San Antonio Hams

W4CTH @ Texas Water Safari

We just got the heads up about Joe Thompson W4CTH passing away today. Joe had a fatal heart attack at home around 2am this morning (7/7/2012). His wife & daughter were home at the time it happened.

W4CTH @ July 4th Parade

Joe was a active member of Hill Country REACT, Chaparral Amateur Radio Club (Seguin), and was the ARES EC for the Guadalupe County ARES group.Joe had  helped this year with Heart of the Hills Horse event in March, Net Control for the San Antonio Tour de Cure in May, the Luling Crossing Checkpoint for the Texas Water Safari in June, and the Canyon Lake 4th of July Parade this week.

From Louis N5STX –  His full name was Needham Joe Thompson!  Joe was EC for Guadalupe County ARES, Member of Hill Country REACT, Chaparral Amateur Radio Club, active with Bexar County ARES, RACES and MARS (AAR6TO < I believe)!  I believe he may have been the the County Liason Officer with RACES in Guadalupe County. Very active with the various ultra-marathons, bike events and the AERC Heart of the Hills event in Bandera.

Unknown to many, Joe was a retired Doctor, when on many of his traveled, still practiced/volunteered at a clinic in South Carolina and I believe one in Florida! <need to confirm this – I do remember him talking about this! Joe live for his grand children, frequently taking them to events around the country.

Service Information
Mass will be held on Wednesday, July 11, 2012 at 1:30p.m.
St James Catholic Church
510 S. Camp St
Seguin, TX  78155

More details will be posted here as made available.  Our thanks to Louis K5STX for providing us with the notice a few hours ago.

The following letter (from REACT) was hand delivered to SARO at their membership meeting on January 27th. The SARO membership subsequently passed a motion at that same meeting, to authorize the SARO board to spend up to $5,000 for obtaining the services of a tower crew and needed hardware to finish this project ASAP. 

Nearly 2 years ago, Hill Country REACT purchased  a 1283 ft long’ spool of 1-5/8″ foam core Anderson Heliax, and reserved it for the completion of the 147.14 restoration project, but if the project remains unlikely to move forward, this valuable resource will be reassigned, or sold  by, REACT for other more feasible projects. – Lee N5NTG

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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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Where: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera County Texas

When:  January 8 and 9th, 2011

What:  Tejas Trails – Bandera 100k Ultra Marathon

Start: 0700 hrs Saturday, the 8th

Finish: 0700 hrs Sunday, the 9th (radio operations typically stand down at 0430 hrs, when the last aid station closes down)

The event is three races in one, a 25k, 50k and 100k that incorporates nearly every trail on the 5400 acres of Hill Country State Natural Area. This is a unique situation to train and test EmComm abilities in a remote environment, provide a service, as well as enjoy the Texas Hill Country!

Duties:  This is a 24 hour all weather event! Amateur operators man the Aid Stations and duties are basically like any other bike or running event (BP150, MS150, River Safari, etc), relaying supply needs, runner counts and times, and coordinating the Horse Patrol with Safety and SAR operations!  Operators support Race Control, Aid Stations and the HCSNAP Coordinated Horse Patrol! Operators will stay in constant contact with the Aid Station Captain and/or Race Recorder, in order to keep the Database up-to-date.

Needed:  We need 10 or so licensed Amateurs to assist with this event. The more the merrier! Minimum 50 watt dual band portable/mobile EmComm type set-ups required in case we need to go simplex, if the repeater fails to produce.  Most communications will be done with 5 watts or so through the hilltop repeater, but just in case of a catastrophic failure of the repeater, we can go to simplex. All the Aid stations allow close proximity of your vehicle, so proper crossbanding can be utilized!

Even if you can only help out for a part of the event, we can still use you!

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About 21  radio operators gathered at the Mountain Valley Middle School in Sattler, Texas (just east of Canyon Lake) to help organize the staging area for the 2010 Annual Canyon Lake Christmas Parade at 8am Saturday morning, December 11, 2010.

Hill Country REACT has been organizing this event for more years than we can remember, 14+ years at least.   For the past few years, we’ve been lucky to get help from neighboring ham clubs, and this year was no different.  In addition to members from our own team, we also had volunteers from Travis County REACT (Austin), HC Hams (Hayes / Caldwell), and Guadalupe Valley ARC (GVARC – New Braunfels). Not shown in photo is photographer Lee N5NTG.

