San Antonio Hams

It was 35 degrees outside on a Sunday Morning, December 7th, but ten ham operators got up before the sun did, and drove over to the SE side of San Antonio for the annual San Antonio Road Runners 10 Miler Mission Run.   The event started and ended at the Mission County Park #2 on Padre Drive, near VFW Blvd.  The course ran down Mission Parkway, south of Military Drive, and then continued south of Loop 410 for a total of 5 miles, then returned.

The event had about 270 registrants this year, but 20 “no-shows” brought the number of runners down to about 250.  There were a  dozen or so “relay runners” who were supposed to run out to the 2.5 mile park and return, then let their partner run the same 2.5 out and back to finish.

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Basic talks are underway to help our “Wounded Warriors” find a new path within the military, unencumbered by their physical restraints. Bob Hejl, W2IK – NNN0KSI (MARS Ecom), who works at CFI (Center For The Intrepid) at BAMC/ Ft. Sam, has begun discussions with officials at BAMC and CFI for ways in which our soldiers can redirect their abilities by using amateur radio as a stepping stone with their next goal being communications careers within the armed forces or in the private sector after their military careers are completed.

Planned are a special events/demo station so soldiers can see the possibilities of communications and the vital roles they can assume during an emergency or in everyday military communications work. Tri- Service MARS operations will also be integrated so they can get an actual “taste” of  military communications in a relaxed atmosphere.

An amateur radio course will be offered with actual “hands on” operation using W2IK’s portable MARS Ecom station. After the classes have been completed, there will be on base testing so many can obtain their amateur radio licenses.

If any local ham or group is interested in this project, please write W2IK at alonestaryank@aol.com.

In case you have not heard, the 2008 Bike MS: Valero Bike to the Beach Awards and Volunteer Appreciation Party is Thursday, December 4, 2008.

Here are the details:
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Yesterday was the inaugural event for the Rock-n-Roll Marathon, formerly called the San Antonio Marathon.  Hams have now worked 14 San Antonio Marathons in a row, under the leadership of AARO and the cooperation from hams belonging to almost every club in the area.  This event, like all the other larger events we work, is an exercise in cooperation by the ham community because there is no one single club able to handle these events 100% in-house.   And I believe that’s a good way to run it

For the past 13 years, ham radio operators have been helping with this event, providing communications for every phase of the logistics and support functions.  In previous years, we had staffed to put hams in supply trucks, hams in the SAG vans roving the course, hams with the medical supervisors, hams acting as “shadows” for various race officials (like the race director, safety director, etc.).   We had stationed hams at the start line, hams riding bikes on the course with APRS packs, stationed hams at every water stop and at key safety risk areas like the train crossing on Mission Road (just north of IH-10 & Steves Ave).

But this year was different.

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Teri says that more hams are needed for this Sunday’s event.  She’s got 4 slots left open for Hams to drive 15 passenger SAG Vans to pick up runners and deliver them back to the south end of the Alamo Dome.  Shift hours are from 6:30am until no later than 3pm on Sunday, November 16th.  Passes, t-shirts, and “stuff” can be picked up Friday evening at 6:30pm at the Alamo Dome, but if you are already a volunteer, you already knew that.

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I received the following letter today in the mail from the Universal City Police Department, thanking ALL of the volunteers who worked the 2008 Veterans Day Parade on November 1st.  While he mentions by name, “REACT” and “Motorcycle Marshals”, he was aware that there were non-affiliated hams working the event, but considered them all to still be volunteers with REACT since REACT had coordinated the event for the past 20+ years.  REACT wishes to thank those who volunteered for this event, for without your support, it would not have been the same. Lt. Denton asked that we share this letter as widely as possible, so I’m posting it to this blog, with a link to let you download the scanned PDF version of the original paper letter for confirmation. – Lee N5NTG

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Saturday and Sunday, as the readers of this blog already knew, was the annual Tour de Gruene tour and competition races.  See story posted to the MySanAntonio website here…

I couldn’t work the Saturday events, although we did divert a couple of our REACT members from the parade over to the Tour de Gruene to help out GVARC after finding out they might be short handed on Saturday morning. According to news reports, Lance Armstrong finished Saturday with a time of 33 minutes, 8 seconds to win the race along the Guadalupe River on the breezy Hill Country afternoon.

Four  members of Hill Country REACT got up early Sunday morning before the sun was up, to meet for breakfast and move into our assigned locations prior to the start of the 8 am team time trial races.   Due to this morning’s daylight savings time change, we appreciated that extra hour of sleep.

There were about a dozen or so ham radio operators out on the course that morning, including Mike WQ5C who served as net control of this annual event.  The sponsors of the Tour de Gruene reportedly donated $500 to the GVARC club afterward, to help them fund a new amateur radio repeater polling receiver in the northern part of Comal County. (For those of you who aren’t hams, a polling receiver is just a receiving point connected back to the primary radio transmitter, and that increases the coverage area to allow more hams to use the 147.000 repeater.)

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November 1st was the 38th Annual Veterans Day Parade in Universal City, Texas. (Universal City  is on the NE edge of San Antonio, near IH-35 and Loop 1604.) Normally, this parade is over in about 90 minutes or less, but this year it went for over 2 hours.  There were only about 50 registered entries this year, but it was still a very nice parade.

It started around 10:30am and ended after 12:30pm.  Pat Booker Road was shut down, almost military law or forced evacuation except for everyone lining the streets on foot.

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One of the annual events that the Hill Country REACT Team does each year, is the Halloween Trick-or-Treat in Sattler, Texas, just east of Canyon Lake on FM2673.  The entire town turns out for this event, with businesses and various groups setting up tables or booths and passing out candy or other snacks to the kids (and adults) who walk by in their costumes.

REACT has been doing this for many years, and the Canyon Lake Chamber of Commerce donates around 10 huge bags of candy to the Team for distribution in REACT’s name.  This year was no different.  We passed out about 40-50 pounds of candy in just three hours, from 5pm-8pm tonight.

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Just got off the phone earlier today with Mike WQ5C with GVARC.   Lance Armstrong has registered to compete in Sunday’s Team Trial Rides, and registration has been capped at 240 teams.  This means it will take 2 hours from starting the first pair of riders and then sending another pair of riders out every 30 seconds from the starting gate.

Mike told me that they will be using the 147.000 repeater (negative offset, 103.5 tone).  Some positions may need push-up pole and external antennas down in the river road area, but most will let you get by with a mobile radio and antenna, and a few might let you use your HT.  Come loaded for bear and you won’t be down in the mush when net control calls you.   Bring a folding chair to sit in, Bring a cooler, sunscreen & a hat as you will be there for 2-3 hours or longer, depending on assignment.  

– Lee N5NTG

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