Harold Thank you for the update and for the volunteer work. Respectfully, your report should be posted on the website --- it is newsworthy. 73 *-----------------------------------------------------* ** John Robert Stratton N5AUS Office telephone: 512-445-6262 Cell: 512-426-2028 PO Box 2232 Austin, Texas 78768-2232 *-----------------------------------------------------* On 4/16/13 9:35 AM, Kramer, Harold, WJ1B wrote:
Hi,
Thanks for all of the kind message and inquiries. I really appreciated hearing from all of you.
I posted a similar message to this one on my Facebook page, but here is an expanded update:
First, I was not injured and I am back at work here at HQ today
For some background, there were more than 200 hams involved in the Boston Marathon. They mostly provide course communications along the 26+ mile route. I worked on the course the last time that I volunteered. Hams also supply communications to the buses and the medical facilities. Over a dozen repeaters are needed and over 66 separate frequencies on 2M and 70cm are used.
My communications assignment was with the Medical Group at the Finish Line. Specifically, I was assigned to shadow Boston Marathon Medical Director Chris Troyanos and relay messages back and forth to him from the Course Communications team. The team with Chris also included, KD1SM, Ralph, the Team Leader, who communicated with the entire Medical Network and Jeremy, AB1SD, who operated a commercial radio that was linked to the Mass. EOC.
I was in Medical Tent A with the team, right near the Finish Line, when the blasts went off. I felt the tent shake and it started filling up with smoke. The Medical Tent already had hundreds of Doctors, Nurses and other medical professional attending to injured runners so they acted quickly to treat the wounded. It was an awful scene to witness with so many causalities being loaded into the ambulances who were already at the scene.
All of us Amateur Radio operators on the scene continued to support communications and stayed monitoring and on the air . A few minutes after the blasts, all non-medical workers were asked to leave the tent so that the medical professional could have room to work. I was then asked by net control to report to the bus communications trailer where I helped out by providing some communications back to net control. We were then told to evacuate the area and hand all the communications over to the first responders. I then walked back to my car which took about an hour to go only a few blocks due to all of the blocked streets, security personnel and first responders who were in the area.. I was also "cleared" by net control at that time.
Sorry to be so long winded, but a lot of people have been asking me questions and sharing their concern, so I thought that I would just put it in writing.
I did receive an email from the organizers that all Amateur Radio operators were accounted for. Our folks did well and hung in there when needed.
73,
Harold
Harold Kramer, WJ1B
Chief Operating Officer
ARRL -the national association for Amateur Radio
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111
(860) 594 -0220
www.arrl.org
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