San Antonio Hams

A small section from our 200 page “JUMP TEAM BOOT CAMP” training manual
by Bob Hejl – W2IK

Your Em-Comm deployment group is only as good as the antennas they use. With this in mind, you must use antennas that are “tried and true” yet simple to erect in an emergency. They DO NOT have to be expensive. They should not be an elaborate concoction of wires or elements (NO BEAMS… You are NOT working DX as 99% of all HF emergency communications will be on the lower HF bands and probably not more than 300 miles).

There was only one case in over 20 years where I had to do emergency communications using 10 meters and this was communicating from New York to Hawaii (which had a hurricane) and relay the traffic back to California because due to propagation neither Hawaii or California could hear each other.

Your antennas DO have to work – every time and under a myriad of conditions such as freezing weather, monsoon-type rains, sustained winds or sizzling heat. They must also be stored and ONLY used for deployment purposes. They should not be something you scrounge together before heading out for a deployment. Back up antennas are vital. You need to have redundancy (two of each antenna so if there is a problem, such as a branch falls down on one that makes it un-repairable, or a failure such as a center connector breaking or burning out, it will not prevent you from getting on the air)

There is NO SUCH THING AS A “MIRACLE ANTENNA” no matter what you’ve read in ads or what a few hams “swear” by.

Emergency deployment is no game. If you need a question answered about a particular antenna, feel free to email me: alonestaryank@aol.com

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The ham community has been supporting the annual Tour for Children bicycle ride since 2011.

But last year was the first time we actually drove the SAG trucks that were donated by Toyota of Boerne. 

Apparently, there “some issues raised” that weren’t brought to our attention until this month, today in fact.

Due to those “issues” and the fact that the organizing committee was apparently blissfully unaware of what the hams do during this type of event, they’ve chosen to ride without us this year.

The event is still being held on September 14, 2013, starting at El Chaparral Restaurant in Helotes (Start/Finish) and various lengths of routes going as far north as Boerne.  For the past couple of years, they’ve had around 500 riders.

We truly wish them the best of luck and hope they have a safe and successful event without any of the incidents that would have likely been avoided had they utilized our experienced SAG drivers and other hams to increase overall  rider safety on the course.

In the meantime… all of the Ham Radio operators who had originally planned on donating that Saturday to help “the cause,” are welcome to come hang out with the members of Hill Country REACT instead, while we assist the Village of Bulverde with the 2013 Bulverde Jubilee, including “the world’s shortest parade” at 11am.  (On FM1863, west of Hwy 281)  Truly, the parade route is about 1/4 the length of the staging area, about a city block long.  Date is also Sept 14th, starting at 8am.

Contact Charlie KC5NKK via email for details.