N5NTG | 
06 13th, 2009| 
Okay, Day 2 of Ham-Com is over for 2009, I didn’t win any of the 18 Alinco HT’s or the 2 HF mobile rigs given away as door prizes, but I also didn’t get the (not so) free ride in the Plano EMS Ambulance like one ham from Longview did.
I was taking a tour of the McKinney ARC Net Control Station on Saturday morning (Plano Amateur Radio Club did it on Friday) when we heard sirens approaching the Plano Centre, firetruck and ambulance.
The Net Control operator asked me to go find out what was happening, since he needed to stay near the radio.
Seems that one of the attendees, an older ham in the 60+ age range, was sitting in a chair inside the flea market area and he apparently dozed off, was snoring, but suddenly stopped breathing. He was reportedly unresponsive when another ham observed his condition and tried to revive him, so 911 was called. They ended up transporting him to the hospital and I don’t know what the final result was.
Hams from the event, quickly and efficiently cleared barricades and established a path clear of traffic for the two emergency vehicles to arrive and depart. Naturally, they were using their HT radios on simplex to coordinate their efforts. A page was put out on the intercom inside asking if there were any other hams present from the Longview Amateur Radio Club who might want to assist / be aware of this other ham’s predicament and to get word back to any family members that might need to be contacted.
W2IK- NNN0KSI – NNN0GBY2, from San Antonio, Texas, will be donating 150 copies of his amateur radio emergency communications training course (on CD) so they may be given out at EmComm East, held in Rochester, New York in early October 2009.