San Antonio Hams

I’m sorry to report that my vehicle was broken into and burglarized, here in San Antonio.

They got the following equipment:

• Yaesu FT-857
• Yaesu FT-7800
• 2 MFJ Mighty-Lite 25 amp switching power supplies
• 2 Puxing VHF handhelds
• Rigid Cordless Drill
• Ryobi bit set
• ECG soldering gun

The radios and power supplies were marked with my call sign (NS5D).     A police report has been filed.   Please be on the lookout for this stuff and contact the police and myself if you find it.

There have been a rash of “smash-and-grab” car burglaries in San Antonio recently.   I thought if I kept my stuff out of sight in a box in the back of my truck, it would not be noticed.   No dice.  

73,
Shane NS5D

The following news was found at the
www.texasbugcatcher.com website.

Effective October 31, 2009,  GLA Systems will cease to manufacture the  Texas BugCatcher Antenna.  It has been a fun 30 years but it is time to hang it up.  I would like to thank everyone that has made this experience possible. I have made many friends (maybe an enemy or two) but overall it has been a great trip down a long road.

All orders received before October 31, 2009 will be filled.   Effective  November 1, 2009 only orders for items that may be in stock at the time will be accepted.

Also effective December 31, 2009 the 1-800-588-2841 toll free line will be discontinued.

73 and Happy Hamming to all
Good luck and best wishes.

Henry, K5BUG & Tina Allen
GLA Systems
2802 County Rd 2226
Caddo Mills, TX 75135
1-800-588-2841
www.texasbugcatcher.com

A blast from the 70’s, when “Radio” in “Radio Shack” still meant something…

Compared with today….

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One Ham’s struggle to get it up.  

This blog post is reposted with link back to the original post at hamhelpdesk.com. 

Here are some details regarding the next, and probably last, phase of my 43 Foot DX Engineering vertical installation.   This post is very late. The actual date of the events within it are just before March 2009 in preparation for the Virginia QSO Party.

In the many posts within this site, it is no secret my examination of various vertical antenna solutions with comparison between BigIR and the 43 Foot products a big part of this.

Check out all the 43 Foot posts on HamHelpDesl here…  43 Foot Antenna Topic

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From ARRL.ORG — On August 11, the FCC announced that the cost of an Amateur Radio vanity call sign will increase $1.10, from $12.30 to $13.40.  Now that notice of the increase has been published in the Federal Register, the increase will take effect in 30 days, September 10, 2009.   The FCC is authorized by the Communications Act of 1934, As Amended, to collect vanity call sign fees to recover the costs associated with that program.  

The vanity call sign regulatory fee is payable not only when applying for a new vanity call sign, but also upon renewing a vanity call sign for a new 10 year term. The notice in the August 11, 2009 Federal Register, entitled “Assessment and Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 2009,” includes regulatory fees; these fees are expected to recover a total of $341,875,000 during FY2009, encompassing all the Services the FCC regulates.

For more information, see the recent ARRLWeb article, “FCC Looks to Raise Vanity Call Sign Fees for Second Consecutive Year.”

Ray Taylor (N5GAR), STX’s long-serving and dedicated SM, retired this year, resulting in a 3-way race for Section Manager of one of the ARRL’s largest Sections.

STX was lucky to have three fine hams, Lee Cooper (W5LHC) from Austin, Lou Everett (WA5LOU) from Kennard and Gary Tangrady (K5GST) from San Antonio vie to replace Ray Taylor.

The ARRL just announced the election results:

A close race between good men.

Congratulations to Lee who will officially take office on October 1, 2009.

More photos from the August 15th Cowboy Homecoming in Pleasanton, TX where Atascosa County Amateur Radio Club WA5AR had a demonstration station.  This country fair had all the usual amentities like rooster roping, bull riding, pony rides, beauty queens, home-made jewelry, ham station demonstrations, and oops!  even Longhorn Mobile operations? 

Click on photos below for larger view.

Here are some photos of the Atascosa County Amateur Radio club taken during the 08/15/2009 Cowboy Home Coming in Pleasanton, Texas, at River Park.

Thank you
Andrew KD5NNN

Click link below to see photos….
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Parade with floats, displays, vendors. A nice, small town fair.
Bob  W2IK

Following are some photos by Krissy, KD5YTN and a few byW2IK.
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For all of you that live in other parts of the country or who could not attend the Huntsville Hamfest, QSO will be broadcasting live from 12pm to 4pm CDT or 1pm to 5pm EDT on 9330 KC WBCQ.

The broadcast can also be heard live streaming at the link below. Click Here to Listen Live

Please note this link will be dead prior to and after the broadcast.  Or go to www.tedrandall.com  and click the live link.

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