San Antonio Hams

Area Spring Games Canceled

All Special Olympics Texas Spring Games scheduled for this weekend, May 1-2, have been canceled because of concerns over the spread of swine flu.  This decision was made based on public health recommendations, the cancellation of some host venues and the withdrawal of many participating delegations. Also, it is consistent with the action taken by the University Interscholastic League (UIL).

{Photo from 2008 San Antonio Special Olympics Spring Games Opening Ceremony in San Antonio, Area 20 – Lee} Read the rest of this entry »

There seems little to concern us, if you ignore the more hysterical media, but the site below may be helpful to your Team. I expect if you click on your ‘refresh’ icon it will update the map to show you the latest information from the CDC.

If you refer to it as H1N1 flu (its correct name that sounds a little like a radio call sign), rather than ‘swine flu’, you will make life a lot easier for many farmers. Keep in mind too that 30,000 Americans die annually from other strains of flu. I don’t have Canadian stats. To this point there has been only 1 U.S. death from H1N1 and 0 in Canada. Washing your hands lots is the best prevention. Head for your doctor if you get any symptoms of flu to be on the safe side.

http://snipurl.com/gzu23

Title: 5k Run For The Hills
Location: Bulverde Senior Citizens Center
Description: 5k Run to benefit the Bulverde Senior Citizens Center. Ham radio support coordinated by Hill County REACT. Contact Gary K5GST – k5gst@live.com
Start Time: 8:00
Date: 2009-04-27
End Time: 11:00

Title: San Antonio Special Olympics Games
Location: Harlendale Stadium
Description: San Antonio Special Olympics Spring Games for Area 20 -Contact Lee N5NTG @ info@sanantoniohams.org for info
Date: 2009-04-27

The original article was emailed to me from WServerNews, dealt with “cloud computing” and the danger of relying soley upon having your data “out there” in the Internet, vulnerable to such disruptions…   Something my company, Digital Fortress, also deals with on a daily basis, called “business continuity planning” or “building a Plan B”.  

But the article goes on to talk about how some hospitals dealt with their crisis, by calling out the ham radio operators….. ta da!  (The link in the quoted extract below, links to an ARRL article that goes into more details about ham radio involvement – Lee)

Realizing that they’d need more two-way radio, authorities dispatched police to wake up the emergency coordinator of the regional ham radio club, and escort him to the community hospital with his equipment. Area hams dispatched ambulances and doctors, arranged for essential supplies, and relayed emergency communications out of the area to those with working telephones.

Here is the article, with a link at the bottom to the full story.   Read and follow the link if you are interested in it…

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Maryanne N5MYN gave me some of the photos she took, lots of scenery photos, a couple of rainbows caught by her camera, and misc rainy or not so rainy photos. Enjoy…

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Today, folks using Google.com search engine were treated to a screen that used CW to spell Google. Google is known for changing out their name to fit the season, but why CW at the end of April instead of during Field Day weekend?

When you moved your mouse over the CW portion of the screen (not the screen shot below), it says “Samuel Morse’s Birthday”  Wow, who knew that?  Here is what the screen looks like today…

Google Screen on 04/27/2009 in CW

A few pics from 2009 BPMS150…
Thanks,
Stephen Lasley (SAG 9)

As we reported earlier, the organizing committee for the BPMS150, Houston – Austin bike tour wisely made the decision to “cancel” day 1 of the 2 day event, due to excessive rain, flooding, and generally nasty weather. 

More than 10 inches of rain fell on Friday, accompanied by winds gusting in excess of 60 mph.  On Saturday, more of the same hit the area.  6-8 inches of rain hit much of Day 1’s route, flooding the minor side streets like the state highways or Farm Market roads normally ridden by the bike riders.   Many of the rest areas were under water or were too muddy to be used.

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During their April 24, 2009 meeting of the members, the San Antonio Repeater Organization (SARO) was presented a plaque in recognition of the club’s service in support of the BikeMS Bike to the Beach event held last October.

Tony Ralf KE5ZT (National MS Society) presented the plaque to SARO club president Erik Olsen WB5ZJQ during a special presentation at Martha’s Mexican Restaurant.