Jul 7

Every week, we delete close to 50+ new spam user registrations on this blog, mostly from @126.com or @163.com domains.  When we had the free classified ads feature activated on this site, these idiots would flood us with bogus ads from India, make money from home scams, and other bogus stuff.  Now they just register and find out there isn’t a place for their stupid ads.

If you register as a user on this site, please give us your name & call sign (if applicable) when you sign up.  Otherwise, if you have some weird looking email address that doesn’t make obvious sense to us, we’ll delete you along with the bogus registrations each week. We do encourage new users who are either ham radio operators or interested in ham radio topics.

However, if you contact us at info@sanantoniohams.org and ask to be bumped up in “status” so you can post your own articles (ham related please), we’ll know you are a real person because we’ll confirm that before raising your status on this blog.

We encourage new authors to register & write / post their own news articles, but newbies will continue to have their postings moderated until I get to know the author and build up a trust factor between us.

Lee N5NTG
210-771-7075 (voice/text okay)

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Jul 7

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.

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Jul 7

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!

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Jul 3

Dr Larry Becker W5VEO

Dr. Larry Becker W5VEO, a well known & active member of Kendall Amateur Radio Socity (KARS), was hit and killed Thursday night (6/28/2012) while riding his bicycle on the access road of Interstate 10 in Kendall County.  Larry was 69 years old, a ham operator & a dermatologist with offices in Boerne and San Antonio.He had last been spotted riding his bicycle along the IH-10 access road less than an hour before the accident by another KARS member, who said Larry had been wearing his trademark bright yellow jersey and a helmet. It was dry and still daylight at the time Larry was hit by the truck.

Around 7:15 p.m. on 06/28/2012, Dr. Larry Becker was struck by an unknown vehicle that fled the scene in the 39000 block of west-bound Interstate 10, a relative confirmed. A Department of Public Safety official said the impact of the crash threw Becker into a ditch and left his bike, a carbon fiber racing-style bicycle, in pieces. Officers at the scene said Becker had died from his injuries.

His wife, Dorothy made public pleas via the news media for information about the hit & run accident, asking for any witnesses or the person driving the vehicle to step forward.  The Kendall County Crime Stoppers put a hefty reward out for info leading the arrest & conviction of the guilty person or persons.

On Monday, July 2nd, after the word went out today about a $25,000 reward going out by Kendall County Crime Stoppers for info//capture of the person who ran down, killed, and hit&run Doc Larry W5VEO Becker, Col MedicalCorps US Army, at 7pm last Thurs late-afternoon — the perp decided to turn himself in.  Hams from KARS had been scouting out the area, looking for pickup trucks or other vehicles with a missing radio antenna (AM/FM was found on the scene) and damage to the right front / side of the vehicle.

Richard reports the following details:

1.)  There will be a viewing at David Vaughn’s Funeral Home, here in Boerne, 319 East San Antonio St., on Monday 9 July from 6-8pm. 2.)  The Funeral Service at 10:30am on Tue 10 July at First Baptist Church is still the same.  There will be a lunch at the church afterwards. 3.)   But, Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery has made room to receive Larry with Military Honors at 2:30pm on Tuesday 10 July 2012.

Our thanks to Richard McDaniel K4RMC & other KARS members for keeping us informed.

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Jun 24

I spent about 8 hours at the AARO Field Day at Raymond Russell Park, where they almost ended up with a Marachi Band for entertainment (band went to the wrong pavilion), then moved on to visit the KARS Ham Club in Boerne before swinging back down south around midnight to the SARC Ham Club in Shavano Park.

By the time I left SARC, still running on those 5 hour energy drinks, I started to head south to ROOST, knowing they would be still running full steam ahead even in the middle of the night, but sanity prevailed, and I advised my “extra” wife that I’d be heading home soon instead of visiting more FD sites this weekend.

I used my cell phone to make some videos and take some pics, but the phone battery died & had to be recharged after I left AARO, so no middle of the night pics from KARS or SARC to be shared.  I’ve been promised pics from other hams who were at those locations, however.

AARO did a 1 day only FD event, starting setup around 10am when the park opened (county park hours restricted how long they could stay there), and shutting down & leaving before midnight when the county park turned into a pumpkin one more.  They were running 6 stations in different modes (voice / digital / cw / satellite) on various bands, and had more antennas and generators than I’ve seen in a long time.

Most of the actual radio operators were taking it very seriously, but the bulk of the 50+ hams were just there for the workshops, free food & fellowship.  A few were experimenting with different antennas, mostly home brew, and learning new modes.  There were a handful of brand new hams show up, and AARO took extra time to show them the operations and get them talking on the air to make a contact or two.

Workshops also were conducted on various topics:

  • Proper Soldering Techniques
  • Building DiPole Antennas
  • Quadrafillic (sp?) Antennas
  • Anderson Power Pole

Click the link below to continue this article & see some of the pics I took.

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Jun 24

I’m putting out a request here for area 2012 Field Day reports, complete with photos.

If you visited or hosted a Field Day event, and want to share your photos and stories, or even your results, feel free to post them here. Just register on this site (see link to the right) if you haven’t already done so, then send an email to info@sanantoniohams.org to request a status upgrade to allow you to post stories.

