San Antonio Hams

I’m looking for volunteers to help with communications during the Spring Tour de Gruene Team Fondo on Saturday, March 5, 2011, from 10am – 3pm. 

The event takes place in & around Gruene, FM 306, Sattler, and River  Road. This is the first year for this event, and I think we can use as many stations as possible.  We will be using 2 meter Ham Radio with the 147.000 repeater, in fixed locations.  Mobile radios with external antennas may be needed in some locations due to terrain.  At this time, we do not anticipate the need for any mobile units.

Thanks,
 –Mike WQ5C
pfeufferm@gmail.com

Just got the heads up from Andrew Watson, president of Alamo Area Radio Organization, that his club has locked in the date of  Saturday, April 9, 2011, at Incarnet Word University.

We (AARO) have co-sponsored nine one-day CRASH REVIEW courses with the Southwest Research Corporation’s ham radio club.  We have received confirmation on room scheduling at the Univ. of the Incarnate Word for Saturday, 9 April 2011. 

The anticipated cost will be $50, which includes a continental breakfast, a box lunch from Jason’s Deli, and $15 fee for the test that goes to the American Radio Relay League and is filed with the Federal Communications Commission.

Download the flyer here…  TechFlyer_040911wUIWmap

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I just talked to Glenda Griffin. Her dad, Hal Roby, K5JMI passed away last night, February 7, 2011.  We have lost a great friend of the Amateur community.  Services are pending.

73’s Jim Hargrave W5IFP

SAHams Note:   Sunset Memorial Park on Austin Hwy, Visitation is Thursday from 5-7 PM.  Service is Friday at 1:30 PM.   Burial Ceremony is Monday morning (I think) at FT Sam Houston

SAHams Note:  Hal was a fixture of the nightly Rainfall net on the 146.94 machine, and we believe a long term member of the San Antonio Radio Club.   It was reported around the end of November 2010, that Hal had fallen and had lost his motor skills.  He was admitted to BAMC around 12/7/2010 and later moved to a nursing home to undergo therapy.  Hal was 87 and had Alzheimer’s. He did not recognize his family or friends towards the end of his life.  He would have turned 88 later this week.

My father, Louis Guido Jr., N5JKH, passed away Friday evening. His support was very instrumental in the building of many Packet Radio nodes and networks throughout South Texas from 1986 until 1995.

A Rosary will be recited on Monday, February 7 at 7:00pm at San Francesco di Paola Catholic Church.

The Funeral Mass will be held on Tuesday, February 8 at 10:00am at San Francesco di Paola Catholic Church. Interment will follow the Funeral Mass at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery.

His obituary can be found at the link below.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sanantonio/obituary.aspx?n=louis-lorelli-guido&pid=148365037&fhid=8911

Paul Guido, N5IUT

From the obit…

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Ivan Mangold - picture taken in 2005

Ivan Mangold WA5RNV was a long time member of San Antonio Radio Club and the San Antonio Repeater Organization.

Here is his obituary & funeral service info.  Our thanks to Andrew Watson KD5NNN for providing us with this.  Photo taken in 2005.

Ivan Anton Mangold, WA5RNV, passed away on Thursday, January 6, 2011, after a short illness. He was born in Medina County, Texas on May 10, 1920, and was raised in LaCoste, Texas. He is survived by his beloved wife, Lillian; daughter and son-in-law, Cathy and Bill Munk; son and daughter-in-law, Tommy and Arla Mangold; son and daughter-in-law, Tony and Jodie Mangold; daughter and son-in-law, Ann and Claude Kainer; ten grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren; brother, Sylvan Mangold and wife, Virginia; sister, Mitzie Tondre; sister-in-law, Shirley Mangold; numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. Ivan graduated from Lytle High School in 1936, and then attended St. Mary’s University.

In 1940, he began his employment with Turner Roofing Company as a Cost Accountant. He proudly served for two years in the US Army during WWII where he became the First Sergeant and Acting Master Sergeant of the 101st Guided Missile Battalion, testing missiles at White Sands. After his service, Ivan returned to Turning Roofing Company and in 1951, he purchased the company. Ivan was a faithful member of St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church.

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On January 23rd at 1600 UTC, W5BOG, the Bexar Operators Group, will go on the road (operating ROVER) during the 2011 ARRL January VHF SweepStakes. We will attempt to cover a few rare grid squares during this operation: EM00, RT 41 North Of Leakey, DL99, RT 55 South of Rocksprings, EL 08, La Pryor, DL98, West of La Pryor on RT 57, and DM90 at Rocksprings with a quick stop at EL09 at the “look out” North of Leakey. (Grid square operation in the following order but subject to change especially if we get any pileups) We will be operating on both 6 meter (horz. loop) and 2 meter (horz. beam) SSB.:  EL09 (1600 utc), EM00 (1730 utc), DM90 (1930 utc), DL99 (2100 utc), DL98 (2300 utc),  and EL08 (0030 utc).  Anyone who wishes to join us may do so by emailing: alonestaryank@aol.com   See what it’s like to operate vhf rover and hand out QSOs from rare grid squares.

