San Antonio Hams

Location: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera County, Texas

When:    6th and 7th of January 2018

Description: 25k, 5ok and 100k Ultra-Matathon

It is that time of year, to start marking your calendars and making preparations for the 16th Annual Bandera 100k Ultra-Marathon held at Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera County.

Tejas Trails Communication Group – Coordinated by Hill Country REACT with support of Highland Lakes Amateur Radio Club, Chaparral Amateur Radio Club, and other dedicated Amateur Radio Operators from San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Kerrville and other locations throughout the state, have supported and provided communications for this event the past 12 years. The team is responsible for communications, health and welfare, tracking, and occasionally Search and Rescue. We also manage the parking at o’dark-thirty to get the 900 runners and crews parked and to the start-finish line on time.

There is little to NO cellular coverage at this venue, thus the participants, families, crews and promoters rely on the skill and expertise of the Amateur Radio Community.
We have 4 Aid Stations/Break Points, Net Control and Rovers to cover for approximately 20 hours.
This event typically requires 14 – 18 Amateur Radio Operators in a situation that is similar to what an Emergency Communications Operator would experience in a disaster zone. Remote operations little to no permanent infrastructure. Bring it, work it, test it, and enjoy it!

Horseback Hams are also needed and greatly appreciated by the participants.

If you know of a youth organization that needs public service hours, this is a great opportunity to get them in.  We have numerous positions from assisting the communications team to helping serve the runners at the aid stations.

UHF, VHF Voice and Packet communications are involved in this event.  We have been wanting to deploy a Broadbrand-HamNet but research and development has stalled. Anyone with experience in this area is encouraged to help us out.

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San Antonio celebrates it’s 300th year in 2018. To help with this event, W5BOG (Bexar Operators’s Group) will be operating a special events station on several dates during the 2018 year beginning on January 1st and 2nd and again on May 5th, Cinco de Mayo. If you work our station, just send us your QSL card (to the QRZ address of W5BOG – PO BOX 6731, San Antonio, TX 78209) and we will send you back both a Special Events QSL card and a special color certificate. We will be active on both 40 and 20 meters.

The Radio Operators Of South Texas ARC will be operating a special event station at Beethoven Maennerchor celebrating 150 years as a German singing society in San Antonio Texas.

Location at Beethoven Maennerchor 422 Pereida St. (King William area) every Saturday in September from 9a.m. to 9p.m. Dates Sept. 2,9,16,23,30.

Open to everyone, even if not a ham!
Operation will be in 14.255+or- and on 146.860 repeater (123.0 tone).

Certificate will be rewarded to all contacts made via SASE return mail.

QSL manager is Tom Winn, K0ZGC

Email Chris, k5vcr@ziplinkmail.com
Phone 210-838-8375 voice or text

The VE Ham test session that was scheduled to happen on Saturday August 26th at 10 a.m. at the Great Northwest public library, off of Grissom Road, has been canceled due to Hurricane Harvey. The library itself will be closed, thus preventing the test session from being conducted.

Please contact Pat Knight AD5BR at hamtest@gmail.com for any additional information.

Clifford James Buck passed away on June 19, 2017. Born in Kirksville Missouri, he is survived by his wife, Jill, his son, Jamie Buck and his wife, Stepsons Edward, Lee and Robert Hocking and their families, his Aunt, Betty Mudd, and his sister, Dorotha Drittler and her family.

A Marine Vietnam vet who served two tours, he was proud of his 10 years of service. He was active in amateur radio as W5CJB which will now be a Silent Key.

No service is planned. Instead of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to either the Helotes Humane Society, at 10675 Shaenfield Rd, San Antonio, TX 78254, the Poquita Paws Rescue, at 1248 Austin Hwy. #106 PMB 324 San Antonio, TX 78209 or a charity of their own choosing in his name.

Published in Express-News on June 25, 2017

[Editor Notes: Jim and his wife were / are members of at least 2 ham clubs in the area, Alamo Area Radio Organization (AARO) and Medina County Amateur Radio Corporation (MCARC). Jim was well liked and will be missed. – Lee N5NTG]

This past weekend was the ARRL VHF/UHF Contest, and I normally dive into this contest with maximum effort, but with long time friends in town that we have not seen in 6 or 7 years and spending time with them all day Saturday, that left only Sunday and I need to do a quick trip to pick up some Antennas just south of Houston.

So Ruth and I thought it would be fun to operate Sunday as a Rover, so with her logging, and me operating we hopped into the truck and headed to Alvin Texas which is 186 miles away as the crow flies.

With the radio dialed in on 144.200 USB, we pulled out of the house.

Announced we were in the contest and roving.

We immediately worked KB2WDM in Schertz, followed by K5QE in Hemphill, TX. Marshal is 336 miles from our first contact location. With a single omni directional loop antenna built by Tom K5VH and 120 watts mobile we worked K5QE in EM31 and quickly knocked out additional contacts around the region.

On the Trip we made 17 contacts, working several stations in every grid on our drive {EL-09, EL-19, EL-29}.

