San Antonio Hams

This weekend, join hundreds of hams as they work all the counties in Texas during the annual TEXAS QSO PARY. Check out: http://www.txqp.net/  for details, rules and very valuable resource pages. This year, W2IK will join a long list of operators in working as a mobile station, transversing counties to gain points and give out county QSO’s. Check in the resource pages to see who will be operating in each county. W2IK/M will be “running” mobile from: Bexar,  Wilson,  Karnes, Live Oak, Atascosa, McMullen, LaSalle, Dimmit, Maverick, Kinney, Uvalde, Zavala and Frio counties in that order. 

He will be operating in the 40 and 20 meter bands and only using SSB. Remember…. each contact from a mobile can count as a new multiplier. Have fun. Get those counties in your logbook. Also see: “Little Contests For Little Guns” at: http://sanantoniohams.org/blog/?p=821

Break Point 5 on FM775 & CR 319

Over the weekend, we volunteered to help out at the 4th annual La Vernia Wild West Hammer Fest, a bicycle ride to raise funds for the La Vernia Historical Society, www.laverniawildwesthammerfest.com. 

La Vernia is a small town in Wilson County, about 20 miles southeast of San Antonio.   

About a dozen hams from multiple clubs came together and helped out with this annual event in Wilson County.  We covered the Start/Finish Line Net Control, 5 Break Points and 3 SAG vehicles.  We could have used a few more hams for the other SAG’s, but this was a last minute request for help, and most of our usual volunteers had already made plans.   We had three other hams lined up, but one got sick the night before, one got called into work by his boss for the weekend, and the third had to go clear up some damages caused by the storm that swept thru the area on Friday night, the night before the bicycle event.

Read the rest of this entry »

David Freiberger K5OLE on top of the American Red Cross Bldg working on one of the antennas

Our friend, mentor and leader, David Freiberger K5OLE is gone. He passed away this afternoon after a very long battle, first with cancer, then with complications from the treatment of it.

J C Smith, N5RXS, will update us with the funeral arrangements when he can.

I’m attaching a photo of my friend, doing what he loved.

Sadly,
Shane NS5D

Additional info will be posted here as provided.  We encourage other hams who knew David, to post comments on this article to share your thoughts, memories, etc.  

David was recently the Bexar County EC (Emergency Coordinator), stepping down only due to his health issues, and was a former president of the San Antonio Radio Club. He was active in the STXDXCC Club as well.  His cheerful attitude helped a lot of hams do their jobs better.

Lee N5NTG
Webmaster for SanAntonioHams.org

Read the rest of this entry »

Ellis N. “Ben” Bennett Jr, N5BMW, passed away Sept. 9. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; a daughter and son-in-law, Dr. Elicia Larkin and James of College Station; and his step-son and step daughter-in-law, SFC David C. Hausam and Virginia of Copperas Cove. He is also survived by his sister, Sandra Bennett, and six grandchildren. His parents, Ellis N. and Fay Mowery Bennett, preceded him in death.

He was retired from Civil Service and the Army Reserves and currently worked at VSE as an instructor. He actively volunteered at the Texas Transportation Museum for many years.

He was also an amateur radio operator and worked with the Red Cross many times during emergencies.  He was a member of the San Antonio Repeater Organization.

Visitation will be on Sunday, Sept. 12, from 5 until 7 at Sunset Funeral Chapel. Services will be Monday at 8:30 a.m. at Sunset followed by interment in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. A reception will follow at Sunset Hospitality Hall.

To leave a message for the family, visit our website at www.sunsetfuneralhomesa.com for more information.

Note: We’ve been contacted by Barbara Bennett, his wife, who now wants to earn her own Ham Radio License and then get Ben’s call sign as a vanity call.  So one ham leaves this earth, and another one will soon enter… – Lee N5NTG

First, Thank you all for your interest and continued support of community events throughout our region.

Coordinator Contact Info:
Louis Upton – K5STX
Hill Country REACT
e-mail: trlrider@gvec.net
cell: 830-305-2889

The when, where and how about what we are needing:
Date: October 2, 2010
Where: Rio Bonito Ranch – Junction, TX – actually approximately halfway between Junction and Kerrville right off I-10
Times: Event Briefing: 0830 hrs – Event Start 1000 hrs Event Completion: 1430 – 1500 hrs

What: American Competitive Trail Horse Association – a national organizational format with numerous events around the country in every state.  The event sets up 6 obstacles, natural and man made, in a 6 to 7 mile course in which the horse and rider are judged on their ability to handle the obstacle.  The event is capped at 100 participants, and most events easily reach this cap.
This event is a not for profit event, of which all proceeds are donated to Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation Organizations in the state of Texas.  All donations stay in the state!

Read the rest of this entry »

DEVIL’S BACKBONE LINK Info:

Link for information.   www.w5erx.com

Serving  San Antonio to Austin and all areas in between.

Reflector 9667

444.150+ (pl114.8)  Node 3539
444.450+ (pl114.8)  Node 7149
442.550+ (pl141.3)  Node 7718
147.060+ (pl103.5)  Node 7843 As needed / coming soon.

We have been having a great deal of problems with our IRLP nodes connected to the Dallas Reflector.  As some of you may know, they had a complete hardware failure and seem to still be getting it all sorted out.  Due to the generosity of Mark (K7IZA) we have moved everything over to his reflector on channel 7 (9667).  This is just to let everybody know where to reconnect the repeaters if they happen to use the nodes for other connections.  This is the Micro-Node Reflector on channel 7 (9667).

http://micro-node.com/refmon/

This effects these repeaters:

444.150 Node 3539
442.550 Node 7718
444.450 Node 7149

73 de Wade, W5ERX,
Trustee for the 444.450 Canyon Lake Repeater
Hill Country REACT Team

Last week Joe Gadus, KD5KTX resigned as the Public Information Coordinator for the South Texas Section. I was sorry to receive this resignation as Joe has done a fantastic job in the Section both as a Public Information Officer and as the Public Information Coordinator.  During his tenure as PIC he pursued the creation of a new position in the section, that of  an Assistant PIC and signed up five excellent PIO’s to fill those slots. With the five assistants in place to help him they, as a team, have grown the South Texas Section list of ACTIVE Public Information Officers to over 21. This is very likely the largest active group of PIO’s in any single section in the league.  

Joe also was one of the very first to be recognized formally by the ARRL as one of three PIO’s of the year last year.  His PR efforts within the section have been everything I could have hoped for in both a PIO and PIC.  I want thank Joe for his time and dedication to the position.

In finding a replacement for the PIC job I found myself with the enviable task of having several very qualified volunteers that have offered their services to the section. It made the decision a tough one as I would have felt comfortable in appointing any of them and knowing they will do a great job. 

Having said that, I would like to announce the appointment of Mike Manshack, AD5OG, as the new Public Information Coordinator for the South Texas Section.  Mike has been active as a PIO and as an Assistant PIC and has done a great job in recruiting new PIO’s,as well as working with the local ARES and Clubs to get media coverage for their events. I feel comfortable that the entire PIO  team will continue to excel while working with Mike.

Please join me in congratulating Mike on his new role.

Lee, W5LHC
STX SM