San Antonio Hams

Okay, Day 2 of Ham-Com is over for 2009, I didn’t win any of the 18 Alinco HT’s or the 2 HF mobile rigs given away as door prizes, but I also didn’t get the (not so)  free ride in the Plano EMS Ambulance like one ham from Longview did.

I was taking a tour of the McKinney ARC Net Control Station on Saturday morning (Plano Amateur Radio Club did it on Friday) when we heard sirens approaching the Plano Centre, firetruck and ambulance.

The Net Control operator asked me to go find out what was happening, since he needed to stay near the radio.

Seems that one of the attendees, an older ham in the 60+ age range, was sitting in a chair inside the flea market area and he apparently dozed off, was snoring, but suddenly stopped breathing. He was reportedly unresponsive when another ham observed his condition and tried to revive him, so 911 was called. They ended up transporting him to the hospital and I don’t know what the final result was.  

Hams from the event, quickly and efficiently cleared barricades and established a path clear of traffic for the two emergency vehicles to arrive and depart.  Naturally, they were using their HT radios on simplex to coordinate their efforts.   A page was put out on the intercom inside asking if there were any other hams present from the Longview Amateur Radio Club who might want to assist / be aware of this other ham’s predicament and to get word back to any family members that might need to be contacted.

The big storm that moved thru the area Friday night, detoured south of here at the last minute, pounding Dallas and all points south instead of Plano. HamCom security walked the parking lots to alert any over night campers about the severe weather so they would not be taken by surprise.  

But Saturday night, another storm front showed up knocking on Plano’s front door, so we exited quickly out the side door, heading south on IH-35 until we reached the first rest stop on the highway that was outside of the predicted storm area.  Spent the night there in the RV, and moved on about 5am down to Waco and got fuel and food at the Flying J.   Al’s taking a nap in the back while I’m updating this website posting.

Traveling in the RV with Al for this trip has been interesting to say the least.   Extreme comfort, equal to many hotels I’ve stayed in over the years, although the bathroom is a bit tight width wise for us more chubbier folks.  Great view on the road from way up here, but it was amazing while we were driving thru Dallas, how many “tiny” cars (compared to the 26,000 pounds this RV weights) would just zip in front of the RV then slow down.  They must have thought this RV could stop or turn on a dime, and I’m here to tell those drivers (after Al hit his air horn a few times) that this RV has great pickup and pep (330HP diesel engine) but it takes a bit of time to accelerate or stop this puppy.

Anyway, here is another collection of about 40 more photos taken by  yours truly at today’s event…