New thing #1 was talking on the radio. That was all fine and good but I have yet to use my radio in my everyday life here in Texas. I actually haven't talked on the radio since I got home in August. So, I am counting today as a new thing because, once again, that spurred me on!
Today was the Jingle Bell Run, a 5k through the streets of downtown Fort Worth. No, I didn't run/walk, I volunteered with my radio!! I joined one of the local radio clubs over a year ago when I got licensed but have never done anything with them. I have WANTED to help with races and stuff but I was nervous and always had a good excuse.
The Jingle Bell Run is an evening race. My cup of tea!! I was scheduled to check in at 3pm. I headed out at about 2pm with a couple errands to run. I had my mobile radio on so heard someone check in way early. There was confusion and the net control guy actually asked if he was me. Well, my call sign. So once they cleared all that up, I went ahead and identified that I was listening and would be there shortly. I totally teared up. Yup, apparently that's my thing - tearing up with radio firsts!!
I stopped at Target and bought myself a hot pink camp chair. YAY!! SOOO glad I had it too!! I easily found where I was to park and checked in. The "transportation" radio guy whisked me off to my "station" at 4th and Lamar. Just a normal street corner. I sat on the corner in my chair for 2 hours before the race actually started and I had to get up!! I got there about 2:45. I was asked all sorts of questions that my answer was "I have no idea". The only one I could answer was "What's going on here today?"!
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| I am SO bad at selfies!! |
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| My chair. |
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| The direction I looked and the runners came from. It's a boxing club. |
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| That's the central library! The runners ran toward it after they turned at my corner. |
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| The downtown Y! As people walked that way, I wanted to tell them to do the run instead of going to the gym. But I didn't. |
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| Random weird cycling pub thing. The things you see downtown... |
About an hour in, they brought cones to mark the course. Shortly thereafter, the police officer stationed at my corner showed up. This was good because I had NO idea if the road would close or what. In actuality, our corner was easy because the road was closed two blocks up :)
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all that was happening on the radio. There were several radio folks "shadowing" race folks and relaying info and questions and such. I want to be one of those types next time!! I transmitted twice. Once when I got to my corner and once when I was done. Not exactly a radio-filled day, for me. But that's okay. I learned a lot about how races like this, and Texas radio races, work.
Once the race started (we were a little over a mile in), we stood in the street to direct the runners. They turned right at our corner. I directed the leading cop and the first handful of runners and then everyone just followed the people in front of them! At one point, I heard "Ms. Emig?!" and saw several students run by!! Then a little later, I saw a friend and his daughter (or a friend and her dad?! - I count them both as friends!) so that was fun!!
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| It didn't turn out :( When I looked south, I could see runners a block and 2 blocks away. They did a snake through the #d streets. It was cool to see. Sorry the pic sucks. |
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| Runners!! |
All in all, I think we saw runners for maybe 30 minutes. Supposedly there were about 2000. I just know it was a lot!! Especially compared to the 74 at Angeles Crest :) Once the guys came by to pick up the cones, I called in and was released. The police officer then graciously drove me back to my car. I was driving away by 6pm!!
I really do hope to get more involved with radio in Texas. I definitely want to do more races, but maybe with a bigger radio role! I also plan to attend HamFest in January as a new thing :)
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