San Antonio Hams

Wade KE5ZUO on Talk-in, JC Smith N5RXS, wanting to resell empty tables

San Antonio Radio Club’s event chairman, JC Smith N5RXS, reported on the air, Saturday morning at 6:15am, prior to opening the doors, that all vendor tables had been sold out already!

Wow!  In fact, JC placed several calls were placed on the air searching for hams who had rented tables, but hadn’t yet shown up to claim them, so that he could resell those empty tables to folks who forgot to advance register!  Amazingly enough, it seems that some hams will pay to rent a vendor table, just to get in the door before the general admission, so they can scout out the better deals and buy before the crowd starts rolling in.  This practice is discouraged, but it happens, and then it leaves empty tables that could have been used by another ham.

One of the challenges we faced this year, was the SARO 146.94 repeater being used for talk-in, failed around 6:20am, just after we had started making announcements.    We were actually then hitting the Austin’s .94 repeater, so we changed to simplex and kept on going.    Bob K5AUW set up his mobile for crossband on simplex in the beginning, then we changed over to using my radios (as discussed later).  The .94 San Antonio repeater stayed down the rest of the day.

Read the rest of this entry »

While some of us have operated in the field under emergency conditions such as during hurricanes and just after earthquakes, most hams haven’t.

I have done both, but during the recent series of Haitian earthquakes I have been, for the most part, on the “sidelines”.

I currently monitor some of the emcomm traffic coming out of the affected area by listening to the SATERN frequencies and even taking a turn at being a SATERN net control op.

Very few communications have been coming out of the country because there are presently only two amateur radio operators down there.

Hopefully, things will change if agencies get “their act together” and send communications “Jump Teams” to help send health and welfare traffic from Haiti so loved ones back in the U.S. and other countries will know that their friends/relatives in Haiti are alive. Just this simple act will relieve a lot of burden and suffering.

Read the rest of this entry »

The SARO President’s Corner

I would like time to thank all of the Directors, Committee Chairpersons, and numerous other members who have given of them selves so freely throughout the past year.  As your president I look forward to serving this organization again in 2010.

You’re new and returning Officers and Board members are Vice-President – Gary Tangrady, K5GST; Secretary – Dale Robinson, KB5YSJ; Treasurer – Mike Check, K5UCQ; Directors – Bob Rodriguez, KA5AUW; Pat Knight, AD5BR; and Lee Besing, N5NTG.

The 2010 Committee Chairpersons are: Membership – Pat Knight, AD5BR; Maintenance – Gordon Dial, K5SUZ; Engineering – Stan Stanukinos, KA5IID; Public Service – Royce Taylor, KA5OHJ; Public Relations and Newsletter – Gary Tangrady, K5GST; Web Master – Lee Besing, N5NTG; and Net Control Coordinator – Herm Hartel, N5CNH.

The first quarterly general membership meeting will be on Friday January 22 at 7:30 p.m. We will be at a new location the “El Jalisco Lindo Grill” near the intersection of Wurzbach Rd. and Watercress Dr. this is one block southwest of Bandera Rd. on Wurzbach Rd. The address is 5309 Wurzbach Rd. Suite 115.  Please note it is not necessary to purchase a meal to attend the meeting.  The restaurant is happy to host SARO and we will not have to contend with the mariachis.

Read the rest of this entry »

Title: Skywarn Training
Location: UT Pickle Research Campus – North Austin
Link out: Click here
Description: 20th Annual Lou Withrow SKYWARN
Austin / South Central Texas Severe Weather Spotter Training Session

February 20th, 2010

Schedule, Presentations and other information can be found at http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/kimmel/skywarn2010.html
Start Time: 08:15
Date: 2010-02-20

Title: Heart of the Hills Endurance Ride
Location: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera Texas
Link out: Click here
Description: An AERC – American Endurance Ride Conference sanctioned event. Proceeds from the event Benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association

