San Antonio Hams

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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As of November 1st, AOL is closing down all of their web page services so as a result, W2IK’s 45 ham-related web pages will no longer be available through AOL. To keep most of these pages intact, they are being moved to a new address: W2IK.com    Please visit them often as they are sorted, upgraded and posted. Currently posted are the older antenna building pages, Ecom and family preparedness pages. Totally new pages will be added as time allows.

Hey Group,

Saturday (November 1st) is approaching fast and I would like to take a chance to Thank everyone that has stepped forward and volunteered.  We have approximately 18 volunteers plus 13 motorcycle marshals coming and it looks like we will have great coverage.

I have briefed Steve Denton at the U.C. Police Department and he is quite pleased.  They really look forward to our help each year and it sure looks like we are going to make a good impression again this year.

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2008 National Weather Service
Skywarn Recognition Day
December 6, 2008
0000-2400 UTC

SKYWARN Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League. It celebrates the contributions that volunteer SKYWARN radio operators make to the National Weather Service. During the day SKYWARN operators visit NWS offices and contact other radio operators across the world.

Check with your local National Weather Service office to see if they are participating in this event or having an “open house”. It is not a contest, but rather an operating event. Amateur radio operators will be on the air from National Weather Service offices and from their home stations as well. Depending upon how many NWS stations a ham operator contacts they will be given certificates of varying levels.

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AARO has announced their annual Holiday Awards Banquet, to be held Friday, December 12th, 2008 at 6pm.  Location is their usual place, Grady’s BBQ, 7400 Bandera Road.

RSVP is required due to their need to order a certain number of dinners that night in advance.  Cost of tickets to this event set at $10 a person. Call Teri Thomas for reservations at 680-6841.

More info found soon at their club web site, www.AA5RO.org

AARO was forced to change their meeting location back in early 2008 after some change in management occurred at the University Hospital which apparently caused all non-hospital groups to be evicted, so to speak.  AARO was one of those affected.

Since that time, AARO had been meeting on the east side of town, in the American Red Cross HQ building on East Houston.

But starting with the November meeting on the 12th, they will be back to meeting on the NW side of San Antonio, but not at the hospital.  Instead, they will be meeting at Martha’s Mexican Restaurant, 5822 Babcock, on the corner of Babock Rd & Huebner, just a mile or two away from the hospital.  (There is a UPS store and a T-Mobile store in the same shopping center.)

More info found at their club web site, www.AA5RO.org

(But their website still shows the older meeting location of American Red Cross, as of the date of this posting.)

Our MS staff is supporting us (the hams)  favorably, they promised that van rental is available local in San Antonio, Austin, or Dallas box truck or SAG van. Hams picking up their SAG or Box truck would return it back to original pickup location where they got it, not drive back to Houston to return it.

Also MS will provide paid for hotel rooms (Crowne Plaza) on Friday night, plus the usual free bunks at the church camp on Saturday night.  We’re still working to arrange designated refueling gas stations around like last yr.

It’s our 25th yr & with registration already closed at 13,000 riders,  I don’t anticipate problems with the event, other than normal.   Some break points have been moved to new locations on the route due to size problems.

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Under the direction of Mike, AB5EB, a rather large contingent of boy scouts and cub scouts converged at Overlook Point near the Canyon Lake dam in Texas to see what amateur radio was all about. They got more than they envisioned as the diversity of amateur radio was revealed. The amateur radio operators, featuring Mike, AB5EB, Rich, N5RAG, Carlos, KE5DFK and Bob, W2IK, were ready and waiting with several stations that operated using several modes, such as voice, digital and slow-scan television.

Other events were offered such as two antenna building sessions where scouts built actual antennas from scrap materials and used them to make contacts.The most rewarding event was the merit badge class given by Mike, AB5EB. During the class, they learned quite a bit about radio communications, “Q” signals, etc and were each also required to make an actual ham radio contact.

Also covered were basics in fox-hunting using a homemade “tape measure” antenna, PSK digital operating basics, viewing slow-scan television pictures being sent by other hams, MARS, Military Affiliated Radio Systems were explained and as added bonuses, several scouts assembled short wave radio kits using point to point wiring and in the afternoon a “geo-caching” hunt was held where scouts used GPS units, under the direction of a scout dad, to discover hidden “treasures”.

Also available were food and refreshments sold under the direction of scout moms and dads as a fundraiser. Next year’s event promises to be bigger and better!

Below are more photos from the event.  For more information about the sponsoring group, please visit them on the web at www.KX5BSA.org

Bob  W2IK

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At SARO’s meeting last Friday, October 24th, the following members were nominated and placed on the ballot for election to the Board.

Only 3 positions were up for election, and 2 of the 3 incumbents were among those nominated.  The 3rd officer chose to decline nomination.

The five persons who will be listed on the Ballot, in no particular order since that choice was done after I had left the meeting.

• Dale Robinson KB5YSJ
• Mike Check K5UCQ
• Eric Olsen WB5ZJG
• Gary Tangrady K5GST
• Don Kirchner W5DK

Ballots will be mailed out in November, with a designated December deadline for returning via mail only.  New directors will take office in January 2009 for 2 year terms.