Top Row: Jim Johnson, Jerry Hughes, Patrick Hughes, Bruce Fuehr, Glen Lees
This past Saturday the Smith County Amateur Radio Club in combination with the Upper Cumberland
Amateur Radio Club had the opportunity to assist with the Run 4 Don event in Gainsboro. The event is
held honoring Donald Chaffin as we run and walk to raise money to benefit students in their pursuit of a
Christian education and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research in hopes of finding a cure for Lou
Gehrig’s disease. At the invitation of Smith County attorney Jeremy Hassler, the president for the event,
the Smith County ARES group established positions through out the 15K and 5K race route as safety
check points for runners. This was both an exercise for the group in collaboration with other groups as
well as the testing and utilization of the amateur radio (a.k.a. HAM) ability to communicate without the
need for existing infrastructure such as cellular or fixed radio repeaters being in place. The group
established its primary point of communication, known as net operations, and the ten-member team
performed race updates as well as reporting on one hazard during the race. It would seem that a bicycle
group was using the same route as part of the race and posed a hazard to some younger runners as they
did not yield to the pedestrians.
The race organizers in addition to the local police expressed their gratitude to the group for its assurance
of the runners’ safety as well as the expression of thanks by many of the runners for the members being
there for them.
The Smith County Amateur Radio Club is comprised of licensed amateur radio operators who have a
desire to assist the public when opportunity is presented as well as in times of emergencies. The Smith
County Amateur Radio Club, which holds it meeting each 3rd Monday of the month at the Smith County
Chamber of Commerce building at 6:00pm is a great way to start learning about amateur radio and
becoming licensed. Additional information can be found on their Facebook page or in this paper.
