San Antonio Hams

Looking for a Tower Climber to do some antenna work in Boerne.

I have been climbing towers and doing antenna work for over 40 years, not professionally but for the clubs I belonged to and different hams as well.  My body is telling me it is past time to quit doing this extracurricular activity as well as my XYL.

I have a climb that needs to be done sooner than later and I need an experienced climber to go up the two 70′ towers.  This must be done during the week because it involves using a Crane to lift the 12-element beam off the tower and lowering it to the ground to be repaired.  Then raised back up and installed back into the rotor, connect the feed line & waterproof.

You need to have your own personal climbing harness and safety helmet and hand tools.  I will supply ropes, pulleys and ground crew.

Contact me if this is something you could help me with.
Thanks

73’s  Marsh  WA5UBO 

mpronne627@gmail.com

As of today, the day before Field Day weekend, almost all of the local clubs have canceled their field day plans and a few of them are planning to use the amended rule that lets the members operate from their homes and congregate the point for a final score.

The San Antonio Radio Club (SARC) is canceling their field day operation, after originally planning to do a smaller version over at Joe Bruno’s place on FM 78. The members have decided that operating from home would be a safer bet.

The Radio Operators of South Texas (ROOST) Club will be holding a normal, but perhaps scaled down, Field Day event at their clubhouse. No camping overnight as they normally have done in past years. Masks are required to be worn for any visitors. Radio equipment such as microphones, headsets, etc., will be sanitized between operators. See their website, www.w5ros.org, for location and details.

Alamo Area Radio Organization (AARO) has decided to cancel their participation in field day. Individual members may be operating from their homes.

Kendall Amateur Radio Society (KARS) has canceled their group Field Day event, but their members will be operating from their homes.

Guadalupe Valley ARC (GVARC) will not be holding a field day operation this year. They are looking for alternate locations to hold VE Testing, but they think their July session may not happen either. They have resumed their Saturday breakfast tradition, but attendance is limited due to the restrictions on how many people the restaurant can hold under the current government orders.

Medina County (McARC) will not be holding a group field day, but their members will be operating from home under the new rules.

The word I’m getting from the different clubs around the Ssn Antonio metro area, is that in compliance with the various emergency health declarations, all in-person club meetings and test sessions have been canceled.

Several clubs are experimenting with using various forms of Teleconference services, such as Freeteleconferences.com, Skype, or Zoom. One group was overheard suggesting they all get on their club repeater and hold a net.

<gasp!> What will they think of next?

As of this morning, I’ve been told by different VE groups that they will be unable to hold test sessions until the ban on social gatherings (greater than 10) has been lifted.

While ROOST holds their exams at their own clubhouse, they posted on Facebook this morning that they are suspending their 1st & 3rd Saturday VE exams for the time being.

SARC holds theirs on the 4th Saturday in even numbered months, so perhaps the crisis will be over before the end of April?

AARO holds theirs the 3rd Saturday of odd numbered months, which would have been today, March 21st.

GVARC holds quarterly exams in New Braunfels, but the facility normally used has been placed on usage restrictions, which prevents them from using it.

KARS normally offers test sessions after their monthly meetings, but since they can’t hold their meetings in-person, no exam sessions will be possible.

The March 5th meeting will be at the Boerne Police Station located at 124 Old San Antonio Rd in Boerne. 

The EMS building will be in use for the next 5 months with equipment setup for a paramedic class. 

We will be meeting at the Boerne PD through July and then back to the EMS Building in August.  Sorry for the inconvenience, but after all it is an EMS building. Meeting is from 7 pm to 9 pm. 

Enter through the front door of the police department and there will be an open door to the right into the training room.  Please do not show up too early as the doors will not be open.

See ya’ll Thursday night. 

Rod K9ROD

Field Day is a nationwide ARRL sponsored event on the fourth full weekend of June where many local ham clubs set up in a field environment to simulate the operation of amateur radios under emergency conditions.

While there is a contest aspect to Field Day, the real objective is to give members experience operating in an austere environment like those that may be faced in emergency situations.

It’s that time of year again to start up those generators, dust off those solar panels and charge up those batteries. Oh, and get your temporary antennas tested and move those radios from the boxes over to the field day location of your choice.

ARRL has a list of registered Field Day sites nationwide at this link, http://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator , but some clubs choose not to get registered prior to the event weekend. Just put in your city / state in the search bar to find your nearest event location.

Note: Any contact information listed below was found published at the ARRL site locator map, or was provided to me for this purpose. None of the email links are live, so you will need to cut/paste in order to send that person an email about their event.

Don’t expect many of them to be checking their emails frequently during the weekend, they will likely be on the radio instead. Most will have a station monitoring 146.52 simplex to gain contacts in that manner.

Side Note: The San Antonio Radio Club (W5SC) will be holding a morning VE Test Session on Saturday, June 22nd, at the Great Northwest Public Library (Near Grissom Road and Timberwilde) beginning at 10am. While walk-ins are welcome, preregistration is requested via email at hamtest@gmail.com.

