Back in February, 2013 I went to a boy scout meeting where two other ham radio friends of mine did a demonstration of Morse Code for the young boys.

I was bitten by the CW bug that night just like the black flies bite here in New Hampshire in the month of May.

I started to do a little bit of practice in late February, but I kept getting distracted.

In early March, Hanz Busch, W1JSB came over to my house and loaned me a nice portable Yaesu 817 radio that’s meant to take with you backpacking. It’s a very small and compact HF radio that puts out only 5 watts of power. But that was enough for us to transmit CW – continuous wave – to one another on 80 meters.

CW is another name for Morse Code. If you hold down the key that transmits Morse Code, it will send out one continuous wave. When you lift up the key and stop the transmission, the wave stops. But if you hold down the key for different periods of time and in a certain order, you create Morse Code.

A short transmission is called a di. A longer burst is a dah. So you send di’s and dah’s.

Hanz and I started practicing even though I had not memorized all the letters. Hanz would send me a letter, and I would listen to it. We did that several nights and I learned my call sign.

But I quickly discovered that if you want to get serious, you have to knuckle down and just memorize the alphabet, numbers one through ten and some basic punctuation symbols.

By the beginning of April, I had all that down. I could send Morse Code, but I wasn’t totally smooth. It takes practice.

I knew I was going to love CW, because on many a night I woke up in the middle of the night  tapping out words on my pillow with my fingers. Crazy, isn’t it? Well, let me tell you – that’s a sign that you really want it.

Right now my friend Jim Cluett, W1PID is helping me. He uses a cool program that allows him to type a message, set the words-per-minute rate, and it converts it into a cute little MP3 file.

I download that file and decipher what Jim sent. I really appreciate his attention and his mentoring me. It’s really helping me.

The hard part, for me, is listening and deciphering the code. I’m getting better, but it just takes practice. My goal is to be regularly transmitting and receiving by June 1, 2013.

by: Tim Carter, W3ATB

(C)Copyright 2013 Tim Carter

All Rights Reserved

“Stop all runners on the course.”

Did I hear that correctly on my Charlie 5 frequency? Stop the Boston Marathon? You can’t be serious?

Yes, after 116 years of Mother Nature doing her best to stop this world-class running event, a terrorist attack was able to do in seconds what She couldn’t do in decades.

I was a ham radio operator working the 117th Boston Marathon. It was the second year in a row for me. Fortunately for myself and my family, I was stationed eight miles away from the bombing attack. The radio communications team assigned me to work at First Aid Station 12 at the corner of Commonwealth and Chestnut Avenues near the center of Newton, Massachusetts at mile 18.3 of the race.

This is First Aid Station 12 looking east towards Chestnut Avenue. Photo Credit: Tim Carter

This is my third season of working public service events using my ham radio skills. I have to tell you that I wasn’t expecting to become a thread in an historical tapestry, but I am now.

I’ve got the photos to prove it, I’ve got one of the much-sought-after yellow and blue 2013 Boston Marathon volunteer wind breakers, and an abundance of personal memories to prove I was part of the tragic historic day.

The Communications Cascade

I’ve been told by many seasoned ham radio operators that the Boston Marathon is the premier public service amateur radio event. It’s the World Series. It’s the Super Bowl.

It’s the World Cup. It’s the Daytona and Indianapolis 500 in one.

I can tell you it’s as challenging a communications amateur radio event as you might ever work. Now that I’ve worked it two years, and that’s a very short time compared to many operators who have worked it for well over twenty years, the Boston Marathon deserves those accolades.

If you like numbers and want to get your head around what’s involved, consider this:

• Linear Marathon – communications spread out over 26 miles
• Nearly 150 amateur radio operators on the course and in Net Control
• Pre-marathon meeting at 7:00 a.m.
• Average time on station for ham operators – 9 hours that could stretch to 11
• Seven primary communication channels, two bus and misc backup channels

To put this in perspective, I regularly work public service events on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. It’s a harsh environment with significant radio propogation issues compounded by the concentrated number of commercial radio and television station towers at the summit.

