San Antonio Hams

During tonight’s Bexar County ARES  Training Net,  Lothar briefly mentioned the garage door problems those of us living near the intersection of 151 and Potranco Road (San Antonio, TX) are having.    As Lothar correctly stated, the issue is a conflict between a new radio communications tower put up at the NSA facility being built on Military Drive and garage door openers in the vicinity.

The NSA tower works on the LMR 390 Mhz frequency, which is shared with older garage door openers, including, as it turns out, my own. As NSA has stated in public, they believe they have the legal basis for operating on this frequency, and do not intend to stop operating on this frequency.   So, for those of us with garage door openers operating at that frequency, it means that your remote may not open your garage door until you are very close to it. In my case, I actually had to park in my driveway, get out of my car, and activate the remote standing two feet from the garage door. A bit of an inconvenience.

The Genie GIRUD-1T Universal Dual Frequency Conversion Kit alleviates frequency issues from the recently implemented Land Mobile Radio (LMR) communications system. The LMR system is used by military bases across the U.S. and was implemented as part of the nation’s Homeland Security efforts.

Most newer garage door openers operate on the 315 Mhz frequency to avoid this conflict. So if you are having these issues and would like some resolution, you can do one of two things: 1.) Purchase a new garage door opener that operates at that frequency, or 2.) Install a converter which will allow your existing garage door opener to operate on the new frequency.

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The National Weather Service in New Braunfels has announced they are moving their regional Skywarn Net away from the 147.14 repeater to the newer 444.450 UHF repeater that is located just south of Startzville, with an antenna up at 1670 ft above sea level.  That repeater has a tone of 114.8 and a POSITIVE offset.  The 444.450 repeater has very wide regional coverage, equivalent to what the 147.14 repeater used to be.  We’ve had folks from as far south as Wilford Hall on Lackland AFB in San Antonio, or north to south Austin on 6th Street.  Of course those contacts were made using 50 watt mobile or base radios.

This repeater will soon be hooked up via an IRLP node, but the trustee Wade W5ERX is still working out the bugs for that.   This repeater is being sponsored by the Hill Country REACT Team.

This Skywarn net is NOT to be confused with the local Skywarn Nets in San Antonio or Austin on the 146.94 repeaters.  In San Antonio, that repeater has a PL tone of 179.9 and a negative offset.  The Austin repeater has no PL tone required, but does have an output tone.

In San Antonio, most of the time, you will find one of the AEC’s (Assistant Emergency Coordinator) from the Bexar County ARES group running the local Skywarn Net, and the repeater has a tone that goes off periodically, sort of a beep, just to let you know something serious is going on even if you don’t hear anybody talking at the moment.

If the Net Control operator asks for specific types of reports, don’t call in with reports of “It’s not raining over here”, or “I just saw on TV that such and such was happening…”.  Don’t clutter up the frequency with chatter.

HAITI: ECOM Operatoins appear to be slowing down somewhat.  The hospital ship USNS COMFORT is no longer accepting trauma patients, at the request of the Haitian government, and is preparing to return to the U.S.

The University of Miami Mediashare Operation has beem moved from the International Airport to another area, so that the airport could open for regular commercial traffic.

Our MARS volunteers continue to provide support to the effort and will, for a while yet.   Keep them in your thoughts, as they are in a less secure area now that they have moved off the International Airport.

While some of us have operated in the field under emergency conditions such as during hurricanes and just after earthquakes, most hams haven’t.

I have done both, but during the recent series of Haitian earthquakes I have been, for the most part, on the “sidelines”.

I currently monitor some of the emcomm traffic coming out of the affected area by listening to the SATERN frequencies and even taking a turn at being a SATERN net control op.

Very few communications have been coming out of the country because there are presently only two amateur radio operators down there.

Hopefully, things will change if agencies get “their act together” and send communications “Jump Teams” to help send health and welfare traffic from Haiti so loved ones back in the U.S. and other countries will know that their friends/relatives in Haiti are alive. Just this simple act will relieve a lot of burden and suffering.

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Reprinted from the CQ / WorldRadio Online Newsroom:

Some ham radio activity from Haiti is beginning to be heard, following yesterday’s devastating earthquake.

Father John Henault, HH6JH, in Port-au-Prince, made contact late Wednesday morning with the Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net (IATN) on 14.300 MHz, the IARU Global Centre of Activity frequency for emergency communications. Based on relays monitored at W2VU, Father John reported that he and those with him were safe, but had no power and no phone service. He was operating on battery power and hoping to get a generator running later in the day. He asked the station copying him, William Sturridge, KI4MMZ, in Flagler Beach, Florida, to telephone relatives with information that he was OK.

The following frequencies are in use for earthquake-related traffic and should be kept clear unless you are able to provide requested assistance:

• 14300 (IATN),
• 14265 (SATERN);
• 7045 (IARU Region II) and
• 3720 (IARU Region II) kHz.

Additional frequencies may be activated on different bands at different times of day, so be sure to listen carefully before transmitting to make sure you are not interfering with emergency traffic.

W2IK now has a new EMCOMM only web site:  WWW.W2IK.NET   which contains emcomm info including parts of his 250 page “EMCOMM AND YOU” CD.    

This site is a work in progress and is constantly growing, but it’s presently  loaded with lots of useful information about developing your own emergency communications skills.   

 This site contains ONLY EMCOMM material.

The new Canadian training course contains over 100 pages which were written by W2IK, so we must be doing something right.

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)