A ham radio walkie talkie can make a difference if you are lost or injured on trails in our local mountains - it did for one hiker, see the story. Ham radios have much much better coverage than license free FRS walkie talkies and can operate through mountain top repeaters - Ive talked from Catalina to Arcadia while doing the Avalon 50. Cell phones do not work in much of the mountains or immediately after earthquakes and other disasters - ham radio is the first line of emergency communications.

If race sweeps have a ham walkie talkie, they can immediately summon help rather than wait until the word gets to the next aid station. Runners can also radio ahead before they reach their crew to tell them exactly what to have ready and waste less time in the aid stations. Ham radio clubs often provide race communications at trail race aid stations. If you are entered into an event, you can find their set up at the start line and ask them what frequency to set into your walkie talkie.

If you are lost, snake bit, injured, etc., while on a training run in our local mountains, a call on your ham walkie talkie will get help comiing right away. If working an aid station, you as a runner and a ham can best communicate the needs of that aid station to the event organization than a non-runner ham - We could have used you at the Mt. Disappointment Clear Creek aid station this year.

I most always have my Kenwood TH-F6A walkie talkie clipped on my belt pack or Camelback when I do a trail run or bike - it only weights about 1/2 pound and the batteries last over 8 hours on a charge. This HT transmits on two of the most popular VHF and UHF ham bands with the highest number of mountain top repeaters and links- 2 meters and 70cm as well as the 220 MHz band - many hundreds of channels to choose from. But best of all, it has two receivers in it that cover from AM broadcast, FM broadcast, aircraft, marine, weather, police, fire, FRS, all the way to 1300 MHz and with 435 programable memory channels - perfect for emergencies. Cost is about $319 at Ham Radio Outlet in Burbank and I can help you set it up and show you how to operate it. Maria Vangilder, Bob Spears, Roger Brown and Gary Hilliard also have this HT. There are lower cost single band ham HT's available in the $100-$200 area, but this one radio will give you just about everything you will ever need.

License Classes and Testing - Click here to find out where you can take a class and Click here for the FCC test in the Los Angeles area. The Gordon West Radio School has an extensive weekend license class in Orange County. There is a local 2 day class in Eagle Rock coming up October 9-10, 2010 with the FCC test for the No Code Technician Class Amateur Radio license. There are 35 multiple choice questions of which you can miss no more than 7 to pass. There are over 300 in the question pool. The class goes from 9AM to 5PM saturday and 9AM to 3PM sunday with the test at the end. The class will go through all the possible questions and answers to pass the test. Cost is $50. Location is the Eagle Rock City Hall, 2035 Colorado Blvd, LA CA 90041. Contact the instructor Ken Chafin, W6CPA at 818-957-1699 or email w6cpa at arrl.net if you have questions.

You can also take practice exams on the web - Select the 35 question Technician exam. You can also download all the FCC pool of exam questions. There are some good web sites that explain What Is Ham Radio and how to pass the FCC Exam.

A ham license is good for 10 years and is renewable on line at no cost or retest.

Licensed Hams and their FCC assigned call letters in the Foothill Flyers:

Tom O'Hara, W6ORG	Mary Ann O'Hara, WB6YSS	Maria Vangilder, KG6REG
Bob Spears, KI6DAF	Sharon Spinnler, KF6OQO	Bill Dickey, KC6EQP
Gary Hilliard, KI6OJB	Roger Brown, W6IQV	Maury Whitaker, KI6TQD
Richard Besocke, KI6ZKM	Dan Stein, KE6OOF

Tom O'Hara, W6ORG, and his HT picking up the rear at the Hi Desert 30K/50K trail race in Ridgecrest. Contact was kept with the finish line and aid stations just in case there were any runners in trouble inbetween them. Mary Ann O'Hara, WB6YSS, checked on him from time to time too with her ham radio.

Maria Vangilder, KG6REG, and Sharon Spinnler, KF6OQO, radioing in the runner check out times to the finish line from the clubs Shortcut aid station at mile 40 of the Mt. Disappointment 50 Mile trail race.

Two way live video and audio between the Chantry Flat and Newcomb AC100 aid stations via ham radio was originally set up for better medical evaluation of runners at the remote Newcomb aid station, but later crew and friends enjoy seeing and encouraging their runner as they wait for them at Chantry.