Here is a list of radio operators working the event…

• Ray McLeaird            HC REACT
• Charlie Land              HC REACT
• Lee Besing                HC REACT
• David Besing             HC REACT
• Gary Tangrady           HC REACT
• Charles Manley III     HC REACT
• Barbara Manley          HC REACT
• Wade Bolling             HC REACT
• Wade Martyn             HC REACT
• Mike Pérez                HC REACT
• “Skipp” Stem             GVARC
• Samuel Stem            GVARC
• Richard Graham       GVARC
• Chuck Donohoe       GVARC
• Jake Creamer          HCARC/ HC REACT
• Rick Coleman          HCARC
• Bernard Ederer        HCARC
• Dianne Shirey          HCARC
• Bob Shirey               HCARC
• Roger Wines and  4 other Travis County REACT members

This year the parade staging area was changed, reversed from previous years.  The new layout worked much better for us, giving us more room to stretch out the entries.  We had nearly 60 entries this year, and the Shriners counted as just one entry, so you can guess how big it really was.    The parade route was more than 2 miles, starting on the northside of  Sattler, ending on the south end.  Traffic was snarled for more than an hour and a half while the parade was on the main route thru town.

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2010 National Weather Service
Skywarn Recognition Day
December 4, 2009 (Friday Night – Saturday)
0000-2400 UTC

SKYWARN Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League. It celebrates the contributions that volunteer SKYWARN radio operators make to the National Weather Service. During the day SKYWARN operators visit NWS offices and contact other radio operators across the world.

The National Weather Service Austin-San Antonio will again be a part of this year’s Skywarn Recognition Day event. If you wish to be a part of the Austin-San Antonio effort, contact Louis Upton – K5STX who will be spearheading the schedule.  Please contact him at: k5stx@arrl.net

In other areas of the country, check with your local National Weather Service office to see if they are participating in this event or having an “open house”. It is not a contest, but rather an operating event. Amateur radio operators will be on the air from National Weather Service offices and from their home stations as well. Depending upon how many NWS stations a ham operator contacts they will be given certificates of varying levels.
The certificate (shown to the left) was given to W2IK in 2006 for contacting over 40 different NWS stations all across the US. Be a part of this fun event by either visiting your local NWS or by making contacts with as many stations as you can.

For updated information concerning this event, just go to:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/hamradio/

At this site, you can get a list of participating NWS offices, their call signs, and other useful information. Check this site often as additional participating offices will be listed as the day approaches. I hope you’ll join in on the fun and learn more about the National Weather Service and the function Skywarn plays in keeping the country safe during severe weather conditions.

Last year, we made 360 contacts from our site which was a major increase from previous years. This year, we want to break that record. Contact Louis to join us or go on the air from your home station to work us.

Good Morning,

Sorry for the late notice on the location, but here we go!
As requested during post race briefings last year, we are having a test and tune for the Bandera 100k, which also benefits the Water Safari Volunteers!
Jeremy and I will be holding a test and tune session of the spreadsheet program and packet equipment that is used for the Texas Water Safari and Bandera 100k events.
Saturday, Nov 13th between from 8:00 a.m. to around noon! Jeremy and I will be on site at 0800 hrs, with the majority of the group coming in around 0900 hrs!
Location: Guadalupe County Office of Emergency Management: 415 E. Donegan St. Seguin, TX
Two blocks East of the Courthouse, one block south!

The purpose of the test, is to try the new configuration with various computers, to make sure the spreadsheet will communicate with the computers comm port settings correctly.
Bring the set-up you plan to use during the Bandera 100k event or Water Safari!
Note: We have found already, that the new Windows 7, running 64 bit is not working correctly(Jeremy may find a fix for this).  Windows 7, running 32 bit appear to be functioning properly.

We will be running the program through the digi-peater, back and forth, and really try hard to crash the system to try and eliminate any problems that could occur during the events.

If you can make it, fantastic!  If not, one we have the bugs worked out, the files will be sent out with detailed install instructions for you
to try prior to the race.
The session is primarily for Bandera 100k/Water Safari volunteers running packet, but anyone with an interest is invited to attend. This spreadsheet and packet software could have many uses!

If you have any questions, please contact me @ trlrider@gvec.net or 830-305-2889.
Also, PLEASE RSVP if you can make it!

Thanks,

Louis – K5STX

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.

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