San Antonio Hams

At the July membership meeting of the Hill Country REACT Team held up in Bulverde, TX at the Bulverde VFD on Cougar Bend Rd & FM 1863, Wednesday night (07/22), the guest speaker was GVARC member Skip WB4DAD talking and demonstrating ways to learn CW and encouraging the members to give CW a try on the air.

You could tell by watching Skip, that he really enjoys his CW.   He demonstrated three different types of keyers, a couple of paddles and a straight key.

For more info about Hill Country REACT Team or their upcoming events, please visit their website at www.hillcountryreact.org or join their yahoo group “hillcountryreact”.

The Bexar Operators Group has closed the availability of our late October, three  day “Jump Team Boot Camp” session as we have reached both our limits of registered applicants and  filled a short standby list.

I did turn away a few people, such as a father and son team from the mid-west who wanted to “audit” (just watch) the event. This boot camp is only for the “doer” and all participants are expected to do everything so they can be prepared for any real emergency event.

Some slots were filled by hams from North Texas, Army MARS and hams from the mid-west. There were no hams from South Texas who wanted to attend. I may have to make some minor adjustments to the timing of the event in order to accommodate people coming in from out of state and so the personnel teaching survival skills can be available. 

I probably will have a few of the special 200+ page session guides available after the event, replete with any additions made during the event, for sale to others.

Bob  W2IK – NNN0KSI – NNN0GBY2  STX NAVMC MARS Ecom

Hill Country REACT Team #4804

Visit us at www.HillCountryREACT.org

We would like top take a chance to invite you to attend the next meeting of Hill Country REACT Team #4804 to hear our guest speaker Skip Stem/WB4DAD talk about CW Operations!

Skip is along time CW Operator and has been working CW on the HF bands for a number of years.  Many of us learned our CW years ago to upgrade our licenses but few us have taken to the air and used this skill.  And many new operators, despite the fact that CW is no longer a requirement to hold an amateur license desire to learn this mode.  So come one, come all and find out what CW is all about!

We meet at the Bulverde Fire Station on Cougar Bend in downtown Bulverde at 1900 (7:00 PM) on the fourth Wednesday of the month.  This month that will be July 22nd.

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Title: Bandera 100K Ultra-Marathon
Location: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera, TX
Link out: Click here
Description: Hill Country REACT and San Antonio Region Amateurs have provided Comms support for this event over the last 5 years. There are 5 fixed and a couple of rover positions to be filled over the 24 hr event. Typically 10-14 operators are needed! Safety, Supply and Tracking logistics are involved. For the 2010 event we are adding Packet to facilitate the tracking logistics, and with some technical help, will provide live internet updates to the families and friends of the participants at home! For more information or to volunteer, contact Louis Upton @mailto:k1stx@yahoo.com (210-687-4347) or Gary Tangrady @ k5gst@live.com. Thank You!
Start Date: 2010-01-09
Start Time: 06:30
End Date: 2010-01-10
End Time: 07:30

Hill Country REACT will be coordinating the annual 4th of July parade up at Startzville, TX, on the south side of Canyon Lake again this year.    Hams from any club are welcome to participate, you do not need to be a REACT member in order to volunteer to work this event.  Some members of REACT, GVARC and Hayes Caldwell ARES are already scheduled for this event.  

Parade line-up starts around 9am, but we need to be in place before then. The parade usually starts at 11am, once the Confederate Air Force completes their traditional annual fly-over.  Clean your car / truck / suv / RV / mini-van / motorcycle and be ready to jump in line at the back of the parade after the staging area clears. 

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by Shane O’Neal NS5D

Field Day 2009 is nearly upon us, and preparations are underway to make this the largest, most successful Field Day event in San Antonio’s history. This is thanks to the participation of AARO, SARC, ROOST, SARO, Hill Country REACT, QCWA and many other organizations and individuals, operating jointly under the banner of Bexar County ARES.

Field Day 2009 is expected to draw record numbers of operators and will feature many different bands and modes of operation, including PHONE, CW, SSB, PSK-31, FM and ATV as a Class “A” station. The total number of transmitters to be operated has yet to be determined, but will number at least six.

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Hill Country REACT Meeting – May 27 @ 7pm

Come one, Come all!
Join the festivities!
Find out all about this PSK 31 Stuff!

Bob Rodriguez/K5AUW (photo on right)

Bob Rod, a local Guru will be speaking about PSK 31 in the first of a new series of speakers at the next REACT meeting!

REACT is largely committed to Public Service Events as you may already know but this year we are expanding our activities to include some more of the fun stuff. Later this year we will be having a FOX Hunt, a great activity for the old timers and a fantastic learning experience for the newcomers! And this summer we are planning on having a special test session, a one time deal, in the middle of the week up in Bulverde, to help new people and those already licensed either get licensed or upgraded.

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Title: 5k Run For The Hills
Location: Bulverde Senior Citizens Center
Description: 5k Run to benefit the Bulverde Senior Citizens Center. Ham radio support coordinated by Hill County REACT. Contact Gary K5GST – k5gst@live.com
Start Time: 8:00
Date: 2009-04-27
End Time: 11:00

    Bob Hejl – W2IK   World Trade Center Disaster First Responder

PTSD can happen at any time after an event. As in my case, even years after. There is usually a “trigger” (a word, smell, image, another experience, etc) which can set it off, and in my case it was just a thought that popped into my head. 

Allow me to explain.

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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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