The Philip B. Petersen Collection Broadcast March 27, 1990

     The public is well aware that radio amateurs use their equipment to provide communications in many kinds of local and national emergencies such as in hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and explosions.  But do you also know that radio amateurs in communities all over the country furnish radio communications for all kinds of charity and sporting events?  These public service events consist of CROP Walks to raise funds to help alleviate world hunger, national golf tournaments that support both local and national charities, auto rallies, boat and bicycle marathons to name a few.
     In small local communities, usually ten to twenty radio amateurs can furnish all of the radio communications needed for these events.  But in large metropolitan cities much more complex radio communication must be planned for and set up by radio amateurs.  For instance, the first New York City Marathon that ran through all five boroughs was held in 1976 and had 2,090 runners.  Only 30 radio amateurs provided all the communications.  By 1989, over 23,000 runners from all over the United States and 91 foreign countries were in the twenty-six mile marathon that started in Staten Island and finished in Central Park, Manhattan.
     A marathon of this magnitude requires considerable planning.  To give some idea of the size, these are just a few of the many logistics used: 34,610 T-shirts; 30 medical stations, each staffed with doctors and nurses; 1,735 blankets; 1,260 stretchers; 500 portable toilets; 214 buses; 36 computer terminals; 38,500 candy bars and 1,250,000 paper cups.  There are 7,500 race day volunteers.
     Steve Mendelsohn, WA2DHF, of Dumont, New Jersey organized 320 radio amateurs who came from Connecticut, New Jersey and New York.  They set up four networks for medical emergencies, logistic supplies, runner dropouts, transportation and a radio net using computers developed by radio amateurs called packet radio.
     Gus Kuzenitza, WA2PAC, of Middletown, New Jersey for many years has worked on the medical net reporting emergencies and dropouts.  Thousands of messages were sent from early morning until evening when the last cleanup operations were finished.  The radio amateurs returned home knowing that they had played a key role in the successful operation of the New York City Marathon.

March 27, 1990

** Broadcasts recordings preserved and presented here by Mr. Robert Buss and Mr. Bernie Ricciardi, Phil's friends and fellow Marconi Chapter 138 QCWA members **

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