10/19/2023

On October 8, 2023, more than 140 amateur radio operators from five Midwest
states assisted 2,000 volunteer medical personnel at the Bank of America
Chicago Marathon. This is the 15th consecutive year that amateur radio
operators have helped coordinate medical responses and arrange for medical
resupplies. About 49,000 runners entered this year's event.

The city-wide marathon uses six main repeater channels and deploys four
temporary repeaters. New this year was official use of the Automatic Packet
Reporting System (APRS) after organizers trialed the system at their other
events, including the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle and the Chicago 13.1.
APRS radios were deployed to amateur communication teams in Chicago's Grant
Park after the race was finished.

A total of 30 radio operators worked in various capacities before and after the
race. Also, there were 100 ham radio operators stationed at each of the 20
course medical tents and the medical hub. In Forward Command, 10 amateur radio
operators served as net controls, traffic handlers, logging specialists, and
expediters.

Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications has been nationally
recognized for its ability to fully integrate all the available resources, and
amateur radio operators have been publicly recognized by Federal Emergency
Management Agency observers for their performance during the event.

President of Ham Radio Chicago and former president of the North Shore Radio
Club Rob Orr, K9RST, President of the North Shore Radio Club said that amateur
radio has an important seat at the communications table. "Amateur radio is
important to the event. However, it is just one small component [of] a very
complex event that requires 20,000 volunteers to be successful. Amateur radio
has a unique role and works alongside the other many specialty service groups
required to support an event of this magnitude," he said. "This event has shown
that amateur radio is very much alive and doing well."

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