From: “Alex Garcia”
Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2013 10:33 PM
Subject: Texas Severe Weather Conference
Hello Everyone,
The Texas Severe Weather Conference, SkyWarn Training Session is coming up this Saturday at the University of the Incarnate Word.
Registration is required and is FREE. Sign up, if you haven’t
already done so, at www.texasstorms.org.
See you this Saturday.
Alex Garcia
That’s right! The end is finally near. According to one of the three Mayan Calendars, the End of the world will occur on December 21, 2012.To celebrate this—literally—oncee in a lifetime event, Special Event Station N0D (Now Zero Days) will be activated for three days during and possibly after the end of the world. December 20; is a celebration of the end of the world. December 21, the day of destruction, we will be on the air as long as possible. December 22…that is a little iffy right now.
Amateur radio stations around the crumbling globe are invited to contact N0D, who will be operating from a secret undisclosed location. QSL with SASE to the address in QRZ. If Doomsday actually does happen, we regret that a QSL will not be possible so hold on to your SASE until the 22nd at least.
You can celebrate Doomsday by contacting N0D directly on the air. Amateurs can also become an official Doomsday station by registering on our website. You will be given a registration number and the authority to identify yourself as an Official Doomsday Station. followed by your Doomsday number.
73, N0D
N0D-Now Zero Days
Special Event Station for Doomsday!
The End of the World!
Contact Us On Dec. 21, 2012
It might be your last 73.
www.nowzerodays.com
N0D.Doomsday@gmail.com
Title: 13th Annual Skywarn Recognition Day
Location: Austin/San Antonio National Weather Service Office – New Braunfels Airport
Description: The 13th Annual Skywarn Recognition Day 2012 will be December 1st – 0001 – 2400 zulu time or November 30th 1800hrs to December 1st 1800 hrs local time!
The Austin/San Antonio National Weather Service Office is committed to participating in the event, as has been in past years!
Our station has consistently improved our standing each year utilizing VHF/UHF, HF, IRLP, Echolink and various Digital modes!
All Currently Licensed Amateur Radio Operators are invited to participate during this years event. One does not need to be Skywarn trained to participate, but it could be helpful should and activation occur!
During the 24 hour event, we schedule up to 3 operators per 2 hour block of time to operate the station.
The best time slots fill up fast, although, some of the hottest activity has been from midnite local to 0400, so if you would like to participate, please contact Louis Upton – K5STX @ k5stx@yahoo.com to reserve a slot.
Yes, you may volunteer to operate for more than one 2 hour time slot, and many operators usually do!
W2IK | 
ARES, Disaster Response, Ham Club, Hurricane, New Hams, Public Service, Skywarn, W2IK | 
10 30th, 2012| 
1 Comment »In view of the terrible plight involving Hurricane Sandy, I think everyone needs to read an article I posted in one of my web sites several years ago. Emergency communicators – take heed.
Bob Hejl W2IK
So, you’ve joined some emergency support group, taken some training and even done a few drills. That’s great! Your equipment is ready. You’re ready. But, “Murphy” has other ideas. Whether you’re a member of ARES, RACES, SATERN, REACT, CERT or any other group, you need to do more homework than what they’ve suggested. What good is all your equipment, training and confidence if you can’t get to a deployment site? Unfortunately, I’ve never seen any group adequately cover one of the most important steps in emergency communications: Getting volunteers to their final destinations as quickly and as safely as possible. Although this is especially true during natural disasters such as winter storms, hurricanes or intense periods of rain which produce almost catastrophic flooding, it can also encompass volunteers who attempt to deploy during other events such as wildfire emergencies. Can you imagine deploying to a wildfire disaster and almost getting trapped by the flames because no one told you the extent or the range of the fire? Well, it happened to me when I, with others, attempted to deploy during the Long Island wildfires a number of years ago. We were armed with everything we thought we needed…. except up-to-date information. No maps or directions were given so there we were “driving by the seat of our pants” in the dead of the night into what almost was a catastrophe for us all. Luckily, we back tracked and took the long way around finally reaching our deployment points.
Everyone was to blame for this screw-up.
The San Antonio Office of Emergency Managemenet (SAOEM) is hosting the one day AmTrak Passenger Train Emergency Response Training on your choice of dates, September 18th, 19th, 20th, or 21st, at the Emergency Operations Center located at 8130 Inner Circle Road, San Antonio, TX 78235.
This is a one day course that we are offering four days in a row to allow you to have a choice of days to attend. The training is scheduled from 8 am to 5 pm; however, that is contingent upon AmTrak having one of the cars available for students to actually walk through in the afternoon. If the rail car is not available, the class will end at noon.
This training is open to all disciplines: Law Enforcement, Fire, EMS, Public Health, Public Works, Government Administration, Private Sector, and Volunteers.
If you are interested in attending any of these days, please register on www.preparingtexas.org or email us for registration assistance.
Please help us to get the word out to people about the AmTrak training. So far the response has been very low and we need to promote the training class to insure that we do not have to cancel it.
Thank you!
Mark Chadwick, CEM, TEM
Training Officer
San Antonio Office of Emergency Management
PO Box 23339, San Antonio, TX 78235-0339
Voice: 210.206.8688
Fax: 210.206.8570
Email: mark.chadwick@sanantonio.gov
Web site: http://www.sanantonio.gov/emergency/
If you are a Ham Radio Operator and work for Boeing, then BACS Wants You!
