San Antonio Hams

About 21  radio operators gathered at the Mountain Valley Middle School in Sattler, Texas (just east of Canyon Lake) to help organize the staging area for the 2010 Annual Canyon Lake Christmas Parade at 8am Saturday morning, December 11, 2010.

Hill Country REACT has been organizing this event for more years than we can remember, 14+ years at least.   For the past few years, we’ve been lucky to get help from neighboring ham clubs, and this year was no different.  In addition to members from our own team, we also had volunteers from Travis County REACT (Austin), HC Hams (Hayes / Caldwell), and Guadalupe Valley ARC (GVARC – New Braunfels). Not shown in photo is photographer Lee N5NTG.

Here is a list of radio operators working the event…

• Ray McLeaird            HC REACT
• Charlie Land              HC REACT
• Lee Besing                HC REACT
• David Besing             HC REACT
• Gary Tangrady           HC REACT
• Charles Manley III     HC REACT
• Barbara Manley          HC REACT
• Wade Bolling             HC REACT
• Wade Martyn             HC REACT
• Mike Pérez                HC REACT
• “Skipp” Stem             GVARC
• Samuel Stem            GVARC
• Richard Graham       GVARC
• Chuck Donohoe       GVARC
• Jake Creamer          HCARC/ HC REACT
• Rick Coleman          HCARC
• Bernard Ederer        HCARC
• Dianne Shirey          HCARC
• Bob Shirey               HCARC
• Roger Wines and  4 other Travis County REACT members

This year the parade staging area was changed, reversed from previous years.  The new layout worked much better for us, giving us more room to stretch out the entries.  We had nearly 60 entries this year, and the Shriners counted as just one entry, so you can guess how big it really was.    The parade route was more than 2 miles, starting on the northside of  Sattler, ending on the south end.  Traffic was snarled for more than an hour and a half while the parade was on the main route thru town.

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Good Morning,

Sorry for the late notice on the location, but here we go!
As requested during post race briefings last year, we are having a test and tune for the Bandera 100k, which also benefits the Water Safari Volunteers!
Jeremy and I will be holding a test and tune session of the spreadsheet program and packet equipment that is used for the Texas Water Safari and Bandera 100k events.
Saturday, Nov 13th between from 8:00 a.m. to around noon! Jeremy and I will be on site at 0800 hrs, with the majority of the group coming in around 0900 hrs!
Location: Guadalupe County Office of Emergency Management: 415 E. Donegan St. Seguin, TX
Two blocks East of the Courthouse, one block south!

The purpose of the test, is to try the new configuration with various computers, to make sure the spreadsheet will communicate with the computers comm port settings correctly.
Bring the set-up you plan to use during the Bandera 100k event or Water Safari!
Note: We have found already, that the new Windows 7, running 64 bit is not working correctly(Jeremy may find a fix for this).  Windows 7, running 32 bit appear to be functioning properly.

We will be running the program through the digi-peater, back and forth, and really try hard to crash the system to try and eliminate any problems that could occur during the events.

If you can make it, fantastic!  If not, one we have the bugs worked out, the files will be sent out with detailed install instructions for you
to try prior to the race.
The session is primarily for Bandera 100k/Water Safari volunteers running packet, but anyone with an interest is invited to attend. This spreadsheet and packet software could have many uses!

If you have any questions, please contact me @ trlrider@gvec.net or 830-305-2889.
Also, PLEASE RSVP if you can make it!

Thanks,

Louis – K5STX

The Annual Universal City Veteran’s Day Parade will be held this year on November 6th, actually the weekend before the San Antonio Rock N’ Roll Marathon.

We are still in need of more volunteers so if you are available and would like to help please contact me Gary S. Tangrady, K5GST, either at K5GST01@gmail.com or phone me at 210-619-6217. This is my cell phone number and I use it for work, so if I do not answer your call right away feel free to text me or leave me a message.

The parade route is from the staging area on Universal City Boulevard where it will turn left onto Pat Booker and head towards Randolph AFB. It will turn right at Byrd Boulevard just before the main gate into Randolph and from there take the first left and travel to the end of that street and break up at the VFW Post.

Between the hours of 0800 and 0900 people will start showing up at the Universal City Police Department on Universal City Boulevard.  (note: when you come to the front of the building there are two doors, take the door that says Police Station and tell the dispatcher you are there for the parade. He will direct you to the training room where the briefing will be held.) Coffee and donuts will be provided by the police department and I plan on being there at 0800. I need one other person to show up with me at 0800 to run the talk-in on the 147.000 New Braunfels repeater, negative offset with a PL of 88.5.

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The Tour de Gruene is Saturday, 10/30 and Sunday 10/31.

1) The tour will start a 8am Saturday. I believe that the route will be similar to last year, but have not seen the maps yet.

2) The individual time trial race is unchanged. Riders leave from Camp Huaco Springs @ the 1st crossing on River Road at 2:01pm Saturday. Ride 8 miles up river & return the same way.

3) The two man time trial race on Sunday is unchanged. Riders start at 8:01am & go every 30 seconds. The leave Gruene, ride up River Road, across 2763, and return down 306 to Gruene.

Volunteers usually get a t-shirt & a ticket to Wurstfest, assuming they are available. Sometimes they run out.

