May 16

This will be the 3rd annual American Hero 25k Relay Run to be held in San Antonio and it will be held at a new location from previous years.

2013 Route Map American Hero 25k Relay RunWheatley Heights Sports Complex is a brand new facility on the east side of San Antonio, near Houston & IH-10. This facility is on the opposite side of IH-10 from the American Red Cross HQ (shown in picture with a red cross.)

The aftermath of the 1998 flood that caused the evacuation of the American Red Cross, was the prompt to get a $7.5million grant to build this complex, using funds from private and public sources, including tax money from the Hotel & Rental Car tax fund.  This area was devastated by the flood and all of the houses were destroyed.  The city purchased the property from the owners and relocated them out of the flood plain. There are signs near the parking lots warning about this area will be subject to flooding.

You can click on the photo on the right for a full size image of the proposed route layout.  Or click on  the WheatleyHeightsSportsComplex_Markupphoto on the left that I “borrowed” from the Wheatley Heights Sports Complex website  and added some directional arrows and markers over the actual facility.

This location is so new, less than a year or two old, that even Google Earth doesn’t have an updated areal photo showing the existence of this sports complex.

We only need a handful of hams since the route is out & back. If you want to volunteer, please contact Lee N5NTG at info@sanantoniohams.org or call 210-771-7075 (voice/text).

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May 14

 

2013-05-11 06.50.06-1Even though I always somehow seem to end up “in charge” of these types of events, I could NOT do this without all the help I get from other Ham Radio operators who “appear out of the woodwork” when I most need them.

Some of you volunteered, changed your personal plans, and showed up to help, even though you were hurting, such as Earlene Harris K5DEH who had just broken a rib a couple days before the event.  Some of you practically “demanded” that I allow you to participate!  🙂

GVAR’s 147.000 repeater cooperated with us all day, with no major glitches noticed.  GVARC had a couple of hams standing by monitoring the repeater, and the event, to be sure it stayed up and running.  We never needed to switch over to either backup repeater frequency.

The weather cooperated with us and we didn’t have many areas of the route with water on them. I know of at least one road that was reported as “wet, but just puddle, not running across the road.”  I promised Paul Yura & his crew that I’d try to get some even t-shirts if they “made the bad weather go away,” so I guess I need to keep that promise. J

I’m currently accepting “after action debriefing reports” from any hams who worked the event.  Please email those reports to me at tdc@sanantoniohams.org when you get the time.  There should be a volunteer party in a few months. If that happens, I’ll put the word out and collect your RSVP’s at that time.

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May 10

Field Day Is Just Around The Corner – Plan Now ! by W2IK

Field Day is coming, so here are a few thoughts as you plan your group’s operation (or if you just wish to do a Field Day operation on your own in your back yard or at a park.)

A FEW TIPS FOR ANY FIELD DAY OPERATION  – I’ve posted some of this before but I think they should be repeated. (I’ve updated them a bit for 2013)

1. When setting up antennas within close proximity to each other: If you are using wire antennas such as dipoles, and they run parallel to each other there will be interference on your HF operating bands in the form of hash so arrange them at right angles to each other and at slightly different heights. If you use wire antennas such as dipoles, try to stay away from trap dipoles and use full length antennas instead.  You may also wish to run your dipoles in different configurations such as have one as an “inverted V” and another as a sloper, etc. An antenna cut to the exact band you are using will decrease interference to and from other bands. Do not use compromise, trap or “all band” antennas. (The only efficient “all band antennas” are a log periodic and a “fan dipole” NOT a “folded dipole” or others that claim they use “balancing resistors” as this only wastes rf energy in the form of heat- some, depending on frequency will squander as much as 75% of your power.) With others you may make a few contacts, but they are junk and will cause harmonic radiation. Dedicated operating needs the right antenna. Wasted energy on trap antennas (some of your RF energy is used up in the form of heat) and that equals an inefficient radiator, especially as you go lower in frequency. On HF, if you can, do not use vertical antennas as they receive too much man-made noise from sources such as generators, etc. If you can only have one vertical mast instead of three to make a dipole, make your antenna a sloper instead. I use slopers when I do county activations as they are easy to erect and cost very little.

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May 3

Special Olympics Spring Games

Hill Country REACT will be operating a special events station at the 2013 AREA 20 Special Olympics Spring Games. The guest operator will be W2IK, who will concentrate on 40 meters, around 7.270 MHZ from about 9AM until he poops out in the afternoon. Feel free to work this station, send a QSL card and a SASE to the QRZ address of  K5HCR, since this is the callsign he will be using.

Guest ops are welcome to join in at the operation:  Location is at the Frank Mata Stadium, 1922 S. General McMullen in the “athlete village’. If you hear us, work us and please post on the cluster!  Back in 2006, we made over 130 contacts in 4 hours. Help us break that record.

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