Take Horizontal polarization with it’s reduced noise, good take off angle and Single Side Band with the ability to hear and pull intelligence out of a weaker signal and you get one of the reasons you can communicate at much greater ranges then possible with FM, and you will understand the fun and the thrill of what you can accomplish with VHF/UHF Weak Signal.
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2ND Annual HAMSTER Lunch and Learn Event

JULY 1ST 2017

Welcome to the HAMster Weak Signal Group Lunch and Learn. The purpose of this event is to bring a large group of HAMs together for some education and fun. We want to introduce you not only to the HAMster Group, but also to VHF/UHF Dxing. If you have never experienced the trhill of working stations on 2 metersa nd up 500, 1000 or even 1,500 miles, with daily contacts in the 100 to 150 mile range, then come join us.

Join us for Hot Dogs, Chips, Soda and VE Session with VHF/UHF training classes. Special Weak Signal Training by FLEX Radio, and the HAMster Group.

Flex Radio will be on hand to demonstrate the new products and advantages for VHF/UHF Weak Signal/EME/Meteor Scatter.

License Testing available for new hams or upgrades to your license will be held at 2pm. $15 per test taker. Please contact Pat AD5BR at HAMTEST@GMAIL.COM for details and to RSVP for the test session (not same address as used to register for the Lunch and Learn).

Raffle and Swap Meet
RAFFLE TICKETS $5 EACH OR 5 FOR $20

1ST PLACE: YAESU FUSION RADIO
2ND PLACE: K5VH 2 METER SSB OMNI ANTENNA
3RD PLACE PRIZES AND DOOR PRIZES WILL BE AWARDED AS WELL

TRAINING AND LUNCH IS FREE

Saturday July 1st 2017
8:am Kick-Off to 3:Pm

Event to be held at the American Red Cross, 3642 E. Houston St, San Antonio, Tx. (Please use the Houston St side entrance to enter the building.)

RSVP to: N5xo@144200.net
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The South Texas DX and Contest club will be holding a Field Day Operation at their club station in Bandera, TX.

Location: Bandera, TX (contact info below)
Time: June 24th 1pm CDT – 9am CDT June 25th

The STXDXCC will be running a multi-transmitter “D” (Home Station) operation with a focus on Side Band and CW. Operators of any license class are welcome.

For details contact Marty Meyers W5MRM at info@w5rta.net or call or text 210-602-0371.

Field Day 2017 is nigh upon us! June 24-25th. We will be operating for the full 24 hours, 1300 hours Saturday thru 1300 hours on Sunday. Members will be arriving earlier, around 0930 hours, to do some permitted preliminary setup and arrange for logistics.

All SARC members are encouraged to participate in Field Day. Yes, you can bring all of your own equipment, but you don’t have to bring all of your equipment or even any equipment.

We welcome visitors of any type. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t a club member or a non ham operator. Everybody is welcomed.

Our location will be at Shavano Park’s City Hall, outside in the parking lot.   The address is 900 SaddleTree Ct, Shavano Park, just off of NW Military Drive, north of De Zavala Rd, and inside Loop 1604.

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American Legion Birthday to be celebrated worldwide,
March 11, on shortwave radio

Dear TALARC Members and Friends,

March 15 is the designated birthday of The American Legion. It is the day in 1919 when the first American Legion caucus, held by members of the American Expeditionary Force, convened in Paris. Much as the birthday of the United States is celebrated on July 4 – for the day in 1776 when rebelling patriots declared the independence of the British colonies and the spirit of America was born – March 15 is the day on which the Legion came to life.

Each year, Legion posts across the country hold events – public, private or both – to commemorate this anniversary. At the National Headquarters of The American Legion there also is an event conducted annually to observe the Legion birthday, and on a worldwide scale.

Members of The American Legion Amateur Radio Club (TALARC) will operate a special event station to commemorate the Legion’s 98th birthday. Operating from the radio room at National Headquarters in Indianapolis, ham radio operators at club station K9TAL will celebrate the Legion’s 98 years of service to America’s veterans with both members and non-member amateur radio operators around the world on Saturday, March 11, 2017.

Ham radio operators wishing to contact Special Event Station K9TAL should tune to 40 meters: 7.225 MHz (+/- 5 KHz) LSB; or to 2 meters: K9DC 147.315 Repeater at Indianapolis; or IRLP Node 9735; or, to EchoLink *CROSSRDS* Conference node. All operations will be conducted on Saturday, March 11 between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Eastern Time [1800Z to 2359Z]. All amateur radio operators are invited to check in. American Legion posts with TALARC stations are encouraged to check in from around the country.

A full-color certificate and QSL card will be sent to all amateur radio operators contacting K9TAL, and to shortwave listeners providing signal reports, upon receipt of a 9-by-12-inch self-addressed stamped envelope to:

The American Legion National Headquarters
Attn: TALARC
700 N. Pennsylvania Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Membership in The American Legion Amateur Radio Club is free to all licensed radio amateurs who are current members of The American Legion, American Legion Auxiliary and Sons of The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/hamradio.

73,

Marty Justis
President, The American Legion Amateur Radio Club