What I Need to Know

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Communications

Communication regarding Volunteers/Operators will continue to be done through this website and direct email. 

A detailed information packet will be provided to every marathon communicator by email and uploaded to the Documents section.

Volunteering

You may register here.  Please note, you may visit the Registration Confirmation section of this site to confirm your registration has been collected.  If you feel you have made an error, would like to make a change to your desired position or cannot make a shift, please be sure to contact the Volunteer Liaison to make the appropriate change.

More information about volunteering may be found on the Volunteering page.

Minors (Ages 14-18)

Persons of the age of 14 or older are welcome to shadow an adult radio operator.  However, all persons under the age of 18 must have a Volunteer Release Form submitted prior to the start of their shift.  Minor Release Form

Operational Guidelines and Training

Although all attempts are made to inform and provide knowledgeable guidance to amateurs supporting this event, it shall be the responsibility of the participants to seek out and understand the information that is available to them.  If they have further inquiries, they should not be hesitant to ask the persons listed in the contacts section of this site as well as "seasoned" participants.  The information presented on this website has been derived from many collective hours of the staff and by the liaison-ship between the leadership and the Marathon representatives.

Although there is no formal training for Marathon communicators, it is assumed that most participate in communication nets provided by area groups and radio clubs. Marathon communications will be conducted as controlled nets and detailed information will be provided in the document section of this site.

Safety

The safety of our operators is of utmost importance.

If the Incident Commander or his Deputy becomes aware of a situation that could potentially threaten the safety of any Amateur related operation, they will exercise their authority to suspend a specific activity at a moments notice and direct Operators to take appropriate actions to insure their safety.  The Incident Commander or his Deputy will notify the Festival Liaison that such action has or will be taking place.

Please remember that our primary reason for being at this event is to improve the safety for the runners and volunteers. Please be very observant of  your surroundings and runners while providing communications support.

If you have any situation such as runner safety/injury, crowd control or threatening actions, contact net control immediately using the pro words "Break - Break." to get net control's attention.

If a medical emergency occurs and you are not sure of the issue, call 911 and then notify net control.

The safety plan will be available in the Documents section.

Situations

The word "situation" should be used anytime an event that occurs that is outside the normal activity of the operation.  We are monitored by the public, news media and others.  Remain calm and think before you act or say.

The NCS shall be notified of any situation.  If this warrants a 911, please do so and then notify the NCS as soon as possible.  Be sure to document as much as you are able, the event that has occurred.  It is advisable that communications be moved to an alternate frequency for non-sensitive events.  Any sensitive discussions should be done in person or via cell phone. 

We will not discuss any information regarding the situation with anyone.  If it is warranted, the function leader, IC or Deputy IC will advise other operators as needed.

Non-Licensed Volunteer Policy 

It is our policy to be a participant in the amateur radio support function of the Dallas Marathon, require that you are a licensed radio operator. None of the positions that we occupy in the support of this event are conducive to a non-licensed individual. 

Exceptions to the policy: husband/wife recovery teams or parent/non-licensed ham teams. 

APRS

APRS Trackers are installed in most of the mobile elements utilized with the Marathon.  The ability to do this provides a means of tracking the location of key elements in the marathon as well as have a "real-time" view of the progress of the marathon. Besides that, it's actually pretty cool. 

Please visit the APRS page for more information.