The August 9, 2014 mountain bike race to support the Moshannon Valley branch of the Centre County YMCA was a great success. Eleven (11) amateur radio operators from the Nittany Amateur Radio Club and the Philipsburg Amateur Radio Association provided communications for the event. The operators were stationed at different points along the 18 mile race course. Click on more to see the participating operators and more information about the event:
Amateur Radio Operators participating were:
- Carmine, K3CWP
- Elaine, K3ERP
- Jim, W3JIM
- John, N3HQD
- Craig, K3OOL
- Rich, KB3QKR
- Mike, N3LI
- Greg, K3GEM
- Ken, KBiBH
- Bernie, W3BAR
- Jim, KB3TBX
Pre-race briefing with the YMCA volunteers and organizers was held at 10:00 and amateur radio operators were in place by 11:00 for the start of the race. There was some initial confusion on positions that was quickly resolved with the capability to communicate with the Incident Command Post (ICP) and the Race Director (Incident Commander) there. Again this year DCNR Park Rangers provided one of their radios to the Net Conrol Station (NCS) at the ICP.
Although there were a few minor equipment failures, nothing made riders drop out of the race and they all completed safely.
Special thanks this year to Greg, K3GEM and Carmine, K3CWP who put together a sound baffle around the electrical generator. It reduced the noise at the NCS to the level of a normal office making radio communication much easier.
Our thanks to Jodi Harpster and the YMCA for inviting us to participate again this year. Also thanks to the amateur radio operators who gave most of their Saturday to the event.