But even though running, bike and car races claw their way up the 7.2-mile sinuous  mountain roadway, we typically will only have 15 – 20 ham operators on a single frequency. We have a backup frequency, but it’s rarely used.

Bedlam Caused By the Bombs

The weather forecast set the stage for an epic day. Sunshine, temperatures in the mid 50’s, light wind. I’m not a runner, but I can tell you I’d rather run in that than the record heat of the 2012 Boston Marathon.

During the 2012 Boston Marathon our first aid station #12 at mile 18.3 tilted at least two times with runners in different stages of distress. I was told that I had the most ambulance calls of any other ham operator at last year’s event. Believe me, I was looking forward to a day with light traffic in our station.

That’s just what we got as the race progressed. Most of the runners had minor leg cramps and blisters. We did have two runners that needed more extensive care. The radio traffic on our frequency was moderate to light.

Tim Carter, W3ATB in yellow gear, reporting to station supervisor Mike Tryon. Photo Credit: Don Tryon (C)Copyright 2103 Don Tryon

But just before 3:00 p.m., the rumors started to fly. Keep in mind that the frequency I was on was a mid-course frequency. My job is to just keep my first aid station supervisor, Mike Tryon, in the loop about what’s happening around us.

As Mike said to me earlier in the day, “There’s nice to know and need to know. I just want you to keep me informed with Need to Know.”

Well, a terrorist or two or three made sure that soon enough there would be plenty of Need-to-Know information.

The Pros in Net Control

The ground zero of the entire communications operation is an operations center called net control. A handful of ham radio operators are stationed at net control on radios tuned to specific frequencies. Each frequency covers a portion of the race course.

Think of the race course as a line of linked sausages. Each sausage is a different frequency and net of its own. I was on C5 and the finish line was C7.

Each individual amateur radio operator working at net control has a certain number of water and first-aid stations under his/her control.

The net control operator for the mid-section part of the course I was working was Andrew Maroney, W2AJM. He’s an absolute pro net control operator. His messaging is concise, he’s prompt with replies, and he has a mind like a steel trap.

Understand that his job is to just feed us information that’s critical to us fulfilling our jobs at our assigned locations. Even if he had access to widespread facts about what was happening at ground zero at the finish line, that would be nice-to-know information for those of use farther back from the finish line.

Andrew only dispensed information and facts that the race organizers wanted us to know that was specific to our location and/or it was information to be broadcast to all ham operators. It’s part of the protocol.

As best as I can remember, the first real Need-to-Know transmission from Andrew was the Stop-All-Runners message. At that point, we knew that the rest of the day was going to be anything but ordinary

Unintended Consequences

The race officials only invite qualified runners to participate in the Boston Marathon. This helps maintain the prestige of the event, but it also ensures that 99.9 percent of the people cross the finish line.

At the finish line, the race organizers have all of the runners personal belongings, blankets, mylar heat-retention capes, water, an abundance of medical support, wheelchairs, etc.

The first aid stations that are spread out on the course, like the one I was working, have many of these supplies, but in limited supply. After all, past marathon records indicate we maybe will see only 50 – 100 runners in our station during the race.

Imagine the nightmare if it was raining and 40 F. Here it was sunny and 54 F, yet the runners that stopped soon got chilled. Photo Credit: Tim Carter

But when the order was given to Stop All Runners, that decision created quite a few unintended consequences. We were very lucky at our station, because the vast majority of runners were farther down course. Just a handful of runners and walkers were approaching us after the bombs exploded in downtown Boston.

But further down the course, especially in the last mile or two, thousands of runners were still approaching the finish line. The bombs created a new set of problems:

• How do the runners stay warm?
• How do the runners get fed?
• How do the runners get to their belongings?
• How do the runners discover if their loved ones waiting at the finish are okay?
• How do the runners let their loved ones know where they are?
• How will thousands of runners be transported to who-knows-where?

