San Antonio Hams

Field Day 2009 is June 27 and 28, and this year’s event promises to be a memorable one for San Antonio.

This year, a huge, multi-club Field Day site will be sponsored by the Bexar County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) with participation by members of the Alamo Area Radio Organization (AARO), the San Antonio Radio Club (SARC), Radio Operators of South Texas (ROOST) plus several other San Antonio area amateur radio groups (SARO, REACT, Baptist Men, etc.).

Field Day will be held at the San Antonio Fire Department Training Academy at Highway 151 and Callaghan Road, near Southwest Research Institute.

All amateurs and their families are invited to participate, regardless of club affiliation. New hams and prospective hams are especially welcomed. The event is also open to the general public, and there will be a “Get On The AIR (GOTA)” station available for unlicensed individuals to make some Field Day contacts.

Eric KD5YZU

Title: Field Nic This Saturday May 9th US Hwy 90 West of D’Hanis
Location: US Hwy 90 Rest Area just West of D’Hanis, TX
Link out: Click here

Description: JOIN US for a “Field Nic” this Saturday May 9 from 11am ’til 4pm at the US Hwy 90 Rest Area just West of D’Hanis, TX Hosted by the Medina County Amateur Radio Club. Come on out and see K5AUW Bob Rod\’s fully portable Emergency Amateur Radio station. Bring a lawn chair, some sandwiches, soft drinks, and enjoy the HAM fellowship.

Walter Hock, KK5LO

p.s. “Field Nic” is a mini Field Day set up.
Start Time: 11:00
Date: 2009-05-09
End Time: 16:00

Meeting has been POSTPONED – Stay Tuned for New Date.   April 16th was suggested, but has not been confirmed.

The next meeting of the Guadalupe Valley Amateur Radio Club is coming up:

Thursday, April 9 @ 6:30pm
Northwoods Apartments #602 ( model apartment )

We will be planning Field Day and discussing the current projects.

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ARRL has released their 2009 version of the Field Day PSA and posted it to YouTube.com. In addition, copies (on CD-R format) are available from Gary Tangrady K5GST.

Contact: Gary S. Tangrady, K5GST
Asst Public Information Coordinator
South Texas Section, ARRL
(210)383-7872/(210)568-8224
K5GST@ARRL.net

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History is in the making for San Antonio Hams in 2009.    All of the major  Ham Clubs in San Antonio appear to be reaching agreement in coordinating a single Field Day location rather than holding a half dozen separate locations as had been done in the past.

AARO led the way, after losing their normal comfy spot over by the VA Hospital. They started the search for a new location, and thanks to our Ham Radio ties with the City of San Antonio, specifically our ties with the Fire Department, they found a new location to hold Field Day.   The City Fire Department offered them the use of their Firefighters Training Academy, located west of the downtown area near Hwy 151 and Callaghan Road, as the site of their 2009 Field Day event.

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 Lost Maples SNA , in Bandera County north of Vanderpool, has been chosen as the location of the “Bexar Operators Group” (W5BOG) 2009 Field Day operation.  We will be concentrating on “primitive  camping techniques” along with our amateur radio operations.

Our rigs and LED lighting systems will be powered by several solar energy panels and a wind powered turbine which will charge banks of deep-cycle marine batteries, making this a 100% “Green Operation”.

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 A great ham radio event has been revived that will provide a weekend of fun and excitement to every ham that participates.  The New Mexico QSO Party, an operating event designed for new and experienced hams alike, will take place on the first weekend of February (Feb 7-8, 2009).

The purpose of this HF and 6-meter event (both of which every ham has privileges to operate on) is to get on the airwaves and have a great time with hams from across New Mexico and the nation.  Simply put, NM hams contact as many hams (inside and outside NM) as possible.  Non-NM hams contact as many NM hams (only) as possible.  Essentially, New Mexico hams will find themselves on the “other” side of the pileup, with stations across the country and perhaps world wanting to make contact with the Land of Enchantment for the duration of the event.  And what good operating event can’t be without awards?

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2009 “Straight Key Night” begins at 7:00 p.m. EST December 31, 2008 and runs for 24 hours through 7:00 p.m. EST January 1, 2009 (0000 – 2400 UTC January 1, 2009).

SKN is more of an operating event and not a contest and you don’t need to operate during the entire event. To participate, simply send “CQ SKN” or listen for CQs that have SKN in them. The object of this friendly event is to enjoy some good old-fashioned QSO fun, using straight keys and not keyers or computers. The emphasis is on rag-chewing rather than fast contest-style exchanges.

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From Noon Saturday thru Noon Sunday by N5NTG – Lee Besing

I made a tour of three FD locations this year… I used to do this in previous years, but with fuel prices increasing, I had sort of slowed down a bit. But this year, I decided to spend the bux and go visit some of my friends. I had planned to visit two others, but one shut down earlier than planned on Saturday, and around 1am I decided I was too tired to safely drive all the way out to Boerne to visit Kendall County, so I headed home to get some sleep instead.

I started this with compiling a list of known locations around San Antonio, then we received contact from other clubs in Central and South Texas asking that we list their FD site, so we ended up with 13 locations. Click Here for a full list of 13 sites in or around San Antonio, as far west as Ulvade, north to Austin, South to Laredo and Southeast to Corpus Christi.

This report will contain photos from the three locations I managed to visit (GVARC, SARC, AARO) plus photos that were sent to me from other operators. Band conditions this year were sort of weak, so contacts appeared to be less than in some previous years, but the weather cooperated with us locally. The Bexar Operators Group set up down on Mustang Island, “roughing it” with a portable A/C unit sitting on the edge of his picnic table sticking out thru the sides of his pop-up shelter that they rigged around the table. His pop-up was the only one that didn’t blow away in the high winds that hit the gulf coast during that weekend because he rigged for the possibility of high winds at the start.

Photos are embedded in the 2008 Field Day Page here.

From Noon Saturday thru Noon Sunday 

using only Old Vacuum Tube Radio / Equpment by K5AXN – Jerry Barry

Jerry says… It’s time for my 8th annual Vintage Field Day. this is mostly a social event, so bring a yard chair and join the fun. The place may need mowing and I might be slow in getting the equipment set up, but come pitch in and have fun. This is a gathering of some old AM guys and some family, plus new friends, and not a contest, so come join us to discuss Ham Radio or the problems of the world. Enjoy some tiem under the big pecan trees down by Cibolo Creek near Marion, Texas. We will have Polish Sausage wrapped in tortillas and bottled water. Carol will play you Hammered Dulcimer. If there is a lot of rain, call first because this is near a creek bottom with the usual country / creek insects.