The URL is for more info is: http://www.tourdegruene.com

We need as many stations as possible for the morning events, but can cover Saturday afternoon with myself & 1 or 2 other stations. Please let me know which event(s) you can help out with, and your t-shirt size.

Thanks,
–Mike WQ5C
pfeufferm@gmail.com

Break Point 5 on FM775 & CR 319

Over the weekend, we volunteered to help out at the 4th annual La Vernia Wild West Hammer Fest, a bicycle ride to raise funds for the La Vernia Historical Society, www.laverniawildwesthammerfest.com. 

La Vernia is a small town in Wilson County, about 20 miles southeast of San Antonio.   

About a dozen hams from multiple clubs came together and helped out with this annual event in Wilson County.  We covered the Start/Finish Line Net Control, 5 Break Points and 3 SAG vehicles.  We could have used a few more hams for the other SAG’s, but this was a last minute request for help, and most of our usual volunteers had already made plans.   We had three other hams lined up, but one got sick the night before, one got called into work by his boss for the weekend, and the third had to go clear up some damages caused by the storm that swept thru the area on Friday night, the night before the bicycle event.

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First, Thank you all for your interest and continued support of community events throughout our region.

Coordinator Contact Info:
Louis Upton – K5STX
Hill Country REACT
e-mail: trlrider@gvec.net
cell: 830-305-2889

The when, where and how about what we are needing:
Date: October 2, 2010
Where: Rio Bonito Ranch – Junction, TX – actually approximately halfway between Junction and Kerrville right off I-10
Times: Event Briefing: 0830 hrs – Event Start 1000 hrs Event Completion: 1430 – 1500 hrs

What: American Competitive Trail Horse Association – a national organizational format with numerous events around the country in every state.  The event sets up 6 obstacles, natural and man made, in a 6 to 7 mile course in which the horse and rider are judged on their ability to handle the obstacle.  The event is capped at 100 participants, and most events easily reach this cap.
This event is a not for profit event, of which all proceeds are donated to Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation Organizations in the state of Texas.  All donations stay in the state!

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Lee,  Just wanted to say thank you for all the hard work you put into the ride. It was my first time setting up and operating a field station on my own.   Learned some valueble lessons, hope to do it again soon.

Thanks again,  John – KD5ZEW

Voice:  Yaesu FT-100d @ 5~10w into a 5/8 mag-mount at 6′ AGL
Data/APRS:  Yaesu ft-1500m, 6db base antenna @ 30’+ AGL.
Power Supply: 125hr Deep Cycle Flooded Lead-acid Battery.

Pictures from TdC 2010 Day 1 Rest stop 6 where John KD5ZEW was located.

D1 Finish Line- Unicycle

Here is a collection of  56 photos taken by Lee N5NTG at the San Marcos Finish Line on Day 1,  on the road on Day 2 from various rest stops and the Austin Finish Line. 

I saw at least two of these uni-cycles on both days, this one (in photo) and one other.  Unicycle riders have to peddle 100% of the time, no coasting, no shifting gears, oops, no steering wheel at all.  Just their inate sense of balance and lots of forward movement.   On Day 2, the other unicycle rider was zipping down the road, so we stopped on the side of the road to shoot some video of him.  He waved and then stopped next to my mini-van and held on to its luggage rack, saying “you just knew I needed a break, didn’t you?”   He rested for a few minutes and then went on to finish.

 Click on thumbnails for a larger view.

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Photos by Greg Lewis, N5XO, taken at the Day 1 Start Line at Retama Park.   Other operators present at the Start Line were Ruth Lewis KE5HMU, and Dave Espinoza W5QS who ran net control until the San Marcos Finish Line was able to take over that morning.  Click on thumbnail photo for larger views.

2010 Tour de Cure Ride May 22nd – 23rd

ANOTHER SUCCESS !

This year’s event started at the Retama Park, in Selma, Texas, just north of Loop 1604.

Although we really had to twist a few arms, and shake the bushes a lot to fill all of the postions, due to some last minute changes,  the ham community came through for us once more!   It was reported that we had about 1,500 riders show up for the event, a slight increase over last year’s event.

We used the 147.000 repeater (GVARC) on Day 1, and the 147.100 San Marcos repeater plus the Austin 146.94 repeater on Day 2. Net Control on Day 1 was started by Dave W5QS at the Start Line due to delays in getting the San Marcos Finish Line up on the air in time. Thanks Dave! Net Control on Day 2 was started by Jake K5GWC from Rest Stop 4, until Austin’s Finish Line Net Control was ready to assume that duty. Thanks Jake!

We provided hams to staff 7 rest stops on day 1, 8 on day 2, plus Start/Finish each day, 4 SAG’s each day, and 4 Toyota Trucks (used as Turtles) each day. The Toyota Trucks were also used to sweep the course looking for “lost sheep”, and to pick up the signs on each route as they swept the course.

Saturday night, after we shut down operations around 5pm for the day, about 15 of the Hams went to the San Marcos River Pub & Grill for a well deserved dinner and fellowship.

(Photo – Hams from the Tour de Cure enjoy a fine meal and fellowship at the San Marcos River Pub & Grill.)

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