One of the most important roles in the operation of the El Tour happens behind the scenes.
In fact, it is so out of the way in the Armory Senior Center, it shared a room with the folded up Tucson Table Tennis Club’s ping-pong tables.
Communications director Cary Fishman sat at a small table barely big enough to hold the ham radio, the maps and spreadsheets with all his information on the ham radio operators at the aid stations, his thermos of coffee.
It’s not easy to keep up: The 17 aid stations are broken into four sectors. One or two ham radio operators sat at each station.
“It’s a complicated operation,” said Fishman. “So far everything is good. No injuries, but later in the afternoon we get the bikers who bit off more than they could chew—whether it is 106 miles or 75 miles. They ask for the SAG wagon for a ride back.”
And, exactly what is QRT?
“This came from morse code,” he said. “It is the shorthand that ham operators use. QRT means shutting radio off.”
The ham operators working the El Tour were volunteering because that’s what they do…public service.
