PHOENIX_SCANNER
Member
For the first time my ham radio scan list is being put to use tonight for something besides a means to put me to sleep. For the first time it is better listening than public safety I must admit.
This weekend is a ragnar relay race in the Phoenix area you see, and the local ham guys have decided that they would act as the unofficial security force, although that is probably the wrong term. They really aren't doing anything but bothering the runners by telling them to watch out for trucks, and trying to convince the occasional runner with a scraped knee to go to their "command center" for treatment, none of whom do. They have tried to tell a few runners they couldn't run because they didn't have the right light on their shirt or the right reflective gear and the runners completely ignore them like they werent' there. Every few minutes you get a very official sounding report about a group of runners passing a checkpoint, though there is an official group other than the hams that monitor the progress, so it's all meaningless radio chatter really.
But the best part are their cool code names. Yeah, they still close with their callsign (which makes their code name seem silly), but they are calling themselves things like xray12, and support 71, and then there is "net commander 1", and bravo 511, and "team leader charlie". They are using "ten codes" and police codes for things and it is cracking me up. This must be a dream event for these guys, where they really get to act like they are part of something really important, and you can tell by how serious they sound. The "commander" has severely scolded a few old senile hams for clearing on the "restricted" repeaters, and possibly jeopardizing something important. A few guys were talking about turning their light bars on "for runner safety", of course. They have official shirts, complete with ranks. One group of hams spent 20 minutes trying to coordinate a ride for one guy who had long since called his wife with a cell phone and been picked up while they were playing with radios.
I listened to some of the guys trying to relay some useless tidbit of information, but who are having problems hitting their repeater properly, spending 5 minutes or more walking around trying to find the right spot to stand so they can be heard, repeating a sentence over and over, instead of just calling the other gun on his cellphone. But of course, the whole point of this is to play with radios really, so, no hurry. The runners are ignoring them all anyway. One guy spent ten minutes trying to get through on a repeater just to say he saw a van with a tire that looked low.
I'm pretty sure the runners who have their own officials and support staff think these guys are complete nerds, but this all makes for some very funny listening. I wish I could post some audio, because it has brought me to tears of laughter a few times. There is even a "special response team". Lol.
Finally, the big day they have all been waiting for. A day where local hams can do something "vital" with their radios instead of the usual rag-chewing about radio equipment.
As I finish this, the last "units" have been given permission to "secure" and return to "camp ragnar" for the night. Priceless.
This weekend is a ragnar relay race in the Phoenix area you see, and the local ham guys have decided that they would act as the unofficial security force, although that is probably the wrong term. They really aren't doing anything but bothering the runners by telling them to watch out for trucks, and trying to convince the occasional runner with a scraped knee to go to their "command center" for treatment, none of whom do. They have tried to tell a few runners they couldn't run because they didn't have the right light on their shirt or the right reflective gear and the runners completely ignore them like they werent' there. Every few minutes you get a very official sounding report about a group of runners passing a checkpoint, though there is an official group other than the hams that monitor the progress, so it's all meaningless radio chatter really.
But the best part are their cool code names. Yeah, they still close with their callsign (which makes their code name seem silly), but they are calling themselves things like xray12, and support 71, and then there is "net commander 1", and bravo 511, and "team leader charlie". They are using "ten codes" and police codes for things and it is cracking me up. This must be a dream event for these guys, where they really get to act like they are part of something really important, and you can tell by how serious they sound. The "commander" has severely scolded a few old senile hams for clearing on the "restricted" repeaters, and possibly jeopardizing something important. A few guys were talking about turning their light bars on "for runner safety", of course. They have official shirts, complete with ranks. One group of hams spent 20 minutes trying to coordinate a ride for one guy who had long since called his wife with a cell phone and been picked up while they were playing with radios.
I listened to some of the guys trying to relay some useless tidbit of information, but who are having problems hitting their repeater properly, spending 5 minutes or more walking around trying to find the right spot to stand so they can be heard, repeating a sentence over and over, instead of just calling the other gun on his cellphone. But of course, the whole point of this is to play with radios really, so, no hurry. The runners are ignoring them all anyway. One guy spent ten minutes trying to get through on a repeater just to say he saw a van with a tire that looked low.
I'm pretty sure the runners who have their own officials and support staff think these guys are complete nerds, but this all makes for some very funny listening. I wish I could post some audio, because it has brought me to tears of laughter a few times. There is even a "special response team". Lol.
Finally, the big day they have all been waiting for. A day where local hams can do something "vital" with their radios instead of the usual rag-chewing about radio equipment.
As I finish this, the last "units" have been given permission to "secure" and return to "camp ragnar" for the night. Priceless.
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