvous point to put the runners on the school buses to Boston they had to go back to the school bus from each tent so it added a significant amount of travel time between the tents. On top of all this, the bus company wants to control the buses themselves so the Amateur net was trying to handle all the logistics but the bus company was providing other orders over their private bus company radios and taking the buses off the loops.

 

[cockpitbob]

Hey GM, thanks for the insights! Getting both sides together always helps. Now that I have a better idea of what went on in Transportation I can see probable source(s) of the problem(s).

I see 2 problems:
1) Late buses: this is an operations problem for Transportation. I don't see it as a communications problem, except for the drivers getting orders from 2 sources (net control and their company).

2) Not knowing what's going on: This is a serious communications problem. It's really tough when you have cold, tired or hurting runners that have been waiting for 1.5hrs for a ride and you have to tell them you have no idea when the bus is coming or that you can't even certain they have the request.

We were getting no feedback on our requests for buses to the Course NCO. About 30 minutes after the 1st request we would ask for a status or ETA on the bus. We would get "I don't know" or "I'll get back to you". They would never get back to us. So we would call back every 20-30 minutes and get the same response. And for that poor Elite runner, on the first 2 or 3 call backs for status they acted like this was the first they had heard of a need for an Elite bus. We had to give the same info (location, runner bib number, etc) 3 or 4 times over the span of 1.5hrs.

My guess is that information flows from the Course NCO to Transportation but procedures don't provide for status updates and information going back the other way. This is my 3rd year working the Marathon and each time there's been issues with buses being late and us having no clue when it might arrive. That lack of status needs to change. People need to make decisions and you can't do that without information.

 

[cockpitbob]

Hey Marathon Hams, has anyone received an email survey asking for a critique of this year's operations? I did the last 2 years but haven't received anything yet. There's some things ghettomedic and I need to feed back.

 

[chaser001]

I haven't gotten a survey yet either. We had some issues at start, at one point I thought the person I was shadowing was going to get arrested because he bowled over a cop at a security checkpoint. We had some transportation issues at start too and I know at one point whoever was assigned to us just stopped answering the team on the commercial radio, which prompted a phone call between BAA reps.

 

[ghettomedic]

Hey Marathon Hams, has anyone received an email survey asking for a critique of this year's operations? I did the last 2 years but haven't received anything yet. There's some things ghettomedic and I need to feed back.

My understanding is the survey should be coming out within the next week. They are just compiling the information from the event first.

 

[blindfire]

When you shadow a race official, does that include riding with them to wherever they need to go? Or are the officials pretty much stationary?

- - - Updated - - -

Oh...and who / what was "Alpha Actual"? Was that the main coordinator?

 

[JFR2]

PLease make sure you detail what was said here in the surveys. Gettomedic is right.... Transport net just passes info up (or down) if it's comes back. The requests are indeed handled by the amatuer net and then passed to the BAA, who coordinates the busses. And yes, there were mechanical issues with the busses. I've also written down some notes from comments above.

FYI- after the bombing, the State wanted to do away with all amatuer radio operators for this event. The BAA stood firm and said, "No way! This is OUR race, and the volunteers stay!" So, please support the BAA by being a volunteer!

-JR

Boston Marathon Communications Committee
Technical Infrastructure Subcommittee

- - - Updated - - -

Oh...and who / what was "Alpha Actual"? Was that the main coordinator?

We were trying to figure that out at COURSE NCOC as well!!! Haha!!

-JR

 

[JFR2]

My guess is that information flows from the Course NCO to Transportation but procedures don't provide for status updates and information going back the other way. This is my 3rd year working the Marathon and each time there's been issues with buses being late and us having no clue when it might arrive. That lack of status needs to change. People need to make decisions and you can't do that without information.

Duly noted, and I will include this in the committee AAR. This was my first year doing this, although we've been prepping since January. As such, I had no preconceived notions about how everything operated. I was able to sit back and observe for a better part of the day and I have some great things to say, but also a few areas that immediately stood out for improvement, such as your point above.

-JR

 

[cockpitbob]

Duly noted, and I will include this in the committee AAR. This was my first year doing this, although we've been prepping since January. As such, I had no preconceived notions about how everything operated. I was able to sit back and observe for a better part of the day and I have some great things to say, but also a few areas that immediately stood out for improvement, such as your point above.

-JR

I too have 90% good things to say about the BAA and the event. I should have made that clear before my bitching started. It's an amazingly complex, yet well run event. 35,000(ish) runners. Something like 3,000 volunteers. 26 miles of course to deal with. Far more medical issues to deal with than at a standard large get-together. Security. An after-party. It's mind-blowing what they do.

The BAA does something amazing here. Nothing is perfect, but so long as we feed back the opportunities for improvement it will continue to get even better.

 

[jeepchute]

This was my first year as well. Didn't know there would be a survey so I sent an email to my segment coordinator at START. I was very impressed with the level of coordination and details required and passed on. In the Athletes Village the big issue was runners not leaving their bags in Boston and now deciding to lose their stuff or run with it. The other issue was Charity runners not knowing where their charity was meeting. If we could have eliminated the first and had knowledge about the second it would have been a cakewalk for me. Ton of fun. I'll do it again.

I did have to program someone's Baofeng on the spot though. They borrowed it that morning 'cause they didn't have 440. Luckily I had a little cheatsheet and it was fixed before runners showed up. Only issue was the shame in admitting I knew how to do it.

 

[JFR2]

If you volunteered, you most likely received an email last night from Jim Palmer, KB1KQW talking about AAR. You can post questions or AAR-style info in the BAA forums at hamradioboston.org. But he also said the email survey will be sent out in the next few weeks. We definitely want the feedback in closed-loop mode!

-JR
W1JFR
Member, TIS Subcommittee

 

[OceanTrvlr]

Is 220mhz used at all for the marathon?

 

[ghettomedic]

Is 220mhz used at all for the marathon?

No 2M & 70cm, the most commonly available ones

 

[JFR2]

Is 220mhz used at all for the marathon?

It is used, but only for linking, not the actual nets.
The link freqs are not published.

-JR