San Antonio Hams

We received an advance copy of the news release from the Canyon Lake Christmas Parade Committee about last weekend’s Christmas parade in Sattler (December 12th), written by Valerie Schroller of the Parade Committee.  She was the gal zipping around in that red golf cart taking care of everything and everybody who might have had their political toes stepped on for some reason during the parade. 

I got this from Valerie Schroller.  It went out to the Canyon Lake Views, the Hill Top Reporter, and the Herald-Zeitung.   She said I could forward it to anyone I choose, so I thought you might want to post something using it.  It says “unnamed volunteers”….here is the article and the rest of names of those “unnamed volunteers”.

– Wade Bolling W5ERX, President, Hill Country REACT Team.

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Tonight was the first meeting of the 2010 San Antonio Repeater Organization (SARO) newly elected Board of Directors.  Four (4) new directors had been elected by the members this month to serve a 2 year term of office.  Only about half of the SARO members returned a ballot in the election.  SARO mails paper ballots to every member in good standing (ie. their dues got paid) by the first of November.  Ballots are generally due by sometime in the 2nd week (this year it was December 11th).

Elected were Lee N5NTG, Pat AD5BR, Bob K5AUW, and Gary K5GST.  Their term of office is thru end of 2011.  Outgoing directors were Sharon Olson KB5KZD, Chuck Kenworthey WB5FWI, and Royce Taylor KA5OHJ.

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1) Object: This is a friendly meeting on the air using straight keys. The object is to simply have fun and enjoy making CW QSOs, preferably with a manual sending device. Any CW is permissible, but straight keys are preferred. Many stations also enjoy using vintage gear, but this is not required. Break out those old J-38s and break the rust off!

2) Date and Time: Every January 1 from 0000 UTC through 2359 UTC.

3) Exchange: Straight Key Night is not a contest; enjoy making leisurely QSOs with no special exchange. Participants are encouraged to call CQ with “CQ SKN” to attract attention.

4) Reporting: Send in a list of stations worked, along with your vote for Most Interesting QSO and Best Fist. Email entries go to straightkey@arl.org; paper entries may be sent to ARRL Straight Key Night, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111.

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Hill Country REACT Team is the sponsor of a new Ham Radio Repeater in the Canyon Lake area. 

The repeater is located about a mile southwest of Startzville and the antenna is up at about 1670 feet above sea level.  The antenna was measured as being about 390 feet up in the air on the tower, and the base of the tower is at 1280 feet above sea level.   

The repeater frequency is 444.450 mHz, positive offset, and with a 114.8 PL tone.  The repeater is intended to be for open use by all hams.

Testing has shown excellent coverage from north San Antonio up to south Austin, and all points between, using mobile radios.    The Trustee is Wade W5ERX, currently the president of Hill Country REACT.   He had the assistance of a couple other hams, including the newly appointed Comal County EC, Don Kirchner W5DK, and Gene Rowell WA5PAX, to build /prepare the repeater and finally install it at its new home.  The repeater is a coordinated frequency with the Texas VHF-FM Society and tower hosting is being provided by BKT Towers.

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Just announced today on the South Texas ARES Email List…

 I’m pleased to announce that Don Kirchner W5DK has stepped up to become EC for Comal county.   Thanks Don!

Tom Whiteside, N5TW
South Texas ARES Section Emergency Coordinator

Webmaster note – To learn more about Don, view his video on YouTube shown below… (just kidding, but Don is well known for helping out with the MS150, Tour de Cure, maintenance for multiple area repeaters and EOC installations, including the newest repeater at Canyon Lake on 444.450. – Lee N5NTG)

Charlie KC5NKK riding in UC PD Patrol Car

Received this thank you letter in the email box today from UCPD Lt. Steve Denton, who was in charge of the 2009 Annual Veterans Day Parade in Universal City, Texas. 

More than 2 dozen hams and other volunteers assisted the police department with establishing control of traffic prior to the parade beginning, moving barricades into place when instructed by radio, and telling residents or drivers that they shouldn’t turn onto Pat Booker Road once the barricades were in place.  It was the job of the Police Officers to enforce those rules, we just told folks what the rules were, then enjoyed watching the parade.   

We posted lots of photos earlier, following to the November 14th parade date, so here now is the thank you letter addressed to all the hams who helped…

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Skywarn Recognition Day was from 6pm Friday, December 4th thru 6pm Saturday, December 5th.   Bob W2IK was the key operator who worked the full 24 hours, reported we made more than 300 contacts, of which about 38 were other National Weather stations participating in the event.  Bob says this is about double the number of contacts that were made last year during the same time span.

We’ll add in a list of participating  hams in the very near future.. 

Here are the photos from N5NTG and W2IK.

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The busy ham radio operators down at the San Antonio – Austin National Weather Service office in New Braunfels, TX are using the club call sign KD5UMW on the air, using 20/40/80 meters HF, VHF, UHF, Echolink, IRLP, and who knows what other modes?  I know that Skywarn has established standard modes / frequencies to be used, but we aren’t limited to just those.

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr/hamradio/

With the inclement weather in the area, operators may be tasked with gathering actual weather info during the event.  So if we are asked for help, lets do all we can.  For those of you working longer shifts you might want to bring food if you think you will want to eat.  Restaurants are a not all that close to the NWS. 

Paul would like to keep operators inside the Weather Service to 3 at a time.  There should be times that we may have 4, so this would be a good time to give Bob a break as he is working the whole event.    Please bring a headset if you have one as we need to keep things fairly quiet inside.  If there are any questions please contact me.

 Bob W2IK has generously offered to handle QSL cards for the event (an SASE will be required) and the KD5UMW QRZ info will be used. 

For those that may need the address:
2090 AIRPORT RD NEW BRAUNFELS, TX 78130 USA

Thanks to all of you,

Wade (w5erx@arrl.net)

On Thursday, December 3rd, 2009, Pat & I went north to Boerne to attend the KARS Christmas Dinner at the Boerne Vistro on Main Street. Food was wonderful, and if anybody left there hungry, well… All I can say is that it was their own fault! They had a wonderful buffet with several selections, and most of us chose that option. A few ordered from the menu, and a few of us even risked ordering from the dessert menu afterward.

Here are my photos from that night…

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All year long, there are opportunities for you to use your Ham Radio skills in events other than contesting, or rag chewing (chatting mindlessly with other hams about nothing in particular).

Coming up in the next couple of months, the event schedule is a bit lighter than the rest of the year, primarily due to all the holidays, or is it?

Here is a list of known Ham Radio Christmas Parties and Events…

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