My Ham Radio Story Part V - 4/25/14

I always liked the idea of running HF mobile, being able to drive to great locations and fire up the radio right there in the car. I could never afford some of the bigger setups as a student, so I jumped at the chance to buy and HTX-10 25 watt 10 meter radio for my car. I found it listed for sale by Matthew KD8OMT, Section Emergency Coordinator for West Virginia, on QRZ. Matthew was great and I got the radio in just a couple of days. I wanted to make sure I installed it in my car correctly, though, so I did some planning. I ran a large cable from the battery to a distribution box under my dash. This would serve as an easy way to hook up other radios in the future. I also installed a new ground bolt nearby. This power setup should easily handle a variety of equipment and up to 50 amps of current. When choosing an antenna, I wanted to keep it simple. It was only 25 watts, so I just needed something that worked. I chose to go with the 10 meter version of the MFJ "Ham-tenna". This antenna comes in 2 pieces - a 4 foot fiberglass section and a 4 foot whip for the top. I never realized it was going to be so big! I mounted it using a clamp-style trunk mount and I was able to tune it perfectly within just a couple of minutes. It presents some problems with low height clearance, but I think it will survive for awhile.

As noted in older posts, I have participated in 2 public service events in the past. I would say they were good practice for how a service net is conducted, but they did not prepare me much to handle medical communications for The Boston Marathon. Some will say "it's just relaying information." Wrong! It's so much more. Try staying calm when you get a mayday from down the street for cardiac arrest and you're in the middle of processing another ambulance request. When communications are not medical-related or potentially life-saving, yes it is pretty standard, but one cannot help but stress when someone's life may be on the line and relying on you to make clear and concise calls to dispatchers.

This year was my first year working at the marathon and it was an amazing learning opportunity. Hams demonstrated their ability last year after the events that unfolded and they were brought back in greater numbers to support this year's event. We worked alongside police, fire, military, and ems crews as well as being under the coordination and advisement of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). I think it may have been one of the first demonstrations of such a wide coordination across agencies and volunteers in state history.

The ARRL did a great article on this year's event and I think it sums up the big picture pretty well. http://www.arrl.org/news/more-than-300-amateur-radio-volunteers-support-2014-boston-marathon

I was stationed with Tom NV1U and George K1GHC at First Aid Station 13, which is located right at mile 19. George had to leave for a prior commitment right in the heat of the race, so it left Tom and I quite overwhelmed at times, but I think we handled it well under the advisement of our station's FEMA rep.

Overall, or station treated about 80 people, out of that only 4 were transported to the hospital. I am happy to report that 80% returned to the race. Our station was actually staffed by students and staff of Tufts University medical program. Tufts is a leading private research university and is known for their great medical programs. We were also an advanced-capability tent with advanced sodium testing and IVs and were also able to accept patients from EMS teams if they were overloaded. I would compare our abilities to that of a standard emergency room.