To volunteer as an Amateur Radio Operator for the Marine Corp Marathon Semper Fred 5K the process is handled through the Marine Corps Marathon Office's Volunteer Portal. The link to that portal for the Half Marathon is https://xactllc.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=96089. Look for Saturday, May 17th and then "Amateur Radio Operator (Licensed Operators Only)". All information that I need to complete your assignment will be harvested from their database. If you have a preference for location put it in the "Additional Comments for Volunteer Coordinator or Component Lead i.e., Medical Lead" field.
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Access to the Race Course will be restricted. You will need a wrist band, parking pass (see parking later), and safety vests. The MCMO has some ARO vests and I have some additional ARO vest from my club. If you have a ANSI Class 2 ARES, CERT, or amateur radio club vest that will be acceptable. No vest with corporate or business logos or names will be allowed. I will be picking up the vests and wristbands from the MCM in early May. You will need your parking pass, wristband, and vest the day of the event. All runners and volunteers have been told to look for our vests if there are issues that need to be communicated. If you are not wearing the wristband, you will not be allowed on the course. Below are the TENTATIVE pick-up dates & time, locations, and talk-in repeater. I will verify these dates and times a little closer to May. If none of these work for you please contact me immediately so we can try to work something out. IT WILL NOT BE POSSIBLE TO DISTRIBUTE VEST AND WRISTBANDS ON RACE DAY! King George folks, please let me know if you plan on picking up during the time I have scheduled in KG. If I haven't heard from you I may not stay the entire hour and may head back to work.
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TBD - I have a meeting with the MCMO on Thursday, March 13.
The race starts at 0700
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Our primary mission is eyes on the course to provide safety and back up the Marine Corps Marathon personnel. In the event of a downed runner, contact Net Control immediately. There will be an ambulance and medical personnel on site for the duration of the event under the command of Top Doc. When calling for medical assistance please use the RVARC Medical Dispatch (right click "Save As") form for the initial information to provide.
If you are at an Aid Station, Water Point, or Food Stop please relay any information requested through Net Control. Net Control may have information from the MCM Staff for you to relay to the staff at you location.
Aid Stations - TBD. More details after the meeting with the MCMO.
If you are at a Mile Marker, please relay the bib number of the first male and first female runner past your location for the Half Marathon and Duo and the time they past your location.
Shadows**: I will contact you directly to provide you Division Commander's name, email, and phone number. Please contact them prior to race day to arrange a meeting location and time race morning. Your job will be to relay information from you Division Commander to net control and from other operators on the course in their area of operation to them. If they have information they want relayed to someone in their area of operation, you must go through net control to establish the direct communication.
All stations please report when the last runner and Tail End Charlie passes your location. Please asked to be relieved and receive confirmation from Net Control before leaving your station. Division Shadows, you can turn in your vest to Tail End Charlie and get your shirt, but please stay with your Division Commander until the race completes in their area of responsibility. Once they give you permission to be relieved, contact net control.
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More information will follow after the meeting with the MCMO on the 13th.
We have permission to access the course. You will need your parking pass, wrist band, and vest to be distributed later. DO NOT argue with police or MCM staff if they will not let you through. Radio Net Control. We are co-located with law enforcement and MCM staff. It is much more difficult to help you if you are in handcuff or the officer has already started to put pen to paper for a ticket. When parking do no park on the actual road the runners will be running on (ie. the race course). Please park on a near by street or lot.
There is a local towing company that will begin towing vehicles off the course around 0200. Please make sure you have your parking pass visibly displayed. Any issues with the towing company please radio net control. DO NOT ARGUE WITH THE TOW TRUCK OPERATORS. THEY ARE UNDER DIRECTION OF THE POLICE TO CLEAR ALL VEHICLES FROM THE COURSE - NO EXCEPTIONS. YOU WILL BE TOWED.
You will receive a personalized parking pass via email from the Marine Corps Marathon Program Office the week before the Half Marathon. You must display this on your dash. THIS DOES NOT GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO PARK ON THE COURSE. This will help you get past MOST street closures to get to your location.
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This course can easily be worked with an HT on 5 watts with a reasonably good antenna (no rubber ducks).
Set the timeout timer on you radio to no more than 2 minutes. 1 minute is preferred and will work for most stations.
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Our primary frequency will be the K4TS VHF repeater 147.015(+) PL79.7. It has good coverage over the entire race course. Our backup alternate repeater is the AE4ML UHF repeater 442.850(+) PL79.7. Please have both programmed into your radio in advance. If your radio allows you to monitor both frequencies at the same time, please do that. We had a situation where our primary comms failed and it took longer than we liked for everyone to switch over.
If all else fails I have everyone's cell phone number. Please have the cell phone number for the ECIC (Scott Larimer, KN4RPA ECIC (540--604--3196)) with your in in your phone on race day
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The bib designs are as follows for this year. You will be asked for the first male and first female runner with bib number for each race. BIB IMAGES WILL BE UPDATED CLOSER TO RACE DAY. STILL TBD.
Any questions asked by the public or the media, are to be directed to the Race Officials. If people ask you about amateur radio, do what we all do best and share our love and knowledge of our hobby. As long as it doesn't interfere with you primary duty of supporting the race.
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Below is a Google Earth KMZ file of the whole course. This file can be used with Google Earth on you computer or phone. It is a good reference on race day. By default I have turned of the layer for Course Marshals. You can turn this layer back on if you desire. Also, included in this map is the arps.fi track of the pace vehicle (KN4RPA) and sweep vehicle (N1BED). Right click and "Save Link As" to download.
Google Earth MCM_Semper_Fred_5K.kmz
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