The Boeing Auxiliary Communications Service (BACS) is a team of employees and contractors who are FCC-licensed amateur radio (“ham”) operators, who provide backup communications when normal channels become damaged or overloaded due to natural or man-made disasters.BACS is a Boeing Enterprise S&FP Disaster Preparedness Org. and is the only official ham radio organization that supports Boeing S&FP DP.
BACS primary task is to provide Emergency Communications, using Amateur Radio Frequencies to communicate from Boeing site EOC’s to Boeing site EOC’s during a disaster. Secondarily, provide emergency communications between local government authorities and local Boeing site EOC’s.
Other duties may include but are not limited to (depending on your sites needs):
BACS teams are all ready operating at Boeing sites around the country. Including; Enterprise ECMC and 14 other sites in Washington/Oregon, California, Texas, Utah, Alabama. More are coming on line as they learn about us.
This is your opportunity to use your amateur radio skills to protect yourself and your coworkers in an emergency. All you need are your ham license (technician or higher) handheld radio, and a desire to help.
Don’t have a team at your site?? We can help with that too. For more information, contact Tom Wells (thomas.e.wells@boeing.com) Or visit our (INTERNAL WORK PC’s ONLY) web site: http://bacs.web.boeing.com/bacs.htm
Locally – Steve Castle N7FUL and Bill Mayfield KF5QVM both work at the Boeing facility at Kelly Field here in San Antonio. They have volunteered to help recruit and organize licensed ham operators, who are also employees here, to participate in the Boeing Auxiliary Communications Service at this facility. But so far, other than Steve and Bill, they have not found any other hams here. There is bound to at least a dozen, we just need to put the word out.
Here is the PDF brochure with application. Only Boeing Employees & Contractors may join. BACS_recruiting_flyer
Bill Mayfield KF5QVM
mvmayfield@gvtc.com
210-932-7368
Supplier Quality Assurance Engineer
Boeing Global Services & Support, Kelly Field San Antonio, TX
There are three main types of flood warnings issued by the NWS:
Flash flooding – a flood that occurs within 6 hours of excessive rainfall and that poses a threat to life and/or property. Ice jams and dam failures can also cause flash floods.
River flooding – any high water flow, overflow, or inundation event which is threatening lives and property along main stem rivers.
Areal flooding – any high water flow, overflow, or inundation in a defined area such as a group of counties or an area along a river or stream which threaten lives and property that is not covered by an river flood, or flash flooding. The main difference between flash floods and areal floods is that areal flooding applies to longer duration precipitation, (greater than six hours), causing slow rises on rivers and streams.
Effective immediately, Joe Bruno W5AUQ is appointed as EC for Guadalupe county in District 12. Joe replaces Joe Thompson W4CTH who became a silent key July 7th. Joe Thompson was a terrific EC and all around ham and will be missed…
Our thanks to Joe Bruno for reassuming the EC slot.
Tom Whiteside, N5TW
ARRL South Texas Section Emergency Coordinator
South Central Texas Partners…
The National Weather Service Austin-San Antonio TX office is now officially on Twitter. Our first official tweet came out this morning, Monday, July 9th. Like anything new we will have some growing pains as we take on this social media giant.
Follow us @NWSSanAntonio
As of right now our Twitter page is not set up to be a “warning” tool. That may change in the future…but as of right now we will be placing graphics, outlooks, and links that you will hopefully find interesting and useful. We are also looking to utilize twitter for getting storm reports, damage pix, etc.
K5STX | Chaparral ARC, General Ham Radio, Guadalupe ARES, GVARC, Hayes Caldwell ARES, REACT, Skywarn | 11 13th, 2011| No Comments »Title: 13th Annual Skywarn Recognition Day
Location: Austin/San Antonio National Weather Service Office – New Braunfels Airport
Description: The Austin/San Antonio National Weather Service Office will be participating in the 2011 Skywarn Recognition Day, which will occur from 1800hrs 2 December 2011 to 1800hrs 3 December 2011.
Our station will again be operating for the entire 24 hours time period, utilizing 2m, 440, multiple HF bands, as well as Echolink and IRLP contacts.
This is the 13th year for the program, and I believe will be the 9th year this station has participated. Each year, our station, thanks to the dedication and perseverance of many dedicated hams from throughout the South Central Texas area, has improved on its contact status, and rating in the Skywarn Recognition Day program.
All Licensed Amateur Radio Operators are invited to participate in this fun event. Yes, Technician class licensees are encouraged to participate, as we do utilize 2m, 440 and the digital modes!
We schedule operators in 2 hours blocks of time, with a maximum of 3 operators per block! Of course, if you choose to, you may request scheduling for multiple blocks, either consecutive or broken. Such as one evening shift and one early morning shift.
Due to limited security, space, and the fact the NWS staff is still operating, we can only have 3 operators, and try to keep the noise level to a minimum. Although, many members of the staff enjoy hearing the goings on, when things are not busy on their end. We have had severe weather events occur, during the SRD.
© 2003-2012 Lee Besing N5NTG - San Antonio, TX
Contact us at 210-771-7075 or send your questions to e-mail info@sanantoniohams.org.
Check out our website at www.SanAntonioHams.org
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