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38 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | NOVEMBER 2015 Amateur Radio Club All of us are influenced by stereotypes. We are, in essence, prisoners of our perspective. Some people believe ham radio operators are 'nerdy' folks somewhat uninvolved with issues and activities around them. This couldn't be farther from the truth, as a few examples below will show. From the east coast to the west coast, ham radio operators participate in road races for runners and bicycle races. Just this past July fourth holiday, over 50 ham radio operators in the Atlanta, Georgia area volunteered to monitor the safe actions of 60,000 runners taking part in the annual Peachtree Road Race which was attended by over 200,000 spectators. The ham radio operators proved critical to have on hand as Atlanta was hit by a long line of severe and dangerous thunderstorms just as the race got underway. The ham radio operators relayed critical information from race officials to various race marshals that helped insure the safety of the runners. Every spring, the organizers of the Redlands Bicycle Classic event call on our local San Gorgonio Pass Amateur Radio Club to help out by having volunteer ham radio operators stationed at various places along the long and circuitous bicycle race route to provide emergency communications for added safety. Ham radio operators support emergency operations as well. Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers in Butte County, California responded on July 29 of this year to a Red Cross request to support communications at an evacuation shelter in Oroville during the Swedes Fire, which burned over 400 acres. The ham radio operators were on site within an hour of being called. The late Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, K7UGA, was a long time ham radio operator. Senator Goldwater used his ham radio station and massive antenna system at his Arizona residence in the late 1960s and 1970s to complete thousands of phone patch messages, without charge, so that military troops in the Vietnam War could call home. I was a recipient of his generosity while I was stationed at Tuy Hoa Air Base in Vietnam from October 1970 to October 1971. After scheduling an appointment with our base's Military Affiliate Radio Station (MARS), I was able to call home, through Senator Goldwater's ham radio station, to the state of Virginia and speak with my new bride Cynthia, which was a terrific morale booster. ~ Fred Weck, KK6HBQ