San Antonio Hams

Title: Bandera 100K Ultra-Marathon
Location: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera, Texas
Link out: Click here
Description: 12th Annual Bandera 100k Ultra-Marathon held at Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera County.
Communications over the last 8 years has been covered by Hill Country REACT and several other teams and individuals. The Amateur Radio community plays a valuable role during the event, providing real time tracking and safety for the participants and crews. Over the years, our role has increased from basic communications relays to an integral part of the timing, scoring and tracking of the participants.
This 24 hour event typically requires 15 – 16 Amateur Radio Operators in an environment that is similar to what an Emergency Communications Operator would experience in a disaster zone. UHF, VHF and Packet communications are used during this event.
Interested operators should contact the Communications and Safety Team coordinator – K5STX, Louis Upton at k5stx@arrl.net or 830-305-2889
Start Date: 2013-01-12
Start Time: 06:00
End Date: 2013-01-13
End Time: 07:00

Effective immediately, Joe Bruno W5AUQ is appointed as EC for Guadalupe county in District 12.  Joe replaces Joe Thompson W4CTH who became a silent key July 7th.  Joe Thompson was a terrific EC and all around ham and will be missed…

Our thanks to Joe Bruno for reassuming the EC slot.

Tom Whiteside, N5TW
ARRL South Texas Section Emergency Coordinator

It is with a sad and heavy heart, that I have the task to notify the Ham Community, that Joe Thompson – W4CTH became a silent key at 02:00 hrs the 7th of July 2012.

Joe was at home with his wife Mary Kay at the time of his passing!  His daughter was also on the property near their home!

Details regarding services will be passed to the community as they are made available!

Our thoughts and prayers are with Mary Kay, family and friends!

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!

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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.

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As of 12:36 p.m. Saturday September 26, 2009, Chaparral Amateur Radio Club aka Guadalupe County ARES would like to announce the re-birth of the .76 repeater!

As many know, the .76 in Seguin has a special place in history, and is close to the hearts of many in the area. It was important to many, that this repeater pair stay with CARC and in Seguin.

Special Thanks go to Jeremy Davenport – KE5ELI, Don Kirchner – W5DK, and David Floyd – WD5IEH for their contributions in time, equipment and expertise completing the project.

Over the last several months, this group of dedicated Amateurs has been working on this project, and today, the 146.76 was brought back to life, better than ever. The overall goal, upon installation of the new antenna (still 6 weeks from delivery) and some minor tweaks, is to have a strong and reliable wide area coverage repeater, that can be enjoyed by all, and provide valuable communications links during public service and disaster events!

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In the spirit of, as Lee, N5NTG, put it: “….it struck me how much the “turf boundaries” between clubs has shrunk, …… I think that “shrinking” is a good thing to be happening” 

In the spirit of cooperation, the Bexar Operators Group has offered to underwrite and offer their “2010 Jump Team Boot Camp” to members of the Chaparral Amateur Radio Club (which happens to also be the Guadalupe County ARES group).

This would be the third “Jump Team Boot Camp” given by the Bexar Operators Group. It would be a two-day (not three day) deployment event at a site with no facilities north-east of Austin. This “Jump Team Boot Camp” will concentrate on amateur radio and the ways and means to get a communications jump team operational should there be a need to deploy some distance from your home and communicate in the aftermath of a disaster. This session is planned for the weekend of  March 20-21st, but we are open to other weekend dates within this Spring time frame.
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Members of the Chaparral Amateur Radio Club (which happens to also be the Guadalupe County ARES group) set up and tested NVIS antennas at the county EOC in Seguin on Sunday, September 13th.   Their goal was to design an antenn that could be raised or lowered from the ground, in order to find that sweet spot where the noise floor was the lowest.  

We’re hoping to get an after action report to be added here in a few days, so please check back for more details about the results of this test.

The following photos were taken during the event by the well known local NVIS antenna consultant and guru, Bob W2IK, who was obviously present but not shown in the photos since he was on the other side of the camera. 

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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 ECOM�
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.

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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.

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