San Antonio Hams

(Hicksville, NY and Sacramento, CA, November 12, 2008) —

CQ Communications, Inc. has acquired WorldRadio magazine, CQ Publisher Dick Ross, K2MGA and WorldRadio Publisher Armond Noble, N6WR, announced jointly today.

CQ, based in Hicksville, New York, currently publishes CQ Amateur Radio, CQ VHF and Popular Communications magazines.   WorldRadio, based in Sacramento, California, has been published monthly since July, 1971, with a primary focus on the human side of ham radio.  CQ, a general-interest ham radio magazine best known for its support of DXing and contesting, has been in print since January, 1945.

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It was 35 degrees outside on a Sunday Morning, December 7th, but ten ham operators got up before the sun did, and drove over to the SE side of San Antonio for the annual San Antonio Road Runners 10 Miler Mission Run.   The event started and ended at the Mission County Park #2 on Padre Drive, near VFW Blvd.  The course ran down Mission Parkway, south of Military Drive, and then continued south of Loop 410 for a total of 5 miles, then returned.

The event had about 270 registrants this year, but 20 “no-shows” brought the number of runners down to about 250.  There were a  dozen or so “relay runners” who were supposed to run out to the 2.5 mile park and return, then let their partner run the same 2.5 out and back to finish.

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Local radio operators manned the radio station inside the National Weather Service office in New Braunfels, TX from 6pm Friday (Dec. 5th) thru 6pm Saturday (Dec. 6th) in two hour shifts.

I’ll update this report once I receive more details, but my wife (Pat Knight AD5BR) and I (Lee Besing N5NTG) were there Friday from 6pm – 10:30pm, along with J.C. Smith N5RXS, Lew Archer KD5MSW, Bob Hejl W2IK and visitation from Danny McCarty WA5KRP and Chuck Kenworthy WB5FWI.

J.C. N5RXS started out the operations by tagging onto the end of the Arkansas Razorback Net on HF, telling the Net Control what he was doing tonight and asking that stations interested in talking with this NWS stay on frequency afterward.  The calls stacked.   Then he moved over to the Texas Traffic Net and repeated that technique.  He quickly filled up almost 4 pages of log sheets, with 14 contacts per sheet.

Then comes Bob W2IK.  The reluctant Bob.  Pat AD5BR talked him into getting on the radio after he first resisted the idea, and he quickly filled up about 3 sheets of contacts in about 45 minutes.  This guy knows how to work a contest, even when it wasn’t really a “contest per se”.   He staked out a heavily used area on the HF band, started talking, and started logging contact after contact.

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The Dec 2nd AARC Christmas Party was a real treat for the 80 plus attendees.  Great food, friends, family, new faces… More details in this week’s SwapNet newsletter. Now, for the important announcement every stakeholder wants to know,”Who the heck won the IC-7000???”

Thanks to all who bought the 220 tickets, the REAL winner of AARC’s IC-7000 raffle is K6RV Don Schliesser from Cedar Park, TX.
Jeff Schmidt N5MNW

Basic talks are underway to help our “Wounded Warriors” find a new path within the military, unencumbered by their physical restraints. Bob Hejl, W2IK – NNN0KSI (MARS Ecom), who works at CFI (Center For The Intrepid) at BAMC/ Ft. Sam, has begun discussions with officials at BAMC and CFI for ways in which our soldiers can redirect their abilities by using amateur radio as a stepping stone with their next goal being communications careers within the armed forces or in the private sector after their military careers are completed.

Planned are a special events/demo station so soldiers can see the possibilities of communications and the vital roles they can assume during an emergency or in everyday military communications work. Tri- Service MARS operations will also be integrated so they can get an actual “taste” of  military communications in a relaxed atmosphere.

An amateur radio course will be offered with actual “hands on” operation using W2IK’s portable MARS Ecom station. After the classes have been completed, there will be on base testing so many can obtain their amateur radio licenses.

If any local ham or group is interested in this project, please write W2IK at alonestaryank@aol.com.

In case you have not heard, the 2008 Bike MS: Valero Bike to the Beach Awards and Volunteer Appreciation Party is Thursday, December 4, 2008.

Here are the details:
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Received my ballot from San Antonio Radio Organization (SARO) in the mail on Tuesday, December 2nd.  3 director slots on the board are up for election this year (2 yr terms) and there are 4 candidates on the ballot to choose from…

• Mike Check, K5UCQ
• Eric Olson, WB5ZJQ
• Dale Robinson, KB5YSJ
• Gary Tangrady, K5GST

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I recently received an unsolicited official looking manila envelope in the mail (not e-mail) from the Amateur Radio Service, telling me “Amateur Radio License Expiration Alert – It’s time to Renew!, Renewal Notice Enclosed”   It has a warning block saying “failure to renew will void your operating authority and could result in the necessity for you to be re-examined and the loss of your station call sign”

Today is December 1, 2008, and my license (N5NTG) doesn’t expire until March 24, 2009.  I’m not within the 90 day time window prior to my expiration date, so I can’t renew this early.

This friendly reminder service was a courtesy service of The W5YI VEC, Inc., one of two major VEC (ham testing) services in the USA.  This is a legit company, don’t get me wrong.    The other major VEC group is of course, the ARRL.   There is no clear intent to deceive in this letter, it simply doesn’t mention that you can do it direct for free.

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At the November membership meeting of Hill County REACT, elections were held for the team officer positions.  The following were elected to serve 2 year terms of office:

• President – Wade Bolling, W5ERX
• Treasurer – Barbara Manley, KA5RLF
• Secretary – Charles Manley, KD5ESX

Because this created a vacancy by Wade moving from VP to President, Lee Besing N5NTG was appointed Vice President until the next membership meeting in January at which time a special election will be held to fill the term.

Gary Tangrady, K5GST, was elected as the Team’s Operations Officer, with the duty to coordinate public safety and emergency communications support by the Team.

More information about this local REACT team can be found at www.HillCountryREACT.org

Yesterday was the inaugural event for the Rock-n-Roll Marathon, formerly called the San Antonio Marathon.  Hams have now worked 14 San Antonio Marathons in a row, under the leadership of AARO and the cooperation from hams belonging to almost every club in the area.  This event, like all the other larger events we work, is an exercise in cooperation by the ham community because there is no one single club able to handle these events 100% in-house.   And I believe that’s a good way to run it

For the past 13 years, ham radio operators have been helping with this event, providing communications for every phase of the logistics and support functions.  In previous years, we had staffed to put hams in supply trucks, hams in the SAG vans roving the course, hams with the medical supervisors, hams acting as “shadows” for various race officials (like the race director, safety director, etc.).   We had stationed hams at the start line, hams riding bikes on the course with APRS packs, stationed hams at every water stop and at key safety risk areas like the train crossing on Mission Road (just north of IH-10 & Steves Ave).

But this year was different.

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