San Antonio Hams » Hayes Caldwell ARES
Jul 7

The annual 4th of July parade was held in Startzville,Texas, on the south side of Canyon Lake.

As usual for the past 20+ years, the members of Hill Country REACT, with assistance from the HCHams (Hayes / Caldwell County Hams), and a few others, managed the staging area, got everybody lined up in the right order, and merged in the units (like the USAF Band, the horses, & the local dignitaries) when the parade started around 11am.

The parade started with a fly over by the Combined Air Force (used to be Confederate Air Force) based in San Marcos.

We did shoot some video of the parade, with quality of questionable focus, using a new HD Vehicle DVR Recorder mounted inside the front windshield of my van.   Even though I had washed the van the night before, it sprinkled on the way up that morning before dawn, and perhaps some neighborhood birds decided to add their deposits on the way up as well. (Note to self: Wash the window before shooting video thru it next time!)   With the glare of the sun, sometimes the focus wasn’t as sharp as I would have preferred, or expected had I used a real video camera mounted outside the glass.  I’ll post that edited video later on, for those who care to watch it.  It’s clear, just slightly not as clear as I’d prefer, or maybe it’s just my eye glass prescription needing tweaked.  :)

Here is a list of hams and other volunteers working on behalf of REACT for this event, followed by a gallery of photos taken by either myself or Jake Creamer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share
Nov 13

Bandera 100k Buckle

Location:

Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera, Texas

 

 When: 7th and 8th of January 2012

Description:

It is that time of year, to start forming the roster and making preparations for the 10th Annual Bandera 100k Ultra-Marathon held at Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera County.

Tejas Trails Communication Group – Sponsored by Hill Country REACT has been the lead team for communications for this event the past 6 years with the assistance of many hams from the San Antonio, Austin and other areas around the state..

This event typically requires 15 – 16 Amateur Radio Operators in a situation that is similar to what an Emergency Communications Operator would experience in a disaster zone. UHF, VHF and Packet communications are involved in this event.

This is a fun event with challenges.  The participants of this event, are of a type you will not encounter at most other events we deal with throughout the year.  Over the years, we have made some lasting friendships!

Read the rest of this entry »

Share
Nov 13

Title: 13th Annual Skywarn Recognition Day
Location: Austin/San Antonio National Weather Service Office – New Braunfels Airport
Description: The Austin/San Antonio National Weather Service Office will be participating in the 2011 Skywarn Recognition Day, which will occur from 1800hrs 2 December 2011 to 1800hrs 3 December 2011.

Our station will again be operating for the entire 24 hours time period, utilizing 2m, 440, multiple HF bands, as well as Echolink and IRLP contacts.

This is the 13th year for the program, and I believe will be the 9th year this station has participated. Each year, our station, thanks to the dedication and perseverance of many dedicated hams from throughout the South Central Texas area, has improved on its contact status, and rating in the Skywarn Recognition Day program.

All Licensed Amateur Radio Operators are invited to participate in this fun event.  Yes, Technician class licensees are encouraged to participate, as we do utilize 2m, 440 and the digital modes!

We schedule operators in 2 hours blocks of time, with a maximum of 3 operators per block! Of course, if you choose to, you may request scheduling for multiple blocks, either consecutive or broken. Such as one evening shift and one early morning shift.

Due to limited security, space, and the fact the NWS staff is still operating, we can only have 3 operators, and try to keep the noise level to a minimum. Although, many members of the staff enjoy hearing the goings on, when things are not busy on their end. We have had severe weather events occur, during the SRD.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share
May 17

Once again, the regional American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure event is upon us!  May 22-23rd are the Dates.  This is a 2-day event starting at the Retama Park in Selma (Just north of San Antonio, Off IH-35 & 1604).    Day 1 ends in San Marcos at the Texas State University, Butler Dorm.   Day 2 starts at the same place as Day 1 Finish, and ends at Akins High School in south Austin.

HELP IS STILL NEEDED!  

SAG DRIVERS & REST STOP HAMS (Day 1 only)

We’ve got a few vacancies left for driving either a Toyota Truck (from Austin Champion Toyota) or a 15 Passenger Van (from Enterprise in San Antonio near the airport).   Call Lee at 210-771-7075 ASAP If you want to volunteer cause time is running out.  1 Toyota Truck is available as of Sunday  night, and 2 of the 15 Passenger Vans are available as of Sunday night.   We could also put a few more folks into Documation SCION sag cars, but that is being controlled by another person and the # of vacancies is unknown as of Sunday night.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share
Dec 19

Every year, the Hill Country REACT Team has been helping out the with the Christmas Parade in Sattler, Texas, just east of Canyon Lake. We organize and run the two parade staging areas, mix the two together before they hit the parade route, and ensure that the announcer knows about any changes before they reach his or her location. We get the help of a couple neighboring ham clubs from as far away as 50-70 miles (GVARC, HC Hams).

Read the rest of this entry »

Share
Dec 16

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share
Nov 24

100_2935On the morning of Saturday, November 21st, Gary K5GST and Lee N5NTG took a field trip up to New Braunfels, having breakfast with members of the Guadalupe Valley Amateur Radio Club at their favorite restaurant, Los Gallos on Loop 337 near Commons Street.    