Plus countless other questions…..

But guess what, that’s where all of our training kicked into high gear.

Cell Phone Dependence

The spectulation is that government officials, within minutes of the explosion, shut off the cell towers in downtown Boston. I can’t confirm this. But it sounds like a good idea as bombers discovered years ago that cell phone towers can be hijacked to help them with their sinister and nefareous deeds.

Cell phones are just radios. For years bombers have used cell phones as part of the mechanism to detonate bombs. It’s brilliant when you think about it. The bomber can be 100 feet away or a continent away, make a call to the phone connected to the bomb and BOOM.

What really is happening? When you call a cell phone and it rings or vibrates, an electrical energy impulse within the phone happens that causes the phone to ring or vibrate. This electrical energy can be used to ignite a bomb fuse. It’s that simple. But don’t try this at home.

Many runners don’t carry cell phones, and they were desperately trying to use anyone’s phone, including mine, to call their loved ones at the finish line.

Everyone was getting a busy signal. That could have happened because the cell networks were overloaded, or because officials turned off the cell towers.

The bottom line is there were several hundred people who were able to continue to communicate during the disaster. Police, fire and others like me who had radios were still talking.

Keep that in mind. Perhaps this will be the wakeup call to convince you to get your amateur radio license and discover what hundreds of thousands of us already know. We know how to stay connected in disasters and other situations where traditional communications systems suddenly don’t work.

Youthful Enthusiasm

Working at First Aid Station 12 with me was a gifted radio operator, Noah Goldstein, KB1VWZ. Another ham operator was also with us named Shirley Dulcey, KE1L.

Noah Goldstein, KB1VWZ on the left talking with Tim Carter, W3ATB on the right. Photo Credit: Don Tryon (C) Copyright 2013 Don Tryon

Mike Tyron, at our morning organizational meeting, requested that I stay at the First Aid station all day acting as his connection with the outside world. Noah and Shirley were assigned to the mobile medical teams.

If runners need assistance at any part on the course between our station and the next closest first aid stations either up or down the course, a two-man medical team runs to their aid. A ham radio operator goes with them in case they need to request an ambulance or additional help.

Noah is a young man, I guesstimate to be around 20 years old. He was bursting with energy and enthusiasm. It’s completely understandable because he’s participating in a world-class amateur radio event.

As the anxiety ballooned after the blasts, Noah became restless. Not only was he concerned about a friend at the finish line, he wanted to also ratchet up his participation as a radio operator.

Twice I had to remind him of the structure of the communications team. It was important for Noah to realize that the leaders at net control knew more than we did about what was going on. They were counting on us to remain on location at our station. We were known assets at a given location, and if we were to be re-deployed farther down the course to help, net control would make that call, not us

Noah got his wish. Within 90 minutes, he was told to move down the course to First Aid Station 13 that was set up just west of the Newton, MA City Hall. Within a short time, the race organizers moved many of the runners to the city hall building. This got them out of the weather and into a covered building with plenty of chairs and real toilets.

Buses were arriving bringing runners from other locations to the Newton City Hall. Noah was stationed at the City Hall building and was finally released about 6:45 p.m. He did a magnificent job all day, and there’s no doubt it will be a day he never forgets.

The Temptation

Each radio operator in the field has enormous responsibilities. You could have a person’s life in your hands at any time. A runner may be in desperate need of help and the station supervisor may ask you to request an ambulance with advanced life support capabilities.

What does this really mean? It means you MUST be able to communicate. This means you probably should come to the event with two radios.

I had two radios. I could tune to two different frequencies. In fact,  each of my Yaesu VX-7R radios is equipped to monitor two separate frequencies at the same time.

I knew the frequency the finish line radio operators were using. I could have brought it up on either of my radios to gather nice-to-know information at any time.

But I didn’t. It would be a distraction. I’m sure I wasn’t alone. My job was to keep Mike informed and listen to my net control operator in case he had a direct message for me, or an area-wide message for all operators.

