JDRF Ride to Cure 
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Rides to Cure raise money for research into the causes and treatment of Type 1 diabetes, and bring people affected by this disease together to celebrate our search for a cure. 
Hats off to all of the participants! The 2010 JDRF Ride to Cure Diabetes in La Crosse, WI was a huge success! 250 riders from across the country raised more than $600,000 for JDRF! Congrats to all the riders! The JDRF 2010 Ride season has officially raised more than 2.5 million dollars to date! Who else thinks that is pretty incredible? Our Riders are pretty amazing! 
Saturday August 14th Mike N0EXE along with MVARA members John W9RPM, Eric K9ELN, Craig N9ETD and Terry KB9YXV provided radio communications in support vehicles for a one hundred mile bike ride that started in La Crosse, WI and crosses three states, two bridges and one mighty river to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  The JDRF Ride roundtrip started and finished at Riverside Park in Downtown La Crosse. The course continued over the Cass St. Bridge to La Crescent, MN then south on Hwy 16 turning south on Hwy 26 to Wildcat Landing near Brownsville, MN where the first rest area was located. From Wildcat the course continued south on Hwy 26 through Reno, MN to New Albin, IA where the second rest area was setup. Continuing south on Hwy 26 the riders rode to Lansing, IA where the third and final rest was located.
After the Lansing rest area the course made a seventeen mile loop south of Lansing back to the third rest area. From Lansing the JDRF Ride returned to Riverside Park in La Crosse via the same route they took south with the rest areas in the same locations. 
Chuck Hodge N4CRH, an amateur (ham) radio operator himself, as well as a JDRF staff member was in charge of all JDRF staff vehicles and operated a two meter station from the the Comand Center at the start finish line in Riverside Park in La Crosse. I am not sure what Chuck had for a radio but we were only able to communicate with him over about half of the course. So without John as Net Control operating from his home station radio communications would have somewhat difficult. 
 John W9RPM has one of the largest antenna systems of any Ham radio operators in the area. With three towers full of antennas and radios no less impressive John was chosen to operate from home as the Net Control station. John was able to keep in direct contact with each one of the mobile stations except at the very end of the course where messages were relayed form Net Control to the other station.
Craig N9ETD was using an Icom IC-910 all mode radio running 100 Watts into a Larsen magnetic dual band antenna mounted on the roof Brocks SUV Med-1. Craig set the Icom on a towel on the dash of the SUV Med-1. Eric K9ELM used a dual band mobile radio running 50 Watts into a magnetic antenna mounted on the roof of Jeremy’s SAG-3 Shop Truck. I am not sure what Mike N0EXE used for radios but Mike ran APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) APRS is used to transmit real-time data, information and reports of the exact location of a person or object via a data signal sent over amateur radio frequencies. So John W9RPM the Net Control station was able to track mikes location as he worked the course. Mike also used a two meter radio for voice communications as the rest of us did. 
I used a Kenwood TM-707 dual band mobile radio running 50 Watts into a Larsen magnetic dual band antenna mounted on the roof of Noel’s rental van SAG-5. When I arrived at the La Crosse Center I installed the radio just setting it on a towel on the van’s dashboard. This worked well except for a few times during heavy acceleration I found the radio in my lap. Two meters was chosen for the frequency but a repeater that would work along the river bottoms, bluffs and many valleys would be tough. So simplex was chosen with John W9RPM working as net control from his home on the southern edge of town. Simplex worked quite well. We were able to work each other over most coarse and relay when unable to reach other simplex. The race Sag vehicles were equipped with satellite phones but as far as I know all of the race communications were accomplished using two meter ham radio. Each one of us was assigned a person and vehicle to install our radios in and ride with. Craig N9ETD was assigned to Med 1 with Brock one of the Medics. Eric K9ELN was assigned to the shop truck Sag 3 with Jeremy. Mike N0EXE was assigned to Sag 7 with Jim and I was assigned to a shop truck Sag 5 with Noel. 
Brock Ryan Medic and Craig N9ETD | 