Pat AD5BR will be conducting the exams with her VE team. There is the usual $15/test attempt fee payable in cash and you will need the usual ID and proof of existing license (if upgrading). Please contact Pat AD5BR for more info.

This is the last chance in the San Antonio area to upgrade to General before the question pool changes on July 1st.

Area Clubs whom I know are conducting Field Day Events, include:

Read the rest of this entry »

AARO will be holding their Field Day event at Raymond Russell Park, on IH-10 west near Camp Bullis exit, operating on Saturday only due to restrictions on the park usage.

ROOST will be at their Clubhouse location on the SE side, off Hwy 181, operating the full weekend.

GVARC will be operating from a member’s home (WQ5C) on River Road, but using Temp FD antennas and power sources. Access may be limited after dark, but operating the full weekend.

Texas Water Safari got rescheduled until this weekend, due to river flooding a few weeks ago, so many of those hans won’t be able to participate in FD this year.

I haven’t heard about the plans yet for Atascosa County ARC (Poteet fairgrounds or in Pleasanton?), Wilson County ARC (City park in Floresville?), or Guadalupe County (Chaparral ARC in Seguin).

San Antonio Radio Club (SARC) – The club will be holding it’s Field Day event in Shavano Park. The address for this event is 900 Saddletree Ct. Shavano Park, TX 78231. The club plans to operate from Noon on Saturday through Noon on Sunday. They will also host a barbeque at the site Saturday evening.

Medina County Amateur Radio Club (MCARC) – The Field Day event will be held at the Creekwood Community center located just off US90 half way between Hondo and Castroville. The community center is at the corner of County Road 458 and County Road 4510. Operating times are from Noon on Saturday and into Saturday evening (potentially 8pm).

Hill Country Amateur Radio Club (HCARC) – The Field Day event will be held at Our Lady of the Hills High School athletic field and pavilion in Kerrville, TX. Address is 235 Peterson Farm Road Kerrville, TX 78028. The site is just off of TX 27 SE of Kerrville near the Kerrville Municipal Airport. Please RSVP with Dale Gaudier k4dg(at)arrl(dot)net.

Kendall Amateur Radio Society (KARS) – The KARS 2016 Field Day event will be held Saturday June 25th between 1:00PM and 8:00PM CDT and Sunday June 26th between 7:00AM and 1:00PM CDT. The event will be held at Alan Walters, K5NOF’s, ranch located at 48 Rust Lane, BOERNE, TX 78006-1163. More information can be found at http://www.kb5tx.org/FieldDay2016. If you go please let them know that you are from STXDXCC so that they know who you are.

The ARRL has also provided a Field Day Locator website if you are in need of more information. http://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator

Have fun this weekend and be safe! Get out there and get on the air!

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Morning all!

Event: AERC Heart of the Hills Endurance Ride

Dates: 5th and 6th March 2016

Location: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera

Times: 0700 hrs to 1700 hrs – assignment times very based on Checkpoint.

Help is needed on both days, but, if you can only work one of the other, your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Operators will be responsible for tracking the progress of Horse/Rider thru the course at 4 different checkpoints.  We also handle in health/welfare information and other task as submitted by the event coordinator/manager.

3 checkpoints should be able to contact net control with ht and a gain antenna.  One checkpoint is a little more challenging requiring a mobile unit, possibly crossband.

Comms will be VHF simplex.

RMS Express/Packet will be utilized during the event.  Packet not required to participate.

Most checkpoints are easily accessible by car or truck.  One will require a truck with moderate clearance.

If your are interested please contact Charlie Land at charlesdland at gmail dot com or Mike Perez at mikerey01 at yahoo dot com

Event is coordinated by Hill Country REACT – membership not required to participate.

Thank You,

Technician classes are being offered free of charge to anyone interested in becoming an amateur radio operator or seeking a refresher; supervised children are welcome. This session consists of eight 2-hour classes to be held every Wednesday beginning at 7:00 p.m. on September 9, 2015,
at Schneider Engineering in Boerne, TX. For more details or to sign up, please email Ken Nichols KD3VK at classes@kb5tx.org

The Skywarn Operators at the Austin-San Antonio NWO are in the process of updating our files and call-up list. Recently we have found the EC’s, Skywarn Coordinators and Net Controls have changed drastically in the various counties we serve.
It has also been found that several repeaters used in the past to contact and monitor Skywarn operations have changed or are no longer functioning.
If someone from each county could please e-mail me the contact information, frequencies and other pertinent information for ARES and Skywarn it would be greatly appreciated.
Also be advised that we have created a Facebook page and Twitter account to help get the word out. Feel free to like or follow to stay up to date with our operations.
Thank You, Louis – K5STX
e-mail to wx5exw at gmail dot com

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.