The Loudoun Amateur Radio Group Of Northern Virginia & Its Radio Station K4LRG

Reston Town Center Pavilion - The Start - Finish Line

Things start early out east. Riders are very eager to get out on the trails. Reston Bicycle Club support members and volunteer ARES communications personnel arrive well before sunrise and put in a very long day. The Reston Town Center is a great place for the start-finish line and the after ride activities. It's the last site to close.

Rick Miller - AI1V was the site captain at Reston. He was assisted by Henry Weidman - K2BFY and Jeff slusher - KE5APC. Rick also established a 70cm-2m cross-band repeater from the Reston area that permitted easy hand-held radio communications out of the floor of the Reston Town Center to all areas of Loudoun County.

Ashburn - The First and Last Rest Stop

Riders get to Ashburn very quickly and most everyone goes through there twice. It's a busy place and the last out station to take net control as riders close just before 5:30 PM.

Grant Russell - KB3EMT was the station captain at Ashburn and was assisted by Chuck Graham - KI4IEO and Jay Ives - KI4TXP. Their 2-Meter FM station could be heard well through Loudoun County. Jay carried his Yaesu FT-60 handheld transceiver and also had a mag-mount antenna and a 79 amp-hour battery as back up to the main station.

Grant reports, "We used a Yaesu FT-8900 Quad band powered by a 105 amp, 12 volt battery with a Diamond X3200A tri-band antenna on a 24-foot mast. We had good a transmit signal and reception with this set up, but we later learned, on braking down our station, we had better transmit/reception capabilities with just Jay's mobile rig and antenna. I think by having our antenna so high, we were getting interference from the high voltage lines on 2 sides of us, and the cell/microwave tower behind us."

"We had plenty of gear at our location for back up if we had any kind of failure."

"Things worked great for us at our location. It was nice having the Fire Department next door. We called them to assist a couple of riders. "

Hamilton - The Heart and Soul of Old Western Loudoun County

The Early Morning at Hamilton with Hamilton's Finest

The Hamilton Community Park is a cool place. Everyone wants to hang out there. So, it's natural that the old timers, well warned warriors, and world wide travelers volunteered to man the communications here. The first rider arrives around 8 AM and activity peaks by 10:30 AM. By noon most have moved on and Hamilton was closed by about an hour or so later. Not much happen and the gang just sat around and traded war stories and good old lies.

Norm Styer - AI2C was the station captain and was assisted by Bill Frisbie - W3EMH, Bill Buchholz - K8SYH and Jay Greeley - KI4UTB. They were on the air by 7 AM. The 2-Meter voice station was a dual-band 50-watt mobile transceiver provided by Bill Frisbie and a Cushcraft 5-element dual-band yagi antenna on the 16-foot Radio Shack TV mast. An APRS station was also deployed and consisted of a Kenwood TM-7V dual-band FM mobile unit, an MFJ 1278 multi-mode TNC, a IBM ThinkPad laptop with UI-View and a Diamond dual-band 6-bd gain co-linear vertical antenna on a 16-foot telescoping mast. The antennas were affixed to opposite ends of the park's shelter. Three Die-Hard Group 28 deep-cycle 12-volt batteries powered all equipment. All operators also carried their personnel hand-held transceivers. Norm Styer's F-150 pickup was also equipped with APRS and FM voice equipment in case someone was called out onto the routes.

Hillsboro - A Welcomed Sight To All Riders

The rest stop at the Elementary School in Hillsboro is a welcomed sight to all. They know they are half-way on the big route and feel like they need a good rest. Many throw in the towel here or at Waterford and ask for a SAG ride back to Ashburn or Reston. The good riders start arriving by 9:30 or 10 AM; the others straggle in until well after lunch. We know the event is starting to close when they release Hillsboro by 2:30 PM.

Tom Martin - KF4TNX of Slanesville, WV and Clark County ARES provided mutual support to Loudoun County ARES and was the station captain. Tom single-handedly manned Hillsboro. Ed Krom - WD4KHP, of Berryville and Clark County ARES, and Tom's wife Maria both came down with something and could not make it. We really appreciate Tom's effort.

Tom dismounted several FM voice mobile radios from his communications van and was well heard through Loudoun County.

