Hello to all..
While this may be a bit off topic for some SKYWARN Spotters, Amateur Radio Operators and Red Cross volunteers, many of which are SKYWARN Spotters, will be involved in the Boston Marathon on Monday April 19th. To reach out to the highest level of Amateur Radio Operators involved in the event, this coordination message is being sent out to the SKYWARN email list and posted to the various Amateur Radio lists. We appreciate everyone’s patience with this message. This is likely to be the only coordination message on the Marathon unless a significant change in the weather forecast occurs. See information below:
Eastern Massachusetts ARES members not participating in the Boston Marathon should be in a heightened state of awareness for marathon activities on Monday April 19th from 7 AM-7 PM for any significant issues outside of the Boston Marathon that may require Amateur Radio Emergency Communications support and for any unexpected issues on the Boston Marathon route. With over 300 Amateur Radio Operators staffing the Boston Marathon route, the start line and the finish line, if an issue arises needing Amateur Radio support outside of the Marathon route or an unexpected issue arises in marathon operations, it is important that any ARES members not involved in the marathon can help with any response that is required. The Eastern Massachusetts ARES Net Control Center at the town of Bridgewater EOC will be active to backup any issues at marathon net control and monitor any events within the marathon and outside of the marathon. A second backup to marathon operations will be in Walpole as done in years past.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) UCC (Unified Command Center) at the SEOC (State Emergency Operations Center) will be active for the Boston Marathon. Amateur Radio Operators will be at the SEOC to support backup operations while many agencies will be there performing primary operations for the marathon. A Press Release from MEMA can be seen at the following link:
http://ares.ema.arrl.org/local/News_Release_UCC_2010.doc
The weather outlook for the Boston Marathon is one that should be favorable for volunteers and favorable to slightly warm for the runners. The Weather Forecast across the Boston Marathon is for partly to mostly sunny conditions throughout the day. There will be a 10-15 MPH breeze with gusts of 20-25 MPH along the route. Temperatures will range in the mid to upper 30s early in the morning warming to the upper 40s to low 50s by mid morning to the upper 50s to around 60 degrees by afternoon. This means that conditions for the runners should be reasonable with an ‘average’ amount of ambulance requests along the route versus some prior years where warmer weather conditions resulted in some of the highest amounts of ambulance requests since Amateur Radio Operators have handled the event. It is noted that conditions this year are slightly warmer than last year so ambulance requests may run slightly higher than last year’s marathon.
For Amateur Radio, Red Cross and all other volunteers along the route, it is recommended that you dress in layers for this event so that you can put on or take off clothes as needed for comfort. Be sure to drink liquids and eat properly during the event and that you are self-sufficient so that you can be of a full help to the function and not distract everyone from the main purpose of supporting the runners by having a health issue on your end that can be avoided. No rain is expected at this time so there should be no need for rain gear.
Barring a significant change in the weather forecast, this will be the only coordination message on the Boston Marathon. We appreciate everyone’s support in this event and hope those that volunteer enjoy themselves and feel the self-satisifcation of supporting this historic event and those that are monitoring the Marathon or events outside of the Marathon realize that the monitoring is an important function as well and is a testament to being able to scale other incidents beyond the marathon if required. Thanks to all for their support!
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Pager #: (508) 354-3142
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
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A local Northern MA amateur has hit upon a unique idea to promote his ice cream business–and, ham radio. Gary Frascarelli, W1GFF, proprietor of “Gary’s Home Made Ice Cream” in East Chelmsford has established what he calls “Ham Radio Cruise Night.” Hams are encouraged to visit his store every Saturday night between 5-8 p.m. to show off their mobile rigs, and bring along GOTA rigs. Frascarelli says “on site hook-ups for an HF sloper antenna and 2m/440 antennas are available.”
