San Antonio Hams

Bexar County ARES has scheduled another Field Examination session for the ARRL Emergency Communications course to be held on December 1, at 5pm at the San Antonio Red Cross in classroom 3. The address is 3642 E Houston St. 78219.

So, if anyone would like to study up and take the test let us know.

Ref: http://www.arrl.org/emergency-communications-training

So far we have 1 ham interested. The requirements are: Identification (FCC license not required), there is the standard ARRL fee of $15, cash, and you must provide the dates of your completion of the FEMA course prerequisites, ICS-100 and 700.

73 Ray 210-845-2288

The 2015 communications team, for the running of the Cactus Rose 100, was supported on-air for 31 hours by five members of Hill Country REACT and one member of the Chaparral Amateur Radio Club.

CR100 has been a event on the public event schedule for 5 years now, with Hill Country REACT as the lead with participation from numerous individuals and organizations.  Our involvement with Tejas Trails is going on about 11 years, between the Bandera 100K and Cactus Rose 100.

Both events are held on the Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera County Texas. Continued support and dedication from members of Hill Country REACT, Highland Lakes ARC, Chaparral ARC, Hill Country ARC and numerous individuals of various affiliations continue to make these events a communications success which bring awareness and appreciation to the Amateur Radio community.

 Hill Country State Natural Area is a 5,400 acre facility with over 34 miles of equestrian, hiking, biking and running trails from flat and smooth to 45 degree rocky climbs.

The environment and terrain at HCSNA creates numerous challenges for communications. Cell phone coverage is nearly non-existent with the average smart phone, the nearest permanent ham repeater is over 20 miles away and behind a range, and simplex vhf/uhf communications can be finicky.

At most events we deploy a portable repeater onsite, but due to the impending weather forecast the decision was made to work strictly simplex and not attempt this to expedite demobilization. At the remote aid stations, HT’s were supported by mobile units positioned nearby.

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HAM RADIO CLASS AND EXAM

The Chaparral Amateur Radio Club is offering a technician-level license class September 19 and 26 (2015) at the office of Guadalupe County Emergency Management Office, 415 East Donegan Street in Seguin. It will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. A license exam will be given before the end of class on September 26th.

This is an intense two-day course that covers all of the material necessary to pass the exam to obtain a Federal Communications Commission Amateur Radio Technician class license.

Participants will need a “Technician Class Manual” (2014-2018) by Gordon West, available from www.w5yi.org/catalog for $21.95.

There is no Morse code requirement for this license.

The technician class license is the entry-level license of choice for most new ham radio operators.

The license gives access to all amateur radio frequencies above 30 megahertz, allowing these licensees the ability to communicate locally and most often within North America. It also allows for some limited privileges on the HF (also called “short wave”) bands used for international communications.

For more information, contact Steve Leibovitz at sandpiper986@yahoo.com or 830.660.9514, or Max Brandenberger at maxb@kd5sfk.com or 512.470.5431.

Hill Country REACT Team 4804 will be holding their monthly  meeting on Tuesday,  22 September 2015 @ 1900 hrs.  The meeting is held at Picadillo’s  Restaurant in Bulverde.

Anyone interested in purchasing service and/or emergency communications is invited to attend.   Our team is very diverse and active with many benefit and community service activities in the region that require additional communication  via radio.

Looking forward to seeing some new faces.

Thank You,

Louis Upton – Hill Country REACT President

Technician classes are being offered free of charge to anyone interested in becoming an amateur radio operator or seeking a refresher; supervised children are welcome. This session consists of eight 2-hour classes to be held every Wednesday beginning at 7:00 p.m. on September 9, 2015,
at Schneider Engineering in Boerne, TX. For more details or to sign up, please email Ken Nichols KD3VK at classes@kb5tx.org

It’s time to dust off those radios, go-kits, antennas and get signed up to volunteer for the public service events that will be starting up in September and October 2915.  I’ll make another post later to cover the events happening in November (Veterans Day Parade, Tour de Gruene) and December (Skywarn

September 12-13th – Central Texas American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure (Austin) – This will be a two-day event starting at the Oak Hill Freescale campus on Saturday, overnight at Jellystone near Fredericksburg, then back to Freescale on Sunday. Also on Sunday, there are other lower-mileage rides on Sunday, basically orbiting Freescale. Contact is Jeff Schmidt N5MNW and Lee Besing N5NTG. Repeater and APRS coverage is still be coordinated. More information about the ride can be found online at this site.

