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

The Reston Town Center is the premier communications operating position for the Reston Century. Granted it opens first and closes last. That makes for a very long day but the food, drink, and overall ambiance is unsurpassed for a bicycle ride. Rick Miller - AI1V, Jeff Slusher - KE5APC, Doug Johnson - KJ4BRN, and Steve Tedesco - KB2CEV manned this site. They had VHF and UHF comm's plus APRS operations. The Reston station operated primarily on UHF Hand-Held Transceivers through a cross band repeater. The cross band repeater in Reston utilizes 445.925 MHz with a sub audible tone of 100 Hz for the uplink in Reston to the simplex 147.480 net frequency. The sub audible tone was used to reduce interference from all the stuff in the Reston area. A net secondary frequency on 443.00 MHz with sub audible tone of 88.5 Hz was designated but not used. This was the N2LEE repeater.

Well, Ashburn is a nice site with plenty of scenery and activity. Jay Ives - KI4TXP, Eugene May - WB8WKU, Z Tyrlik - KU1T, Anna Tyrlik - , KJ4EOS, and Dave Tucker - KJ4BRU set up and operated the Ashburn Communications Site. A pair of dismounted VHF/UHF mobile units had everything covered. Riders arrive here very early and stop here very late on the way back from western Loudoun. Everyone left up on the network wants to know when the last rider has cleared Ashburn. Most of the SAG-assisted riders stalled in northern and western Loudoun want to go to Ashburn where they refresh and ride into Reston as if nothing happened.

On any given Century, Hamilton is a nice place to be. It's quiet in the morning then everyone shows up and by mid-morning half of those who elect to ride throughout Loudoun are there and chowing down. It's a great rest area and many hang around for up to an hour before moving on.

SAG operations are invaluable. Stuff happens out there and the SAGs go into acton. Someone may need a new tire or a chain fixed. Others can't go on and need a ride. And, sometimes, someone takes a spill and first aid is needed. So the SAGs ride the routes offering assistance. At the end of the day, they ride all routes to make sure all riders have closed on Reston. Often, at the end of the day, SAGs transport folks into Ashburn or Reston. All this action is coordinated on the VHF network with Net Control providing relays, and advice and direction. Sometimes riders try to use their cell phones but eventually the radios reach the SAGs.

Four SAGs were deployed along the Century routes. SAG-1 was Ann West of the Reston Bicycle Club with Dave Wendland - KE4OKY as Shotgun. SAG-2 was John Shea of the Reston Bicycle Club with Kurt Reber - KI4FWB as Shotgun. SAG-3 was Valentino Frate of the Reston Bicycle Club with Greg Drew - N3MXX as Shotgun. SAG-4 was Carlos Chapa of the Reston Bicycle Club with Ken Sullivan - KJ4GYL as Shotgun.

Finally, a Loudoun Amateur Radio Group member, Steve Greene - KS1G, rode the route on his bicycle. Steve's was equipped with an APRS unit and could be tracked on most routes. .

Well we have no photographs of Net Control this year but it did operate from Gary Quinn - NC4S's fine station northwest of Waterford. It had command of the entire area and could be heard by everyone on the VHF network. If anyone knew where everyone was then it was the gang at K4LRG. Gary was assisted by Bill Buchholz - K8SYH, Bill McCourt - WF1L, Dennis Boehler - KF4TJI, Carol Boehler - KF4TJJ and Dave Putman - KE4S. K4LRG at NC4S was up on the net at 0615 hours and didn't turn control over to Ashburn and Reston Town Center until very late in the day when it had been confirmed by SAGs that the route were clear of riders.

Well, as you can see above it was a fine day for a ride across Loudoun. It was sorta calm on the routes and most all finished in fine style. It was nice riding with you all. Hope to see you all next year. Best Regards, Norm Styer - AI2C.