San Antonio Hams

From the CQ/WorldRadio Online Newsroom…

Four well-known contesters en route to operate the CQ World Wide DX Contest this weekend from Bermuda were killed yesterday (Wednesday) when their plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Summerville Airport, South Carolina, on their way to Crooked Island, Bahamas.  The four, all regular operators of the C6APR contest station, were identified as Peter Radding, W2GJ/C6APR, the pilot; and passengers Ed Steeble, K3IXD/C6AXD; Randy Hargenrader, K4QO/C6AQO, and Dallas Carter,  W3PP.

According to the local Summerville Journal Scene newspaper, the plane crashed 250 yards east of the runway at Summerville Airport in Jedburg, South Carolina. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined, but Radding was a very experienced pilot. County Coroner Chris Nesbit told the newspaper that it appears the four were killed by the severity of the crash itself rather than the fire that followed. Autopsies are scheduled for today.

CQ WW Contest Director Bob Cox, K3EST, called the crash, “a real tragedy,” adding that “devoted hams and contesters were lost.” The C6APR team was featured in the cover story of April’s WorldRadio Online, and Steeble wrote an article in the April, 2007 issue of CQ about his experiences as QSL manager for C6APR and for a special Islands on the Air expedition, W2GJ/C6A, in 2006. As of this morning, comments from hams around the world had been posted on the Journal Scene’s website.

From press:
http://www.journalscene.com/news/Pla…rville-Airport
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/…8LpqgD9BFO1Q00

The October issue of the San Antonio Hams Newsletter has been emailed to about 300  hams on the subscription list, and with a few exceptions of those who have filled up their email box quotas (i.e. never read their emails), or have extremely tight anti-spam restrictions and forgot to “white-list” this email address domain name, and those who haven’t yet subscribed, you should have received it about 24 hours ago. 🙂

But if you missed the email, because of whatever reason, but are curious enough to want to read it anyway…  you can read it on-line at this link…

If you want to be subscribed to this FREE  electronic newsletter, please send an email to info@SanAntonioHams.org with subject “subscribe”.  

All I need is your name, email address and call sign to enter into my database.  I don’t share your information for other purposes, but you will get at least one email message a month in the form of the newsletter about ham radio related happenings.   I’ve been known to put out special editions for Silent Key notices with funeral arrangements, etc, when such info is provided to me.  From time to time, there may be material at the bottom which could constitute a commercial ad or sponsor ad, since I support this project out of my own pocket.

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Repeating this announcement since this VE Team will be testing on 10/24, this Saturday at the Great  Northwest Library branch…

ATASCOSA COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
Would you like to get YOUR Amateur Radio License?

Have you thought about the hobby of “Ham” Radio, but weren’t sure where to start? Perhaps you think that it’s just too hard to learn, or that the test is expensive, or that you have to know that dit-dah stuff; y’know, Morse Code. Well, here’s where we can help!

Atascosa County Amateur Radio Club wants to help bring more people into the “Ham” Radio community. We are gearing up to offer classes for the Technician Class License, the first license that a person earns to become an Amateur Radio Operator.

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Members of the San Antonio Radio Club W5SC and Alamo Area Radio Organization AA5RO put on their annual JOTA event out in Castle Hills, at the McGimsey Scout Park, located off NW Military near Lockhill Selma Road.   This is an annual event held the 3rd Saturday of each October.  

Another local JOTA event was held up at Canyon Lake, but we don’t (yet) have any photos or details to share.

Andrew KD5NNN attended the event, and was kind enough to share these photos with us…

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October 17th was the date of the 15th anniversary celebration at the Great Northwest Branch Library, one of many branches that is part of the San Antonio Public Library system.  This library is located off of Grissom Road, near Culebra & Tezel Rd.  

Because this branch is the site of VE Test Sessions every other month by Pat AD5BR, representing the SARC VE Team, the head librarian asked Lee N5NTG to put on a demonstration Ham Radio Station as part of their celebration.  SARC was already committed to being at JOTA over at McGimsey Scout Park in Castle Hills, so Hill Country REACT agreed to sponsor the station at this event.

Below are two videos that I made up from the raw footage and photos taken during the event. 

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From ARRL listing of Special Events Station Operations:   

Title: Chaparral Amateur Radio Club / Guadalupe County ARES
Location: 415 East Donegan, Seguin, TX 78155
Description: Monthly meeting of Chaparral Amateur Radio Club. All licensed Amateur Radio operators are invited to attend!
Start Time: 19:00 hrs
Date: 2009-10-13
End Time: 20:30

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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News flash!

SARC VEs get to hit the snooze alarm a few more times!

In case you haven’t heard, our city leaders thought the library hours needed to be changed. As of October 1, the Great Northwest Library will be opening on Saturdays at 10 AM. Since we don’t want to start the test session in the parking lot, we’ll need to change the SARC VE session time to start at 10 AM when the library doors open. 🙂

Thanks for those of you who have been helping us, for your continued service at our test sessions. If you’d like to help at any of upcoming sessions (especially the January one), let me know!

Our next VE sessions will be:

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