August 13
SAG Ride-Alongs with APRS
and
Rest Stop Safety Communicators
Day of Event - Where to Report:
All Amateur Radio Operators assigned to SAG vehicles SAG-1 through SAG-5 should report to Arvest Ballpark Registration (SW corner of the Ballpark) for final assignment the morning of the event at 5 am.
SAG operators assigned to vehicles 6-7 orand rescue vehiclescan report to registration by 8:00 7:30 am or earlier if you’re up!
Rest Stop radio operators at stops 1-4 should report directly to their rest stop by 6:30.
Radio operators at Stops 5,6 and 7 can report directly to their stops by 8:30 8:00 am.
Rest Stop operators please check in to the net on the Brentwood repeater (in table, below) when you are en route to your position and when you arrive.
The radio net will be run as “Tour de Cure Net Control”, variously staffed by K5SAA, NW5AR and WA1GON.
LINKED Amateur Radio Repeaters for use on the Day of Event:
Name/APRS symbol / Freq / Offset / Tone / CommentsBrentwood/
N5KWL-3 / 442.300 / Plus / 97.4 / Primary , used on most of the course
Mercy/
N5KWL-2 / 443.175 / Plus / 97.4 / Reachable from much of the course, especially in the North
Bentonville/
N5KWL- / 442.950 / Plus / 97.4 / Reachable from the North portions of the course that can be shaded from Brentwood
Eureka Springs/
N5KWL-3 / 146.865 / Minus / 100 / High ground coverage for much of the course, use only if UHF equipment is not available. Please pre-test this repeater with your assigned location if you plan to use 2m.
These repeaters stay linked at all times. Net control will be monitoring Brentwood directly, as we expect most operators to be using it directly.
In the event of repeater system or link failure, we will also be listening on 147.55 simplex, no tone.
On most of the course, you will be able to reach the Brentwood repeater with 5W, as long as you have a mag-mount antenna on the roof of the vehicle. In some places where Brentwood is unreachable (just a few spots on the North end of the course) you will easily be able to reach the Mercy or Bentonville repeater.
All SAG voice communication to be checked with Net Control prior to leaving the Arvest Ballpark parking area. Please check in with Net Control and get a tactical callsign assigned to your SAG. eg SAG-1, SAG-2…
Net Protocol
The day of event radio protocol will be a formal net, as it has been in the past.
Most of the radio audio should involve Exceptions to normal bike riding.
This year we are not trying to keep an accurate count of riders inbound/outbound at Rest Stops. We will use a sweep vehicle and SAGs to be sure all riders are accounted for. This does not mean we won’t call you on the radio (at a rest stop) and ask questions such as “have you had any riders go by your location in the last xx minutes?”, or “We are on the lookout for bib number xxx, can you please let us know when that rider arrives/passes your location?”
Since the event is during an especially hot time of the year, we should all be looking for signs of heat exhaustion, and encouraging the riders to hydrate.
In general, we expect to be talking to you only when there is an exception to normal biking activity. But, we also want you to feel free to be pro-active and interactive with the riders and Rest Stops. For instance, if a rider is pushing their bike, and it’s not a repair situation or heat exhaustion, you could offer to arrange a ride back to the start/finish.
Also, we would like for you, if you are a mobile asset, to stop at every Rest Stop and visit with them about any supply needs, or any issue that needs reporting. We would not expect to hear from you unless there was a need that you could not meet. Again, we’re looking to minimize radio chatter for “normal” duties, and keep the frequency free for processing exceptions.
Net control will ask you for information. You should not volunteer information (except as directed in this protocol note), but rather, report to net control any of the following exceptions, or any time you feel that event safety is compromised:
1. Rider may be having a hard time in the heat. If in your opinion, they are suffering on the course:
a. You should ask them how they are doing, offer to give them a rest in your SAG, and encourage them to make the next rest stop;
b. Report their bib number to Net Control so we may direct other assets to watch for this rider;
c. Also, please call net control when you are back to your regular patrol.
2. Rider Down/Biker stopped – stopping to assist
a. In this case, you should report your general location, ie between RS1 and RS2, the rider(s) bib number(s),
b. Also, please call net control when you are back to your regular patrol.
3. Any route problem… car wrecks, signage missing or unclear, slick curves where other riders have reporting going down, speeding or erratic vehicles on the route;
4. If you need to leave the course (or your station of vehicle) for other than a very short time, please let Net Control know your status, and when you will be expected back.
5. Use you cell phone (if in a coverage area) to call Net Control (479-200-4056) if you have station difficulty. We will work together to get you back in shape. Let’s don’t try to solve intermittent reception issues on the net…and perhaps miss safety exceptions that need to be heard from others.
6. When all else fails, Be Safe!...keep to the course if you can and do your safety job for the riders! We will be covered for power outages, primary antenna failure, station failure, etc at Net Control, but that doesn’t mean we won’t take shelter for a tornado, etc…. and you should too!
7. We will try to Stay Ahead of any weather situation, and warn the course workers of impending weather. This kind of warning would need to be passed along to as many riders as you can safely do so.
APRS in Vehicles
All SAG and other mobile Tour de Cure assets should have APRS beaconing capability. (APRS messaging will not be used in this event, other than for a demonstration).
The ARKAN and BCRO club is providing some loaner beacons to augment members’ gear. You will be assigned to a SAG or other rescue/sweep vehicle with APRS beaconing. Before leaving the Arvest Ballpark parking lot, each SAG/vehicle with beacon its position and be positively identified (and tactically tagged) at the Net Control location (near Registration). Please do not leave the parking lot without Net Control ‘seeing’ you on the APRS system. This applies whether you are beaconing over APRS RF or with your phone system application.
If you are bringing or borrowing APRS beaconing capability, the following should be kept in mind:
1) We are using the standard North American APRS frequency of 144.390 FM simplex.
2) Your low power APRS beacon will likely not be heard unless you have an external antenna for it on the vehicle…your D72 or VX8 or MT-AIO will NOT be heard on most of the course without externalizing the antenna, and using the full power (5W)
3) If you have a phone app as your beacon, you will likely be assigned in the top half of the course, as cell signals are sparse in parts of the southern course.
4) If you have the ability to SmartBeacon, that would be ideal, although we ask that you check that your “slow speed” timing is not less than 3 minutes apart. (default on the Kenwood D72 is 30 minutes, while stationary).
5) If Net Control does not see a beacon from your vehicle in 15-20 minutes, we will call you on the radio to get your actual location, and to check the status of your beacon.
6) Some of you will be digipeating APRS packets for the southern part of the course. This will provide more solid coverage there for all APRS beacons. The CLRWTR digipeater is able to digipeat most of the course, as seen in the map below. Please do not digipeat unless asked to by the event organizers.
7) Know how to trigger an APRS Position beacon, which may be very helpful for location purposes if you are in a no cell zone with an emergency.