After Action

I’m sure that right now the leaders of the communications team are meeting, or have scheduled a meeting, to discuss what we did right and what we did wrong. Professionally it’s called an after-action report.

I can tell you from my persepective that just about everything went right. Immediately after the bomb blasts, the radio traffic intensified. It continued to ratchet up as new challenges were exposed.

But each time, the race organizers and communications team rose to meet the challenge. On my frequency, and I imagine that used for the finish line, there was never chaos.

The reason was simple. Amateur radio operators that volunteer for the Boston Marathon are anything but amateurs. That moniker just means we’re not paid to perform on the radio. It’s illegal for us to accept compensation if we use the amateur radio bands.

I was in the company of nearly 150 professional radio operators that stayed focused, they didn’t clog the frequencies with unneeded requests, and they followed established protocols set up years in advance for just this dreaded situation.

To be honest, it was a thing to behold. It’s my hope that all of the communications of the day were recorded for each frequency, and that they’re released one day so you can hear what I heard in my earpiece.

I heard calm, focused and concise radio requests. I heard virturally no frustration. I didn’t hear any screaming. I didn’t hear any frantic requests for supplies.

I’m still recovering mentally from the day. I’m very sad for those three innocent people who’s lives were snuffed out by the calous act of the cowards who set down the satchels containing the bombs. My guess is that at least two people were involved, with each person casually setting down the bag and seemingly forgetting to pick it up as he/she walked away. I’m also concerned about all those injured and the collateral damage caused to all those that know the dead and injured.

I can tell you I’d go back tomorrow to work the Boston Marathon again. I’ll be even more vigilant. If you’re a ham radio operator, you should volunteer too. If you’re not an operator, consider becoming one. You can even volunteer to do other tasks non-radio related. I can tell you with confindence that many, if not all, of us will return. The terrorists will not take control of my destiny. No, it’s going to be the other way around.

There will be a new awareness about being able to communicate when cell phones don’t work. I was lucky enough to be one who could communicate clearly, even with someone around the world, when tens of thousands of people couldn’t.

I was lucky enough to be in a position to help many who needed help. That’s why all of us ham radio operators volunteered to be in Boston along with the thousands of other Boston Marathon volunteers.

Believe me, we’ll be back.

Author’s Note: 

Hours after this post was published, I participated in a one-hour Skype interview with Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, the founder of HamRadioNow.TV.

I urge you to watch this video to discover more about what happened at the Boston Marathon. You’ll also discover more facts about the operation.

Screenshot of the Gary Pearce and Tim Carter Interview. Copyright (C) 2013 Gary Pearce

On Friday, March 1, 2013 and Saturday, March 2, 2013 I had the pleasure of providing safety communications for the 84th Laconia Sled Dog Championship Races. It’s a sprint-type race for the dogs and mushers, and I can tell you that you need to be paying attention as a ham radio operator.

Tim Carter, W3ATB, radioing in the location of a sled dog at the 84th Laconia Sled Dog Championship race in Laconia, NH. Photo Credit: Heather Mather

Each day I tried to get to the starting line to help David Megin, KA1VJU, to set up the tent and 2-meter antenna. By 8:30 a.m. all the ham radio operators were either at their assignments or on the way. Dave stayed at the start / finish line to run net control.

Net control is the communications hub for an event like this. All radio communications are directed to net control from each of the assignment areas. It’s the job of net control to collect all information as to the location of the sled dog competitors. This information is then provided to the race officials if they need it.

The ham radio operators in the field know to only be transmitting if they have needed information from their location. This is important so the frequency remains open in case of an emergency at one of the assignments or net control needs to communicate with one of the ham radio operators at a specific location.

There were three races each day. The morning started with a six-dog race that was very exciting. The afternoon race was fascinating because it’s an unlimited competition. A musher can put as many dogs as she/he desires in front of the sled. The most dogs I saw pulling a sled was fourteen. That was a sight indeed.

