Ham Radio Drama at the AT-100
I don't know what happened to K5WRS, William R Sanders of Paron Arkansas, last Saturday night. Maybe it was the hoards of runners invading the normally serene woods just a few miles west of his house at the Lake Winona volunteer aid station, for which he had agreed to provide communications support. We don't know why he snapped; maybe his dog had died, or his blood sugar got low like my own father who sometimes didn't eat soon enough along with his life-saving insulin. Maybe he's dealing with extreme life pressures like watching loved ones succumb to their inevitable decline and the hopelessness and helplessness that comes with it.
Whatever it was, he snapped. He was at a service event, as the repeater reminded us of every few minutes with robotic announcements. We were there, voluntarily and without compensation, as a service in support of people who chase the dream of running 100 continuous miles through the woods in under 30 hours.
Friends, I do not share this dream. In fact, I wince at the thought that many of these people push themselves well beyond their physical capabilities and end up injured, but they're going to do it with or without my personal approval and if I can help keep runners on the course, or call for help in an area without cell coverage, then sign me up.
K5WRS, William R Sanders of Paron Arkansas, along with his amateur radio licensed wife, also had signed up. The first time I knew something was wrong was when K5WRS started accusing Net Control of incompetence for losing a runner headed for his station. The runner was hours late, and likely injured or unable to finish the race.
Net Control is the radio station that coordinates communications between aid station radio operators and the race director. The race director in turn coordinates with shuttle vehicles over the 100 mile course consisting of forest service roads, jeep trials, and single-track trails only accessible by foot. It is a huge undertaking, and ham radio operators and aid station volunteers are the eyes and ears of the operation. A woman operator at Net Control tried to patiently explain that they could not know any more than him where the missing runner was, and that all actions that could be taken at the time were being taken.
This I think was the tipping point for K5WRS, William R Sanders of Paron Arkansas who had somehow mistakenly come to believe that he was the main character at this event. He told the world that he had been promised a break in the time that the last runner passed his station on the way to the turnaround and before the first runner made it back, and he had missed his nap due to the missing runner, and he was MAD. The Hash House Harriers, a drinking club with a running problem, asked me "is this guy one of y'all?" due to the wildly uncharacteristic radio traffic. When a man from Net Control apologized for not being able to physically help further, he said he wasn't mad at him but at some FEMALE that had been less accommodating than what he deserved.
Friends, when a man uses FEMALE as a term to dehumanize a woman doing her level best, I usually stop listening. But this time I couldn't, as K5WRS, William R Sanders of Paron Arkansas, wouldn't stop transmitting. To his credit, he stayed until the lost runner was found, but something snapped.
Hit dogs holler, and we don't know who hit K5WRS, William R Sanders of Paron Arkansas, or why he spewed vitriol and bile on a repeater covering all of central Arkansas being used for a volunteer service event. We don't know why he packed up with his co-operator and left halfway through the race, leaving a crewed aid station without communication support that many runners, due to fatigue or injury, would call the end of their race. We don't know why he would call the other volunteers incompetent and worse, when he clearly had forgotten that service, resilience, and dedication are the backbone of an event like this. We don't know why he would announce his and his wife's shameful defection multiple times before, during and after leaving for their home just minutes away.
We thanked him for his service, and remain thankful that K5WRS, William R Sanders of Paron Arkansas ceased transmitting after being told that he was now interfering with a directed net and to get off the frequency.
I've been participating in events like this for a decade, and have never witnessed the auxiliary frequency being used to hurriedly find someone able to travel the dark jeep roads to an abandoned station to do the work of two disgraceful rage-quitters, but it happened due to the extraordinary preparedness and dedication of the other operators at the event. We prepare for things to go wrong, even if caused by one of our own.
We don't know what caused K5WRS, William R Sanders of Paron Arkansas to snap that Saturday night, but we hope that time and distance heal his wounds, and spare us from his future endeavors.
P.S. There are no better people in this entire world than enthusiastic jeep-owning Hash House Harriers aid station workers. You guys totally rock.
--moist