Author: Mark Lidikay

Special Olympics Fall Games

Supporting over 5,000 participants, the Southern California Special Olympics relies on effective communication and dedicated volunteers to ensure a successful, safe event.

Special Olympics Summer Games
Special Olympics Southern California 2018 Summer Games – Day One – June 9, 2018

We have been proudly supporting and assisting with Southern California Special Olympics for many years, showcasing our commitment to this incredible organization and its inspiring athletes. Over the years, our involvement has grown to encompass a variety of crucial roles, with a particular focus on facilitating effective communications throughout the entire event. Given that the event attracts over 5,000 participants, volunteers, spectators, and staff from various locations, ensuring clear, reliable, and timely communication can be quite a challenge — but it’s an absolutely vital part of the event’s success. Whether it’s coordinating transportation, managing supplies, maintaining safety protocols, or simply keeping everyone informed, our team plays a key part in making sure everything runs smoothly from start to finish. Our typical responsibilities include managing and disseminating essential messages related to supplies—such as food, medical equipment, and athletic gear—to the appropriate teams and locations. We also coordinate with volunteers and staff to optimize organizational flow, ensuring that communication lines remain open and effective amid the hustle and bustle of the festivities. Beyond these logistical roles, we are always prepared to respond swiftly in case of emergencies, whether it’s a medical concern, weather-related issue, or any other unexpected incident. Our ability to rapidly relay critical information can make all the difference in safeguarding the health and well-being of everyone involved. In addition to our operational support during the event, I have personally used the Southern California Special Olympics as a valuable training ground for radio operators for quite some time. It provides an excellent environment for practical, real-world experience that is both challenging and rewarding. Training radio operators in such a dynamic, large-scale setting helps them develop skills in quick decision-making, effective communication, and problem-solving under pressure. It’s a wonderful opportunity for aspiring communication professionals to hone their abilities in a high-stakes environment, all while contributing meaningfully to an organization that promotes inclusivity, athletic achievement, and community spirit. Overall, our ongoing partnership with Southern California Special Olympics not only enhances the event’s success but also helps foster a sense of community, teamwork, and support that extends far beyond the event itself.

I first got involved in the 1990s. Henry WA6RJA was recruiting volunteers, so I decided to join. We would arrive early, and since I was new, I was assigned to a less active area. One morning, feeling a bit drowsy, I was leaning against a post when someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind. Startled, I turned around to see an athlete with a broad, radiant smile. She had just won a gold medal and was eager to share her excitement with everyone, whether they knew her or not. That moment truly captivated me, and I’ve been hooked ever since. While I may often play a background role rather than being at the center of attention, I take immense satisfaction in being one of the people who help make these events memorable for the athletes.

Location: 16400 Brookhurst St, Fountain Valley

Fountain Valley Location

The scheduled event will take place from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM on November 15 and 16, 2025. For amateur radio operators, the designated frequency is 146.235 MHz with a +100 CTCSS tone. The repeater is online just before the event—feel free to test it if you’re within range. For non-hams attending, we will have LTR radios available for your use. Lunch will be provided to all participants. For people not experienced with radio, we will teach you.

If you are available 1 day, 2 days or even a partial day we need help. Contact Us.

Is amateur radio still relevant?

This question gets asked a lot anymore. People present new technology and internet as reasons that ham radio would no longer be useful.”Don’t be too proud of this technological terror you’ve constructed”. People can communicate world wide, except for the countries that filter traffic. With modern phones, communications are always there, except when it doesn’t work. Modern communications technology has it’s uses, but the reality is that it requires a massive infrastructure and thousands of people to make it work. It is also designed around commercial viability. The grid is constructed to supply typical usage, but peaks caused by an unusual event can over load it. This is something I have seen happen on small earthquakes, fires, and even sporting events. Protocols are in place to try and limit human error, but it still happens. There was a day that a software update took out the entire Verizon system in Los Angeles, which resulted in trouble with all the other providers as the load shifted to their systems.

For many people, much of the time, an interruption of service is an inconvenience. In an emergency, it may mean not being able to get help. To someone with a medical condition it can be life threatening.

Emergency Net.

Years ago, there was a phone outage on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. That was not an uncommon occurrence. This time a man’s wife collapsed, she was unconscious on the floor. He was a ham though grabbed his radio and made a call. I was monitoring outside the outage area. I was able to take his information and use the phone to get paramedics dispatched. This is one of many emergency messages that I have relayed as well as being involved with fires, protests, search and rescue, crime scene containment’s, and even 9/11. Sometimes it is just the stranded motorist in a cell phone dead zone.

More recently my daughter (KJ6HRW) and I were in the forest. We came across a pickup truck at a recreation area with a child locked in. He was crying and screaming for his mommy. We looked around for anybody that might belong to that truck. Not finding anyone I used my PA (loud enough to echo of the canyon walls) but still no response from anyone. Several repeaters had nobody answer. I finally got an answer on one, but the person had no idea where the San Gabriel river was, let alone the west fork. I found out later he was in New Jersey and had answered on an internet link. He was trying to be helpful. I finally had to resort to driving to a ranger station to report the problem. Unfortunately this also is not an isolated incident and has been more prevalent in recent years that when I am out on the edge, off the grid, there is nobody able or willing to answer the call.