Waterford - It's All Down Hill From Here

Those riders who reach the Waterford Elementary School know they are in "tall cotton." Their bike didn't break down and they didn't give into a SAG ride. These are the good guys and gals. They are happy. The SAGs sorta hung out here knowing this is where the weak throw in the towel. After the SAGs sweep the routes back to Hamilton and Hillsboro several times and declare all is clear, Waterford is closed around 5 PM and the network's K4LRG NCS function at NC4S is transfer to the Ashburn and Reston stations.

Paul Dluehosh - N4PD was the station captain at Waterford and was assisted by Carol - KF4TJJ and Denny - KF4TJI Boehler.They established two 2-Meter FM stations with their own antenna systems. Everything was battery powered.

The Waterford Communications Stations

By Paul Dluehosh - N4PD

and

Carol - KF4TJJ and Denny - KF4TJI Boehler

         Out Of The Routes - They Are There To Help

The real action is "Where Rubber Meets The Road." There were four SAGs equipped with ARES communications shotguns: SAG 1 Bob Kennedy - KG4QXF, SAG 1 Kurt Reber - KI4FWB, SAG 3 Buddy Brewer - K4CJB and SAG 4 David Mullins - K4ARP. Out on the trails were Route Riders Mark Schutt - KI4CTR, and Steve Greene - KS1G. Most of these stations were also equipped with GPS-ARPS stations that were tracked by others and the K4LRG-APRS station at NCS. These guys provided super coverage by reporting conditions, identifying riders needing assistance and supporting repair or providing rides for disabled riders. As the day closed, the SAGs were in high demand as the less able needed assistance to reach Ashburn or Reston. The communications network made coordination a "piece of cake."

Steve - KS1G reported, "I operated as one of the bike mobile stations."

"Equipment:

   -  Yaesu VX5 HT strapped to handlebars
   -  Pryme boom mike with PTT switch
   -  Coaxial dipole tye-wrapped to a bike flagpole
      making me easily spotable and probably the
      only bike on the century ride with one.
   -  Spare ht antenna strapped to frame, spare batteries in bike bag."

"5W was usually sufficient to get into the net or one of the base stations. However, there are some relatively dead areas, especially the southern and northern extremes of the route, where I might be able to hear only net control and the closest rest stop or SAG. Relays would have been sufficient but were not needed. If I was just covering a portion of the route less accessible to SAGs (say the W&OD between Dry Mill and Belmont Ridge Rd), I would be willing to carry more weight for a larger battery and run higher power."

"Adding GPS would be interesting but not sure how helpful it would be or if I want to carry the additional weight for a stand alone tracker and antenna; and the 500mW units might not have usable coverage. A Mic-E unit that sends location after voice transmissions would be easier, but would require a base station to decode the Mic-E data and insert it into the APRS network."

"Operationally, I feel a little guilty that I am helping (bike mobile) but not doing more than making one sweep of the course. I did offer to call SAG when I encountered someone with a problem, but was never asked to do so this year."

Overall, I thought the 2007 event came off quite well."

Grant Russell - KB3EMT, Bob Kennedy - KG4QXF and Chris Fristad - KT9N Discuss the Finer Points of Mobile Antennas

Net Control - K4LRG de NC4S

The Loudoun Amateur Radio Group operated its radio station - K4LRG from the fine business station and location of Gary Quinn's NC4S station on the hills northwest of Waterford. No one had trouble copying this station. NCS was up on the air at 6:30 AM and quickly brought up all stations onto the network. Manning the station and assisting Gary were Bill McCourt - WF1L, Boyd Garrett - N5CTI, and Dave Putman - KE4S. Dave also established his portable K4LRG-6 APRS station and digi repeater at this location. UI-View software allowed Dave to track everyone equipped with APRS stations.

Another APRS Digi-Repeater operated in Leesburg by Allon Stern - KE4FLY was very useful. .His home station is an MFJ-1270-B TNC-2 Modem with a UIDIGI EEPROM, an Alinco DR-150T transceiver with 20-watts output and feeding a Cushcraft Ringo AR-2 antenna on the roof. It's powered by a Astron SL-11A Power Supply..