I won’t allow personal flames or attacks, so every new author gets moderated until I know they are doing okay.  I can also offer you assistance and advice if you are having problems uploading photos, or whatever.  One trick it to write up your story in MS Word, or another processor, then copy / paste it into the “Add new post” window online.  Add your title, pick a topic category or two (like Field Day, or club name), upload some photos from your computer to show either one by one, or as a gallery at the bottom of your article, and tada!

If you are a ham operator, already registered on this site, you may be already setup to do that.  Just login and add a new post. If you forgot your password, no worry, just click the link to say “forgot my password” and you will get a link emailed to you to create a new password.  I don’t know your password and don’t want to.  The software will automatically handle that for you without my manual intervention.

Registration for being an author on this site, is NOT the same as subscribing to the newsletter.  That’s a separate registration process.  Send your subscription request to subscribe@sanantoniohams.org to be automatically added to the list.  I’ve got about 450 hams already on that list, after dropping about a dozen that bounced from the last mailing.

Hope to see you here soon!

Lee Besing N5NTG
210-771-7075 cell (voice / text okay)

 

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Jun 22

We have collected information for the following Ham Club Field Day Locations, in and around the San Antonio extended metro area…. 

  • Alamo Area Radio Organization (AARO)…
  • San Antonio Radio Club (SARC)…
  • Radio Operators of South Texas (ROOST)…
  • Kendall Amateur Radio Society (KARS)… (Boerne, TX)
  • Guadalupe Valley Amateur Radio Club (GVARC)… (New Braunfels, TX)
  • Hill Country Amateur Radio Club (HCARC)… (Kerrville, TX)
  • South Texas DX Contest Club (STXDXCC)… (Bandera, TX)
  • Atascosa Amateur Radio Club (AARC)… (Poteet, TX)
  • Coyote Amateur Radio Club (KS5TX) (Uvalde, TX)

ARRL’s Master Field Day Search Site – Map 

See below for details…  Not all clubs have registered with ARRL’s website.

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Jun 15

Staples Dam Lowerside

This was only my second year to participate in this challenging event, with about 135 canoe teams starting to paddle down the river at 9am Saturday morning (6/9), and continuing on down the river over 260 miles until they reached the Gulf Coast at Seadrift, Texas, 2 to 4 days later.  Or else quit along the way.This year, 141 teams entered, 134 teams started in San Marcos, and 80+ teams actually made it all the way to the finish line.  The first team to finish got there just before midnight on Sunday night, and the last team to arrive got there sometime late on Wednesday morning I think.  See the event website at www.TexasWaterSafari.orgfor full details.

This was also the first year they had a death in the race, with a contestant being flown on Sunday (day 2) to a hospital back in San Marcos, after he collapsed.  (details on their website).

Ham Radio operators staffed a boatload of checkpoints (pun intended) starting about the 16 mile point at Staples Dam (where my son David KD5MTJ and myself N5NTG where stationed).   Each checkpoint ham team would record the team #, time in and out, and then enter that info into an Excel spreadsheet.  Once entered, it was transmitted over Packet Radio downstream to all the other checkpoints using digipeaters that had been setup as relays all the way to the coast.    Some checkpoints have become family traditions, where you almost have to inherit the assignment to be able to work it, but extra hams are usually always welcomed.  The list of hams is quite long, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to list them all here without missing someone and possibly hurting their feelings. 🙂

I made a trip out to this location the week before the event, to contact the land owners and familiarize my self with the layout. That pre-planning helped make setup much smoother, because the owners allowed us to tap into their electricity and thus avoid the need for generator or extended battery operations on the day of the event.  It also let us find out the “secret” location of the flush toilets inside the barn, instead of making the long trek across the bridge to the porta potties on the other side of the river.

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May 30

ONE-DAY HAM RADIO REVIEW COURSE
For Amateur Radio Technician License Exam
Saturday, June 16, 2012
8:30 a.m. to ~6:00 p.m.

COST: $75 – Includes book, continental breakfast, lunch, and fee for one 35-item multiple-choice exam given at the end of the day (or $55 if you already have book)

TARGET AUDIENCE: Anyone wanting to earn their entry-level ham radio license

COURSE BOOK: Study and bring to class (7th edition, ISBN 978-0-945053-62-0) Technician Class, EFFECTIVE July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2014, by Gordon West.

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May 21

Field Day is coming, so here are a few thoughts as you plan your group’s operation.

A FEW TIPS FOR ANY FIELD DAY OPERATION  – I’ve posted some of this before but I think they should be repeated. (I’ve updated them a bit)

1. When setting up antennas within close proximity: If you are using wire antennas such as dipoles, and they run parallel to each other there will be interference on your HF operating bands in the form of hash so arrange them at right angles to each other and at slightly different heights. If you use wire antennas such as dipoles, try to stay away from trap dipoles and use full length antennas instead.  You may also wish to run your dipoles in different configurations such as have one as an “inverted V” and another as a sloper, etc. An antenna cut to the exact band you are using will decrease interference to and from other bands. Do not use compromise, trap or “all band” antennas. (The only efficient “all band antennas” are a log periodic and a “fan dipole” NOT a “folded dipole” or others that claim they use “balancing resistors” as this only wastes rf energy in the form of heat.) With others you may make a few contacts, but they are junk and will cause harmonic radiation. Dedicated operating needs the right antenna. Wasted energy on trap antennas (some of your RF energy is used up in the form of heat) and that equals an inefficient radiator, especially as you go lower in frequency. On HF, do not use vertical antennas as they receive too much man-made noise from sources such as generators, etc.

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