South Orange C
The South Orange Amateur Radio Association,P.O. Box 2545, Mission Viejo, Ca. 92690, E-Mail: soara@soara.org
The ham radio club serving Southern Orange County, California.

SOARA is always doing something for the community and would like to share some of the events with you and hope that someday you too would like to be part of the SOARA club events.

Included here is information about the events that SOARA has been a part of... And will be in the near future...

Santa Ana Mountains event support.

W6BGR (Joe) is looking to get some radio operators for a mountain bike event that runs in the Cleveland National Forest here in Orange County.

The event is March 5th and I would like a few operators to man stations along the main divide road at the top of 3 trail heads.

I also have positions in the Trabuco Canyon area at the Holy Jim trail head.

The event base operations will be handled from the Baker Ranch near Black Star Canyon area, and a radio and antenna will be provided for the operators who want to be stationed there.

More info on the BBS...

Joe (W6BGR)

Home---714-731-7746
Cell-----714-231-6666

w6bgr@soara.org

Saddleback Memorial 1/2 Marathon, May 26, 2003

Monday morning bright and early about eleven of us got together to provide communications for the 1/2 marathon and 5K run from Saddleback Memorial Hospital to the Laguna Hills mall. The weather was cool and overcast to start and every was in position by race time.

Operation was mainly on 2M simplex with the Temple Hill 2M repeater as backup.  We decided that Ray's 17' vertical and the 100W Linear amp that we used for net control station may have been slight overkill when we were called on simplex by a station on Arcadia ! We later dropped the power down to 3 watts to conserve battery power when our emergency car starter/19AH battery from Target was running a little low. Even on 3 watts nobody really noticed any difference in our signal strength.

Ray [AE6H] and Richard [K6RBS] provided stability by alternating as net control. The aid stations on the 5K course were run by Bill [KD6HQS] and Dave [KG6QCI]. On the 1/2 marathon course we had Patti [AD6OH], Steve [KG6OYK], Pete [KD6TST], Randy [KD6KYH] whose wife Vicki [KG6KYI] helped with the transportation issues as well as Brian [NJ6N], and Lou [KG6FCT]. Heiko[AD6OI] worked as rover and backup net control. In addition, Heiko had a business band radio to relay information back and forth between the race director and our communicators in the field.

Fortunately we were never too busy since it was a cool day and none or the runners suffered any serious injuries or adverse effects from the heat.  Most of the radio traffic involved logistical support including getting people and supplies to and from the various aid stations. We also made one runner very happy when we located and returned her lost car keys.

Afterwards most of us went across the the street to Mitzi's Country Kitchen for a bite to eat.

Events like this are fun as well as an excellent test of operator skills and equipment. They help us prepare for major emergencies like wild fires, floods or 'the big one'. They also give is positive visibility to the general public and occasionally we even pick up new recruits.

Thanks to everybody who took part. Please watch this space, Tuesday night nets, the Propagator etc. for news of  future similar events.

AD6OI/K6RBS