Saturday was the 43rd Annual Veterans Day Parade in Universal City Texas, and the ham radio operators from Hill Country REACT and other volunteers were there to help the UC Police Department manage the parade route. Our “job” was to move the barricades or police crime scene tape into place, blocking selected major streets, side streets, and parking lot exits. Our “job” was NOT to direct traffic, but to call in by radio whenever we had a “runner” that bypassed the barricades once they were in place.
This year, we had aerial maps of the route, to help the ham operators assist any drivers who didn’t know the back roads / alternate routes. It’s amazing how many local residents ignore the big banners crossing Pat Booker Road for a month before the parade, or the posters placed at local businesses, and then get upset because they forgot to allow time to leave early before the parade, or to figure out an alternate way of getting from point A to point B during the parade.
This year we had about 2 dozen volunteers, mostly ham radio operators, including 7 motorcycle marshals, to assist the UCPD. I’ll get a full listing posted here later, but it’s already 1:40am in the middle of the night, and I still need to be up at 5am to go help out with the Tour de Gruene at my assigned location on River Road, just south of Sattler, Texas.
Here is a 28 minute video posted to YouTube.com by your’s truly, that I took during the start of the parade as the entries left the staging area onto the main route. The route went down Pat Booker Road, from UC Blvd, almost all the way to Randolph AFB and FM78. A map of the route is shown at the start of the video. Enjoy!
