Hams help Serve Our Willing Warriors (SOWW) 2024

By John Heartney, as told to “The Other Ken”, KN4DD

Willing Warriors is a privately-funded 501 (c)(3) charitable organization offering cost-free getaways from the hospital environment where Warriors and their families can come to relax, spend quality time together, and reconnect.  Their programs include more than 40+ cost-free educational and recreational activities, including seminars that address the issues of dealing with PTS and TBI.

The big SOWW fund raiser is their Annual Warrior Bike Ride. This event is based out of The Farm Brewery at Broad Run, where the event both begins & ends. Local hams (called spotters) provide communication across the race courses spanning Loudoun, Fairfax and Prince William counties.

Last Saturday, September 7th, was a beautiful day for a bike ride with a daily high of only 74° that afternoon. The morning ride was cooler, breezy and with no humidity. Additionally, the variable clouds all day kept the riders cool and in the shade as the day wore on.

The SOWW bike ride consists of four courses which run more or less concurrently.  The courses and the number of 2024 participants was as follows:

Metric ( 58 miles)
Half Metric ( 30 miles)
Gravel Route
13 Miler

We had a total of 320 riders on those 4 separate routes. The routes were each color coded, spray painted onto the streets at strategic intervals & every intersection. The riders were aided by the spotters and the Prince William County Police Department, who were stationed at key intersections. At the designated points the shorter rides were directed to loop back towards the start/stop point.

Due to the wide area and terrain, the entire course could not be served by one repeater. As he has done in previous years, Ken, KE2N, devised method of linking the OVH 146.970 repeater to the Bluemont 147.300 repeater. Ken and Jason, N3JLT, trustee of the Bluemont repeater, worked together and made their repeaters available to SOWW.

At the end of the event, the hams were released when all returning bikers had passed by their (the spotter’s) station. Our spotters returned the event signs and cones back the  brewery. Most hams got a nice lunch and a beer and a t-shirt, but not everyone. Unfortunately, they had run out of t-shirts and both the volunteer tent and the lunch table had closed early, before all of the spotters had returned.

I can share with you some of the numbers I have:

Amount raised: $95,588 which will fund 38 Warrior family stays at the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run

Number of riders: 320 riders on four separate routes

Number of volunteers:  Over 165 volunteers

Manpower hours for the event: over 1,400 hours

NextPoint Group as agreed to be the presenting sponsor for next year’s event to be held on September 6, 2025.

 

We would like to recognize the ham radio operators working the event along with their positions:

Chip             NN4U          Romeo 1

Greg            KM4CCG     Romeo 2

Tom             W4PIO         Romeo 3

Duane          KK4BZ         Romeo 4

Chris            KN4IJF        Romeo 5

John             KG4NXT      Romeo 6

Jeremiah     K4HCO        Romeo 7

Scott            KQ4EOL      Romeo 8

David           KG4GIY       Romeo 9

George        K4GVT         Romeo 10

David           KK4ZUU      Romeo 11

Erik              K4SOK        Romeo 12

Chris            W3CUM      Romeo 13

Rob              KJ4LWN      Romeo 14

Bruce           KN4TS         Romeo 15

Dianne         KI4FVV        Net Control

Andy            KJ4MPT      Shadow

Mike             KO4BCN     Evergreen Rest stop

Brian            WC4J          Aldie Rest Stop

Patsy           W4SFT        Middleburg Rest Stop

Lori              KC0EWN     Airmont Rest Stop

And last, but certainly not least, our guest operator Frank Smith, KT4LN.
Frank was our Chief of EMTs – operating both at the Base and in the field.

 

Once again, another big tip of the hat to Andy, KJ4MTP, for organizing and running the whole ham show.

Additional thanks to Ken, KE2N, and Jason, N3JLT, for setting up the temporary links between the OVH and Bluemont repeaters and then standing by in case we needed maintenance. We have offered Jason space at our Mt. Pone location. It is my hope that next year, we will not be setting up temporary links, but using permanent ones.

Finally, thank you to everyone, and I hope to see you back here next year, September 6th, 2025.

 

NET CONTROL SETUP

 

KC0EWN, LORI, AIRMONT REST STOP

 

K4HCO, JEREMIAH, ROMEO 7

 

SCOUT AND MOM AND GEORGE, K4GVT

 

GEORGE, K4GVT, ROMEO 10

 

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