After stuffing ourselves on some very excellent Mexican breakfast food, we poured ourselves into Gary’s truck and headed further north on IH-35, looking for the San Marcos Public Library on East Hopkins Street.  This was the location of a meeting for the Hayes Caldwell Hams, a group of hams who has been very active in our recent Hurricane Evacuation Drills.      They were showing a movie from CQ Magazine about Ham Radio, produced in 1994, before the spread of the Internet and Email addresses.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share
Sep 5

Topic: AFTER ACTION REPORT
Event: NAVY-MARINE CORPS MARS / REACT HURRICANE EXCERCISE
Conducted : AUGUST 29, 2009
Written by: Bob Hejl – W2IK – W5BOG – NNN0KSI – NNN0GBY2 NMC MARS STX ECOMÂ
Report Released: September 4, 2009

The joint exercise as conducted by Navy-Marine Corps MARS, REACT and Bexar Operators Group on August 29, 2009 also encompassed other groups who wished to test inter-service communications during the scenario of a hurricane hitting the Texas gulf coast just north of Corpus Christi.

These other groups included / covered:

  • Guadalupe County OEM
  • Hays County Sheriff’s Office
  • Caldwell County EOC
  • San Marcos Police Department
  • Nueces County EOC
  • National Weather Service – Corpus Christi
  • National Weather Service – New Braunfels
  • Central Texas Medical Center
  • Chaparral Amateur Radio Club
  • Hays/Caldwell Hams Amateur Radio Club
  • Hays/Caldwell ARES Guadalupe VOAD
  • Lockhart Police Department
  • Driscoll Children’s Hospital – Corpus Christi
  • One Army MARS Station
  • Guadalupe Valley Amateur Radio Club (provided the VHF repeater)

If we left out any additional groups who participated, please contact us with the proper details. – Bob

We were testing out the MOU’s between REACT and NMC MARS as well as intercommunication skills. The exercise began at 11 AM local time with three phases: Pre-Land Fall (testing evacuation communications) , Land Fall (testing up to date weather conditions and storm damage) and Post Land Fall (evacuees returning to their homes, damage assessment, etc) In the spirit of cohesiveness, the operation was a success.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share
Aug 29

On Saturday, August 29th, there were a few of us who got up when the chickens did, to get our radios and portable antennas ready for a South Texas Hurricane Drill.    Some operators chose locations that were pre-set up and air conditioned, others like me chose to “rough it” in the great outdoors without any AC.   Fortunately for us, the weather cooperated and it didn’t storm on us, nor did it get as hot as recent days.   My van’s thermometer (sitting out there in the sun on black asphalt) got up to 102, but it wasn’t that hot inside our very shaded shelter area.  We should have brought a box fan with us, but we didn’t think about that until we were already there and set up.

Hill Country REACT Team was tasked with staffing the state rest area located on west bound IH-10 at the 619 mile marker.  To convert that description into plain English, this was the last major rest stop on IH-10 for folks coming west from Houston or the coast, prior to Seguin or even San Antonio, TX.  This rest stop has been used in previous (actual) evacuations to monitor traffic flow on the interstate, so that emergency officials (primarly in San Antonio) could be given advance notice of mass arrivals.    We only truly needed to run 2 meters VHF capability here, but we experimented with a couple of HF antennas as well.

Today, three members (Lee N5NTG, Gary K5GST, Ray KE5KHN) of our REACT Team set up as part of a much larger drill, a drill that saw at least 2 ARES groups, our REACT Team, the Bexar Operators Group, South TX Navy-Marine Corps MARS, an Army MARS station, 2 National Weather Service Offices, multiple county EOC’s both near SA and down by the coast, etc.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share
Aug 23

In a recent posting by W2IK, the upcoming drill on Saturday, August 29th, was discussed in rather general terms.   Since that time, we’ve increased the scope of this event somewhat.    We’ve added one ARES group (Hayes / Caldwell County) to the mix, and have room for more if other groups want to  participate.

The event will only last 3 hours of radio time (11am – 2pm Saturday), compressing several days into 3 hours.  What fun!   We’ll be using local VHF freqs for operations near SA and another freq for local CC comm, plus a 40 meters net for the group, and MARS’s HF freq for their internal operations.  We’ll be using the NWS office in New Braunfels KD5UMW and Drisocoll Childrens Hospital W5DCH as net controls.

Event:  Hurricane “Albert” is expected to make landfall just north of Corpus with maximum winds at 130 mph.

  • Hour 1 – Pre-Landfall – evacuation of residents in coastal cities in path of storm. Problems with evac routes and major side routes.  Status of Shelter fill rates, etc.
  • Hour 2 – Landfall - Loss of power, high winds, property damage noticed, major flooding and high surf conditions.  Problems with evac routes and major side routes.  Status of Shelter fill rates, etc.
  • Hour 3 – Post-Landfall – Sending in teams to evaluate damage, return residents, status of evac routes being returned to normal use, power failures in area, comm failures in area due to towers blown or power failures, etc.  Wrap up.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share

« Previous Entries