Most recently we have a series of storms in Southern California. There has been rain and flooding. The mountain roads are closed because of snow as low as 1200 feet. People are stranded in the mountains. There have been sink and flash floods. Because of my job (https://mra-raycom.com) I monitor parts of the public infrastructure and have seen Internet, power and cell phones going off and on in various areas around Southern California. So I went to the emergency frequencies to see what what might be going on, no answer. I started scanning, no activity. Posted to the Internet, nobody knows of a net going on. I switched to HF (40 meter) and found a station 140 miles away, just chatting. Now with my experiences, I start think of the person that could be sitting out there off the grid, with nobody to answer the call.

I would like to do something about this. Now there are those today who, rather aggressively say “ham radio is just a hobby”. It may be for them, but here is an excerpt from part 97.

§ 97.1 Basis and purpose.

The rules and regulations in this part are designed to provide an amateur radio service having a fundamental purpose as expressed in the following principles:

(a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.

There are many people now that just assume somebody else will take care of a problem. They watch on the news, or change to the game. They drive by on the road assuming somebody else will stop. We also have a number of emergency groups which actively discourage members from doing anything. That is probably due to agency concerns over liability. I am a believer in public service (Wimachtendienk Wingolauchsik Witahemui) though. I am the one who stops and helps. However, for those that are self serving, we have been granted the use of a lot of frequency space, though we are a minority. There are people that want that spectrum. If amateur radio becomes only a plaything for a few, then what will you say to congress when they want to reallocate the space to someone who will pay more?

There are also those who say there is nothing we can do, but in my story above that is not true. We can relay message in and out of communications dead zones. Most communications systems now are based on infrastructure which can be, and is routinely damaged. It takes people with an understanding of it to bypass the gaps and improvise.

What can we do? We don’t need to wait for a phone call (they may not be working) or permission to go on the air. We are already licensed to do so. My group has a repeater with backup power, plus a backup repeater on a different mountain top. The footprint is the Los Angeles basin, down the coast towards San Diego and up towards Santa Barbara. We reach in to parts of Riverside and San Bernardino. I have training courses for those that are less experienced or unsure of what they should do (emergency training is not part of the license). What you can add:

  1. Listen. If someone needs assistance that you can provide, help out. That may be relaying a message from the radio to the phone or email.
  2. Provide information. This could road conditions, damage reports, etc.
  3. Provide contacts. Do you have the means to relay information that we collect to emergency responders or management agencies?
  4. Help expand coverage. Do you have HF, perhaps NVIS ability? Maybe a repeater on the edge of our footprint that could be linked?
  5. Want to become a ham? Soon I will be putting together a class. Maybe you are interested in radio or electronics. Maybe you are interested in Emergency prep. Maybe you just want someone to chat with on a long freeway drive.
  6. Get other people to help. The more people in a net, the more info we have and the more connection points.
  7. If an incident happens, get on the air.
  8. Bring other people to the net

If you want to help, send me a contact. We will go from there. We may be able to help you, or you may be able to help us. You can be new or experienced, HT, mobile or base station.

What a repeater looks like

Repeaters are often a mystery. Strange mythical boxes on a mountain somewhere that echo your voice over larger distances. Recently there have been a number of posts from hams wanting to use cheap HTs linked together with a VOX circuit to make a repeater. There is really more to them than that, and good reasons for the additional equipment that really shouldn’t be ignored.

There can be a lot of variations in what a repeater looks like, depending on what models are used. This photo is fairly typical.

At the top is the power supply. It is 100 percent duty cycle so that heavy use does not burn something out that would be a project to replace on a mountain top.

Next is the repeater itself. This one has cards for the receiver, transmitter and the control logic. Also common would be two good quality radios interfaced to a controller. The quality of the radios is important since repeaters are usually up where they have a view over a wide area, which also means that the receiver will get hit will signals from a wide area that they must reject. The receiver must also be able to reject the signals from adjacent repeaters which may be putting out very strong signals. The transmitter should also operate clean so as not to interfere with people in the view.

Not seen in the picture is a circulator which serves two purposes. First is to protect the transmitter from reflected power if something should go wrong with the antenna. The environment on a mountain top can be quite rough on equipment. Below is a dish that came off of Heaps Peak. Second is to keep other signals from going up the line in to the transmitter finals and causing mixes.

Down at the bottom are the cavities, 2 meter is this case. They are tuned to the transmit, or the receive frequency to keep the transmitter for interfering with the receiver allowing the repeater to operate full duplex. They also help reject other signals outside the intended operating frequency. On the left is the spectrum analyzer used to tune the cavities. To the right are the cavities for a 220 repeater.

There is also lightning protection and grounding to protect it from the inevitable strikes. The controller is responsible for the ID, optional features, and remote shutdown in case something goes wrong.

This is a basic ham repeater. There is not much that is non essential in it, so this is something to think about when someone is tempted to cut corners. Commercial systems are often more complex that this, using LTR Trunking, or Digital Trunking to provide additional features and to better utilize the frequencies.

Open Net

While Amateur Radio operators don’t have a mission yet, and hopefully won’t, we have decided to run an open informal net for purposes of exchanging information and responding to emergency situations should they occur. Control operators will be monitoring as their schedule allows and we encourage other operators to do the same. There is not a need to re-transmit information from the news or internet, especially as we don’t have the ability to validate them anyhow. First hand information or observations could be useful though and much appreciated.

The foot print of our repeater covers much of the Los Angeles basin and down the coast to the south. The frequency is 146.235 + 127.3