There’s about an hour break between races, and since the course is not that big, many of the ham radio operators come back to the net control area to hang out, eat or just network with each other.

My favorite race of the event was on Saturday. It was a three-dog race on a short course. The mushers were mostly kids aged 8 – 14 from what I could see as they glided by my remote spotter location in the woods.

I can tell you that working a public service event like this is extremely rewarding. You get a sense of accomplishment and you get to be up close to some very cool dogs – and humans too!

On Monday night, February 18, 2013, I had the pleasure to assist four other ham radio operators at Boy Scout Troop 68′s meeting in Laconia, NH. It was Show and Tell night, and the topic was amateur radio. Believe it or not, the Scout Troop has a very nice little ham shack equipped with a very swell HF radio.

Chris Reynolds, KB1VXD, has a son in the troop, and invited other ham operators to come and talk about their experiences in amateur radio, what they like about it and what they might use.

I brought in my Yaesu VX-7R handheld radio and compared it to a smartphone that I had in my pocket. The scouts immediately identified the phone and seemed to be impressed with how small the handheld radio was compared to the phone.

The highlight of the night was a demonstration of morse code by Jim Cluett, W1PID and Johann Busch, W1JSB.

Jim Cluett, W1PID is holding court teaching young, inquisitive minds about the magic of amateur radio. Johann Busch, W1JSB is standing at the right. Photo by: Tim Carter, W3ATB

The young boys were very attentive, respectful and well behaved, but I have a feeling much of what was said went over their heads. I say this because much of amateur radio is still over my head, and I’m not talking about the radio waves that constantly surround us!

Jim Cluett, W1PID and Johann Busch, W1JSB collaborated on a very interesting demonstration of morse code. Jim split the group of boy scouts into two groups, and each group had to come up with their own secret message.

Johann (Hanz) first transmitted his group’s message to Jim who successfully transcribed it. There was no doubt Jim would do this as he’s been a ham operator for 50 years, has taught morse code to countless people, and Hanz was one of his former students.

Hanz was using his very slick home-brew compact radio that is contained in a clear, waterproof case.

This is a radio that transmits and receives morse code. Everything fits in the box, including the batteries. All you need to do is connect a thin antenna wire. Photo by: Tim Carter, W3ATB

He uses this radio to communicate with other hams across the world when he hikes, or is otherwise away from his ham shack. I was so jazzed by this radio I decided to build one myself. It’s unbelievable. To create the morse code tones, you simply have to touch the round nut(s) you see in the lower right corner of the outside of the case.

Once Hanz’s message was deciphered, Jim had his boys came up with a message about skeletons and zombies. Jim used Hanz’s swell small radio and transmitted the di’s and dah’s to Hanz who expertly captured the sounds and magically made them into letters on paper for the boys to read.

Watch the video for yourself. It was a fun night for all in attendance!

On a frosty January morning, the 4th of January to be precise, I was in the Alpine Ridge parking lot just below Gunstock Mountain in Gilford, NH.

I was there to capture a helicopter lifting new communications gear to the top of adjacent Belknap Mountain. It was well worth freezing my feet off.

On Tuesday, December 4th, thirty-five members of the Central New Hampshire Amateur Radio Club (CNHARC) toured the state-of-the-art 911 and Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid Communications centers in Laconia, NH. Both facilities are housed in nondescript buildings at the former state prison just north of Laconia.

The evening started off with a fact session about the 911 center presented by Dave Rivers, the Chief of Operations. His many years of service helped hone his wry sense of humor. You had to really be on your toes to catch all of the zingers that were interlaced with amazing statistics and anecdotes about incoming calls to the center.

The New Hampshire 911 Laconia facility Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) is one of only two 911 call centers in the state of New Hampshire. The primary PSAP is in the state capitol down in Concord, however, both centers are equipped to handle calls from any  location in the state. If all the operators at one center are busy, incoming 911 calls are routed to the other center.

The 911 operator sitting in the center of the photo was coaching the caller in how to perform CPR.

