Barns and Blooms Half Marathon 2026

I was net control for this year's Barns and Blooms race. There was a light rain throughout most of the race so I pulled my van up to the start line and worked from there, which kept me warm and dry. Repeater access from this race is sometimes a bit spotty, but using an HT with a mag-mounted TWAYRDIO RH 660S worked well. When I swapped the roof mounted antenna for a regular HT antenna to go walking (those donuts weren't going to eat themselves) I noticed a marked drop in audio quality.

Here is the post-race summary I sent out to participants:

Thank you to everyone who helped out in today's Barns and Blooms Half Marathon! We could have asked for better weather but it was otherwise an uneventful race. We had two runners drop out around checkpoint 1 and walk back; there were no other dropouts or other incidents reported. The race started on the dot at 8:00AM; the final runner crossed the finish line at 11:12AM.

Thanks to Peter AB1PL for handling two checkpoints today!

This race can sometimes be challenging from a communication perspective. The pre-race information indicated that a mobile radio and antenna would be necessary; I suspect a standard HT with a raised antenna (car top, or on a mast) may also have helped. I was working the race with an HT connected to a mag mount antenna on top of my van; I noticed a distinct drop in quality when I switched to a regular HT antenna when I needed to leave the van.

I'd like to remind everyone that when communicating with net control during a race, you should identify with your tactical callsign. For example, if I was working checkpoint 1 and needed to call net control, I would say:

Checkpoint 1 to Net control

I would not say:

Checkpoint 1, N1LKS, to Net control

Close your conversation with your FCC callsign to meet identification requirements. A simple conversation might look like this:

CP1: Checkpoint 1 to net control
NC:  Net control answering checkpoint 1
CP1: Two runners have dropped out of the race and are walking back
     to the start line. N1LKS clear.
NC:  Net control confirms two runners have dropped out of the race at
     checkpoint 1. N0CAL clear.

We're currently in need of two additional checkpoint volunteers for our next race, the Twin Lobster on June 7. If you are able to help out, please email races@caara.net. If you know someone else who would like to get involved in amateur radio public service, please point them at the race support website, https://sites.google.com/view/caararaces.