I worked communications support today with some members of the amateur radio club at the Lehigh Valley Half Marathon and 5K. I was assigned to work the starting line near Allen High School and then go down to last leg before the entrance to J. Birney Crum and the finish line. Our main role was basically to offer radio support in case anyone needed medical attention. Someone could radio net control, which was set up near a medical tent, and then they could take it from there and the pros could send the nearest paramedic out. Only two calls came through from the ham volunteers for medical attention and one was a fisherman who hooked himself. That's not to say others didn't need the medical tents but there were only two incidents that someone needed one of us to radio for medical. Still, it was good we could help. The weather was quite chilly so that was good for the runners as it was unlikely that anyone would overheat.

I had nothing important to radio in but I did get to meet both Congressman Dent and Mayor Pawlowski near the platform at the starting line. I chatted with Hizzoner for a few minutes in some light banter - the demands people put on the mayor, the Iron Pigs, and how the residents at 18th and Linden might enjoy being woken up on Sunday at 8:00 am to the sounds rock music and then a fire truck's siren that starts the runners. After he did his duty to get the race started, I asked him "Yocco's or Willy Joe's?" He responded with a quick "Yoccos" like it was a no-brainer and we shook hands and I wished him a good day.

Speaking of Yocco's, once we were done, some metaphysical force pulled a few of us into Yocco's on Hamilton Blvd. Once again, outstanding; the Hot Dog King reigns supreme over the region.

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I took and passed the Amateur General exam last night so now I can transmit on some of the HF bands (160-10M, this pdf chart shows the bands and privileges). I still haven't bought a base station yet but my dad is going to loan me his Icom 746 in the interim. I need to buy a power supply and then set up an antenna and then I'll be ready to go.

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That's me. My callsign appeared in the FCC's ULS database yesterday; incorrect name spelling and all.

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I passed the amateur radio license test tonight. Once my license appears in the FCC database, I can transmit on the bands permitted by the Technician class license; which is all allocated amateur frequencies 50MHz and above which is the same as wavelengths 6M and below. Locally, a lot of action is on the two meter band which is 144-148 MHz.

I have no equipment yet, other than borrowing my dad's handheld 2M transciever. So I've been listening; it's like hanging out in IRC but not being permitted to type anything. I will likely purchase a dualband mobile transceiver to use as a base station. I am eyeing the Yaesu 7800R. Once I buy the 7800 and a power supply and antenna, I should be good to go. With the technician class license and that particular transceiver, the range will not be very far so I won't be talking to anyone in Texas or Brazil anytime soon. I will need the next license up (General) and a HF transceiver and the appropriate antenna to do that. So, once I get my call sign, I'll be on the air.

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