September 12th – La Vernia Wildwest Hammerfest – The San Antonio Ham Support Team will NOT be working this ride this  year due to a disagreement with event organizers over something that occurred during the 2014 ride.  Other hams from Wilson County may be involved, but the usual crew from San Antonio will not be coordinating.

September 13th – HEB 110th Anniversary Bike Fest in Boerne – This is a brand new ride celebrating HEB’s 110th anniversary, benefiting the Junior Diabetes Research Foundation.  Lead Ham Club on this event will naturally be Kendall Amateur Radio Society (KARS) since it is their backyard.  Looks so far like we’ll need to cover 9 break points and 6 SAG vehicles with ham operators, so KARS needs our support to keep this event safer.   Contact David Moore N7RF  (KARS) or Mary Anne Horn N5MYN (SARO) to volunteer ASAP.

October 3-4th – Valero BikeMS Ride To The River – This is our annual 2-day event that was changed from the 2nd weekend to the 1st weekend of October this  year.  On Saturday, the ride goes from the east side of San Antonio (near Houston St and IH-10), out thru Seguin (lunch stop) and back west to New Braunfels, ending at the Comal County Fairgrounds.   Route includes an option to tour River Road if the rider gets past the cut-off point prior to 3:30pm.   Both of Sunday’s routes will start and ends at the Fairgrounds, with courses remaining in the Canyon Lake area.

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Funeral Arrangements for Jack Renwick, KB5IQI who passed away on Thursday, July 2, 2015.

Viewing Thursday July 16 beginning 11:00 A.M. at Trinity Baptist Church located at 319 E Mulberry, San Antonio, TX. Funeral Services will be from 12:00 to 1:00 P.M. at Trinity Baptist Church. A grave site service with full military honors will be at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery after the Funeral Service.

73
Eric
WB5ZJQ

As some may not have heard, Gordon Dial, K5SUZ, passed away last weekend. The cause appears to be health related, perhaps complications with diabetes. Gordon was very active in the HAM community and volunteering his time and resources to many worthy causes.  He will be missed.

\LOCATION:  Porter Loring Funeral Home downtown,  1101 McCullough Ave. (This is on the corner of McCullough Ave. and southbound IH-35 access Road.   From IH-35 south (upper level), take the Brooklyn / McCullough exit ramp. It will drop you right where you need to be.  From IH-35 north (upper level) take the same exit, but turn left under the overpass to get to the southbound direction.)

VIEWING:  On Thursday, July 2, 2015 from 6pm-8pm.

Funeral Service:  Friday, July 3, 2015 at 1:00pm at the Porter Loring Mortuary Chapel at the same location. He will be buried at Mission Park Cemetery. An obituary will be posted on the Porter Loring Mortuary web site http://porterloring.tributes.com/funeral_homes/obituaries/  as soon as one has been received from the family.

If you need more directions or other information, Porter Loring has a representative to answer your questions any time at (210) 227-8221. Please feel free to share this information with anyone who may have an acquaintance with Gordon or his family.

The Skywarn Operators at the Austin-San Antonio NWO are in the process of updating our files and call-up list. Recently we have found the EC’s, Skywarn Coordinators and Net Controls have changed drastically in the various counties we serve.
It has also been found that several repeaters used in the past to contact and monitor Skywarn operations have changed or are no longer functioning.
If someone from each county could please e-mail me the contact information, frequencies and other pertinent information for ARES and Skywarn it would be greatly appreciated.
Also be advised that we have created a Facebook page and Twitter account to help get the word out. Feel free to like or follow to stay up to date with our operations.
Thank You, Louis – K5STX
e-mail to wx5exw at gmail dot com