The highly trained operators use standardized protocols to handle calls. There are over 30 different protocols that range from animal bites to traumatic injuries.

These step-by-step question protocols are built into the software that runs on the center’s computers. This methodology is time tested and allows the operators to focus on the most important aspects of each call.

While the tour was in progress, the on-duty operators were busy helping citizens in need. One operator was coaching a caller in how to perform CPR. Club members in the room immediately picked up on the seriousness of the call and the room quickly filled with anxiety over what might happen next. It was so quiet in the room, you could hear a flea burp.

Club member Chris Reynolds, KB1VXD, a dispatcher employed at the Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid Communications Center, was kind enough to arrange the tours. He worked in conjunction with Cliff Dickinson, N1RCQ to facilitate this meeting. Cliff is the club program co-ordinator.

Once we were finished with the tour of the 911 center, the group was split into two parts so we could visit the smaller Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid Communications Center.

This facility serves 35  agencies in the Lakes Region. If a fire, emergency, or EMT/ambulance call comes into the 911 center that would be handled by any of the fire departments that are part of the mutual aid group, they are transferred seamlessly to the trained dispatchers in the mutual fire aid  communications center. The Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid  Communications Center handles about 70 incoming calls in a regular 24-hour period, but in severe weather events, that call volume can jump to  several hundred calls per day.

Both communications centers are highly computerized and have built-in redundancy. The employees that staff the centers are highly trained and are cool under pressure.

This is the computer center for the Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid Comm Center.

Both tours were extremely informative, and probably no club member regretted navigating through the pea-soup fog to attend this one-of-a-kind meeting.

By: Tim Carter, W3ATB  Copyright 2012

With the 6-foot outdoor cabinet secure on the quad lift chair behind us I murmurred, “So tell me again why we didn’t install this outdoor repeater cabinet back in October on one of the nice 70-degree days?” Suspended 20 feet in the air I was racing up to the summit of Gunstock Mountain sitting beside two other members of the Central New Hampshire Amateur Radio Club.

“Anyone can do it then. We prefer to have challenging weather conditions that test our skills,” joshed Mark Persson, W1DDI.

Ed O’Hearn, N1EO, was sitting next to us encased in his full-body ski suit, arctic boots, full-face warmer, hat, and heavy gloves. “I’m all set in case this chair lift stalls with a snow-making cannon pointed at us,” quipped Ed.

The pickup trucks, left to right, of W3ATB, W1DDI, and N1EO.

The three of us met in the empty parking lot of the Gunstock Ski Resort at 7:45 am on a steel-gray Sunday morning. It was just five days shy of the winter solstice that would mark the first official day of winter.

But thirty minutes later, at the top of Gunstock Mountain where the club’s 440 MHz, 2-meter and 6-meter repeaters reside, you’d swear winter had arrived months ago. It was windy, cold and the summit greeted us with snow and ice, albeit man-made.

Our task for the morning was to install an outdoor radio-equipment cabinet under the ski resort’s Safety Building that sits directly on Mt. Gunstock’s summit.  The rugged and weathered exterior of the building does an excellent job of concealing what’s inside.

This nondescript building at the summit of Gunstock Mountain is an oasis of warmth and intoxicating aromas.

If you’re one of the lucky people that gets to cross over the threshold of this wood-frame building, you quickly discover it’s a warm and cozy lair where the ski patrol volunteers hang out waiting to be called out on the slopes to assist a skier.

The magical four-person ski-lift chairs wisked the cabinet, tools and supplies, and us up the mountain. By the time we got to the top, I was already shivering even though I had dressed for the weather.

While dawn was breaking an hour earlier, I was walking out the door of my house debating if I should be wearing my firefighter bunker pants that keep you warm in sub-zero temperatures. I chose poorly, and those pants were eight miles away as the bird flies on a hook in my mud room. Oh well, I’ll know next time.

Here’s the metal cabinet after being lugged across the snow and ice to the underside of the Safety Building.

