Archives for May 2025

Amateur radio’s critical role in supporting the Boston Marathon

Speaker: Matt Lacy, NQ2U – Middleburgh, NY

Abstract:
Matt will discuss his participation in the Boston Marathon and the role amateur radio plays in the safety and security of the race. He has been volunteering for the Marathon for the past three years and has been stationed on-course to provide one of the mile-by-mile links to the course-wide Net Control Operations Center (NCOC). Recently, he was invited back to NCOC to assist the strike team once the event was complete.

Nearly 300 amateur radio operators perform functions at the start and finish lines, as well as on the course at each hydration station and medical tent and the sweep/sag buses that shuttle runners dropping out of the race back to Boston to be reunited with families. Depending on the day and weather conditions, both hypothermia and hyperthermia can be serious cases in runners if left unchecked for too long. Urgent EMS requests are normally handled through the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) public safety channels, but as capacity allows, amateur radio can take some of the burden, especially when more direct routes are busy.

The framework provided by the amateur radio network proved invaluable during the aftermath of the attack on the 2013 Boston Marathon, where emergency communications was able to be routed in areas in blackout from traditional radio, phone, or internet service. To prevent potential remote detonation of additional devices, the entire communications infrastructure was disabled in the city of Boston, with hams providing primary communications through off-site repeaters not directly in the “danger zone.” The work of radio operators along the length of the course saved many lives that day.

About our speaker:
Matt was originally introduced into the hobby as a Scout on a camping trip to the US Merchant Marine Academy. The demonstration of radio captivated a number of scouts, if for nothing more than the shade provided by their canopy on a hot summer day. At the time, there was still a requirement to pass a CW test, and his teenage brain had all it could do to remember his regular schooling, let alone learn another language. So into the back of his mind it went, and he went along his way.

Matt later worked for the Scouts in offices in Haverhill MA and Albany, Utica, and Syracuse NY and in each office interfaced in some way with ham radio. The constant reminders of ham radio prompted him to get his license in November of 2019. One of the first things that he did was to reach out to the people who he knew from that Scout Camp display to let them know he was licensed. He then reached out to his friends from Massachusetts who kept urging him to volunteer for the Marathon. His only regret is not having done it sooner.

He now has an extra class license, and is heavily involved with his own county club (the Schoharie County Amateur Radio Association) as its treasurer, in emergency communications as an Assistant Emergency Coordinator, an Official Emergency Station, and the Deputy RACES Radio Officer for Schoharie County. He also serves as the Affiliated Club Coordinator for the Northern New York Section of the ARRL.

Matt’s current job is as a Program Coordinator for the Northeastern Regional Information Center Financial Services team of the Capital Region BOCES, supporting technical needs of school district business offices throughout New York State. He currently lives in Middleburgh, but with his job and other hobbies (not to mention amateur radio) he travels all over the northeast.

Note: The meeting location is 309 Alplaus Ave, Alplaus, NY, and the building is at the corner of Alplaus Avenue and Bruce Drive. Please park in the paved lot adjacent to this building. Do not park in the restricted area in front of the building that houses the fire trucks. We will meet in the Multipurpose Room (entrance is on the North side of this building).