Where: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera County Texas

When:  January 8 and 9th, 2011

What:  Tejas Trails – Bandera 100k Ultra Marathon

Start: 0700 hrs Saturday, the 8th

Finish: 0700 hrs Sunday, the 9th (radio operations typically stand down at 0430 hrs, when the last aid station closes down)

The event is three races in one, a 25k, 50k and 100k that incorporates nearly every trail on the 5400 acres of Hill Country State Natural Area. This is a unique situation to train and test EmComm abilities in a remote environment, provide a service, as well as enjoy the Texas Hill Country!

Duties:  This is a 24 hour all weather event! Amateur operators man the Aid Stations and duties are basically like any other bike or running event (BP150, MS150, River Safari, etc), relaying supply needs, runner counts and times, and coordinating the Horse Patrol with Safety and SAR operations!  Operators support Race Control, Aid Stations and the HCSNAP Coordinated Horse Patrol! Operators will stay in constant contact with the Aid Station Captain and/or Race Recorder, in order to keep the Database up-to-date.

Needed:  We need 10 or so licensed Amateurs to assist with this event. The more the merrier! Minimum 50 watt dual band portable/mobile EmComm type set-ups required in case we need to go simplex, if the repeater fails to produce.  Most communications will be done with 5 watts or so through the hilltop repeater, but just in case of a catastrophic failure of the repeater, we can go to simplex. All the Aid stations allow close proximity of your vehicle, so proper crossbanding can be utilized!

Even if you can only help out for a part of the event, we can still use you!

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Every year, hams go to their local National Weather Station to operate for 24 hours, contacting other National Weather Stations and ham radio operators.    Locally, our NWS station for Austin / San Antonio is located in New Braunfels, next to the New Braunfels Airport, just east of that town.

Louis Upton K5STX, Member of Hill Country REACT and Chaparral Amateur Radio Club, was the coordinator.  He established a 24 hour schedule from 6pm CDT Friday, December 3rd, thru 6pm Saturday, December 4th.  The following hams participated in this year’s event.

We made contact with 56 National Weather Stations and about 270 total contacts, using HF, VHF, UHF, EchoLink, PSK31 and IRLP modes.

The following hams worked many long hours to make this event a success.

• JC Smith – N5RXS
• Wade Boling – W5ERX
• Jeremy Davenport – KE5ELI
• Richard Graham – N5RAG
• Bob Hejl – W2IK
• Joe Bruno – KE5YWO
• Wade Martyn – WB5C
• Louis Upton – K5STX
• Lee Besing – N5NTG

Visitors Friday:

• Chuck – WB5FWI
• Danny – WA5KRP

Photos from the event…

About 21  radio operators gathered at the Mountain Valley Middle School in Sattler, Texas (just east of Canyon Lake) to help organize the staging area for the 2010 Annual Canyon Lake Christmas Parade at 8am Saturday morning, December 11, 2010.

Hill Country REACT has been organizing this event for more years than we can remember, 14+ years at least.   For the past few years, we’ve been lucky to get help from neighboring ham clubs, and this year was no different.  In addition to members from our own team, we also had volunteers from Travis County REACT (Austin), HC Hams (Hayes / Caldwell), and Guadalupe Valley ARC (GVARC – New Braunfels). Not shown in photo is photographer Lee N5NTG.

Here is a list of radio operators working the event…

• Ray McLeaird            HC REACT
• Charlie Land              HC REACT
• Lee Besing                HC REACT
• David Besing             HC REACT
• Gary Tangrady           HC REACT
• Charles Manley III     HC REACT
• Barbara Manley          HC REACT
• Wade Bolling             HC REACT
• Wade Martyn             HC REACT
• Mike Pérez                HC REACT
• “Skipp” Stem             GVARC
• Samuel Stem            GVARC
• Richard Graham       GVARC
• Chuck Donohoe       GVARC
• Jake Creamer          HCARC/ HC REACT
• Rick Coleman          HCARC
• Bernard Ederer        HCARC
• Dianne Shirey          HCARC
• Bob Shirey               HCARC
• Roger Wines and  4 other Travis County REACT members

This year the parade staging area was changed, reversed from previous years.  The new layout worked much better for us, giving us more room to stretch out the entries.  We had nearly 60 entries this year, and the Shriners counted as just one entry, so you can guess how big it really was.    The parade route was more than 2 miles, starting on the northside of  Sattler, ending on the south end.  Traffic was snarled for more than an hour and a half while the parade was on the main route thru town.

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An amateur radio operator from Australia, VK4ION, recently posted on her website a story about reading W2IK’s Emergency NVIS antenna construction plans and with some adaptation building her own portable ENVIS antenna system for emergency communications. Her website, VK4ION Emergency N.V.I.S. antenna, shows in detail, with many pictures, her construction of this antenna along with NVIS theories on how low antennas are perfect for local (under 400 mile) emergency communications. A photo of her ENVIS antenna is shown below.

Her report included comments such as when it was used during their “field day” operation it was the “hit of the show”. On her website is also a link to W2IK’s 4 part website on building the original antenna including the adapter for 80 meter and MARS operation. This antenna is the only NVIS antenna posted in the NAVMC MARS websites.

Bob W2IK