Needed: 5 – 6 Amateur Radio Operators to monitor and pass safety information as required by the race management. Expected communications to be simplex – minimum requirement 25 + watts VHF – self contained. Most locations are vehicle accessible. This is a one day event, starting at 0700 Saturday – March 6th. Interested operators should contact Louis Upton at k1stx@yahoo.com for more information. Also, a briefing from the event manager will be held at the Hill Country REACT meeting – Wednesday – January 27th at 1900 hrs.
Extra: packet and uhf repeater testing may occur during the event.
Start Time: 07.00
Date: 2010-03-06

BEXAR OPERATORS GROUP announces the 2010 version of it’s “Jump Team Boot Camp” which will be held on May 14 – 16th. This year’s event is a full three days. 

This would be the fourth “Jump Team Boot Camp” given by the Bexar Operators Group. It would be a three day deployment event at a site yet to be disclosed. This “Jump Team Boot Camp” will concentrate on amateur radio and the ways and means to get a communications jump team operational should there be a need to deploy some distance from your home and communicate in the aftermath of a disaster when nothing is left standing. Learn what other groups don’t teach. This is a complete “hands on” class.

Just like previous sessions given by the Bexar Operators Group, this will be an actual drive-and-operate operation and NOT a desktop drill. When the destination has been reached, all participants will assist in the construction of shelters and operating areas after being prepped on procedures.

Read the rest of this entry »

On board was a crew of seven: Colonel Rick Husband; Lt. Colonel Michael Anderson; Commander Laurel Clark; Captain David Brown; Commander William McCool; Dr. Kalpana Chawla; & Ilan Ramon, a Colonel in the Israeli Air Force.

The Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club will again hold a special event station in remembrance of the shuttle disaster on Feb. 1, 2003.

The event will occur on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010. Ham operators from other areas are welcome to attend the event. If you cannot come to Nacogdoches, we would like to hear from you on 20 or 40 meters. Operation will begin at 0800 CST (1400 UTC) and end at 1500 CST (2100 UTC).

The station will be set up at the McMichael Middle School located at 4330 SE Stallings Drive in Nacogdoches. This is on Loop 224 between Hwy 21 east and FM 2259. The event commemorates how the ham radio operators from the local area went into action immediately after the shuttle crash to provide emergency communications and relay traffic necessary to the coordination of the event. Within hours, ham operators from across the state of Texas and other states as well also became involved. Many ham radio clubs sent members to assist in providing communications for the varied search teams. Other clubs provided towers and repeater equipment necessary to relay vital information.

Read the rest of this entry »

Reprinted from the CQ / WorldRadio Online Newsroom:

Some ham radio activity from Haiti is beginning to be heard, following yesterday’s devastating earthquake.

Father John Henault, HH6JH, in Port-au-Prince, made contact late Wednesday morning with the Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net (IATN) on 14.300 MHz, the IARU Global Centre of Activity frequency for emergency communications. Based on relays monitored at W2VU, Father John reported that he and those with him were safe, but had no power and no phone service. He was operating on battery power and hoping to get a generator running later in the day. He asked the station copying him, William Sturridge, KI4MMZ, in Flagler Beach, Florida, to telephone relatives with information that he was OK.

The following frequencies are in use for earthquake-related traffic and should be kept clear unless you are able to provide requested assistance:

• 14300 (IATN),
• 14265 (SATERN);
• 7045 (IARU Region II) and
• 3720 (IARU Region II) kHz.

Additional frequencies may be activated on different bands at different times of day, so be sure to listen carefully before transmitting to make sure you are not interfering with emergency traffic.

W2IK now has a new EMCOMM only web site:  WWW.W2IK.NET   which contains emcomm info including parts of his 250 page “EMCOMM AND YOU” CD.    

This site is a work in progress and is constantly growing, but it’s presently  loaded with lots of useful information about developing your own emergency communications skills.   

 This site contains ONLY EMCOMM material.

The new Canadian training course contains over 100 pages which were written by W2IK, so we must be doing something right.