Once at the top of the mountain, we slid the cabinet off the frozen vinyl seats of the ski lift and lugged it across the groomed snow to the front of the building. It was time to decide on a safe strategy on how best to get the cabinet under the building where it would soon be installed.

We wasted no time getting to work using Mark’s paper template that allowed us to drill precise holes in the top of the cabinet that would accept massive lag bolts. Sharp drill bits soon were boring holes in the top of the cabinet.

“Do you smell that? It smells like a donut shop is just around the corner,” professed Mark. I was obviously upwind of Mark, and the only sensory impulses my brain was receiving were the alarm bells telling me that the temperature of my fingers was starting to approach 32 F.

“Oh my gosh, I DO smell that,” I exclaimed as a gust of wind thrust the aroma of freshly baked cinammon rolls up my partially frozen nostrils. It was amazing my olfactory system was actually working in the tundra-like conditions.

The repeater cabinet is lag bolted to the underside of the floor joists. Next step is to install the conduit for the electrical receptacle.

By this time, we were well on our way to having the cabinet installed. It was a slick engineering feat that Mark and Ed had come up with. The Saftey Building hangs out over the southwest tip of the summit producing about 7 feet of head space at the far end of the building.

Bolting the cabinet to the underside of the floor joists protects it from any overland water and keeps it safe from pesky mice that seek out the warmth of cabinets filled with warm tasty wires and cables connected to humming electronics equipment. Relocating the 440 MHZ and 2-meter repeaters to the exterior of the building allows us to have access to the electronic gear 24/7/365. Let me re-state that – let’s say any day a blizzard isn’t howling up at the top of the peak.

Working under the building provided us with a considerable amount of protection from the biting wind, but every now and then a rogue blast of wind would lash us.

Ed and Mark were the pros, and have extensive experience with repeaters, duplexers, controllers, power supplies and link radio equipment that will occupy the sturdy metal cabinet. My job was simply to hold things and give an occasional assist as one would expect from any apprentice. Understand that prior to this frosty morning, I had never before seen a repeater nor been near one.

Just as we were finishing suspending the cabinet from the Safety Building’s floor joists, Rick Zach, K1RJZ, popped his head under the building saying good morning. Rick had come up with a plastic tub filled with tools and supplies to check on the electronics of the repeaters that were currently being bathed in the warmth and cinammon-roll atmosphere just above our heads.

The 2-meter repeater is at the top of the photo. The 6-meter repeater case is open with all the electronics visible.

I went inside for ten minutes to warm my nearly frostbitten fingers, and Rick gave me a quick tour of the current repeaters. It was pretty fascinating to see the array of electronic equipment that’s responsible for re-transmitting radio signals from countless operators who work this summit for both pleasure, and for more important public-safety events.

The work party concluded with Mark and Ed installing the waterproof flexible conduit from the cabinet over to the edge of the building where the existing power extends to the indoor repeaters. Jim Craver, N1XBD, who works at the Gunstock Ski Resort helped finish the job by splicing in our junction box into the existing conduit.

The job ended inside the toasty Safety Building with Mark, Ed and Rick inspecting the existing equipment, checking readings and insuring all was well with the repeaters. It was all greek to me, so I did the smart thing and just kept my mouth shut.

The ski-lift operators allowed us to jump on the empty chairs that rotated around the giant bull wheel, and we were wisked back down to the parking lot. The view across Lake Winnipesaukee was gorgeous even though the sky was starting to fill with the first real snowflakes of winter. I was in my truck by 11:30 am headed back home to a roaring fire in my office and a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Suffice it to say the expedition up to the summit was well worth it for me. There’s no better way to bond with fellow club members than to do it under the most adverse weather conditions Mother Nature can conjure up.

If you want to be fully immersed in the Central New Hampshire Amateur Radio Club experience, I highly recommend scheduling a trip to the top of Gunstock Mountain on a frigid December day!

From left to right standing: Mark Persson W1DDI, Ed O’Hearn N1EO, Tim Carter W3ATB. Rick Zach K1RJZ kneeling.