San Antonio Hams

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.

Our 30th Anniversary! 

Once again it’s time for fun in the sun in central Texas as we make the Capital City the place to be in the middle of the Texas summer.  Come and enjoy old friends, the swapfest, and all the events at Austin Summerfest 2013, and the ARRL Texas State Convention.  And as always, we also host the Summer Meeting of the Texas VHF-FM Society. 

Dates: August 2 & 3, 2013
Where: Crowne Plaza  –   6121 North IH-35,  Austin, Texas 78752 (NE Corner of IH-35N & US 290E)

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Well, it’s that time again for the 6th annual Alamo Area Law Enforcement Explorer Competition (AALEEC) which will be held this year on Saturday October 19th, 2013 at the Southwest High School 11960 Dragon Lane, San Antonio, TX 78252.  (Loop 1604 & Old Pearsall Rd on the SW side of San Antonio.)

Ham radio operators are being coordinated by Dave Espinoza W5QS.  We need about a dozen or more hams to properly cover the various areas.  We will be using simplex 2 meter frequencies or possibly 440.

Please email  Dave Espinoza W5QS or call / text him at 210-287-5036 to volunteer.  Do not contact Tim Barlow (shown below) if you are wanting to volunteer as a ham, he’s the participant contact. (We only left Tim’s contact info in, for those who are doing a Google Search to find out more information about this event.)

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SARO is once again looking for more Ham Volunteers to step up and help with this annual event.

Coordinating this year’s event is MaryAnne N5MYN, Charlie KC5NKK, and Lee N5NTG.

Charlie KC5NKK is the point of contact for ham volunteers and assignments. MaryAnne N5MYN is interfacing with the Tour Director and event staff. Lee N5NTG is coordinating the SAG teams, van pick-up and day of the event assignments.

We know that we need a minimum of 32 amateur licensed volunteers. In addition, we would really like to have co-pilots for the SAGs (amateur license not required).

Below is some information about what we’ll need in order to cover this event “at a minimum.” Obviously, we want to exceed this minimum and be ready to do this ride the right way, the SARO way!

At present time (7/25/2013), we have 29 who have said “yes” plus 4 SAG co-pilots, so we have a lot of recruiting to do yet. We would like to have at least 5 “spares” to cover last minute cancellations. If you have friends or acquaintances (or even people you don’t like) who would consider helping (licensed or not) please contact them and let us know if you get any interest.

There will be some route changes, mostly on Day 1, such as avoiding FM1346 thru St. Hedwig. After many years, and no repairs being made to the large cracks along this stretch of FM1346, some big enough to swallow a rider and his/her bicycle (just kidding), the route committee decided enough was enough.

The new route on Day 1 drops south and goes around St. Hedwig, which forced the one rest stop. In addition. one of the churches we normally used in the past, apparently has a wedding scheduled for that weekend and for some strange reason, the bridal party didn’t think that them working a rest stop would fit into their plans.

We need several things from you. We need a volunteer agreement executed. The strongest preference is to do it on line. Instructions will be emailed to you when you sign up to work this event. This form is required of every volunteer for each event. Even if you helped with the BP ride this Spring, this form needs to be executed again for our ride. The main reason for doing one for each event is this is the way that the MS office knows who you are so they can send you “thank you’s” and appreciation party invitations.

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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS DEPLOYMENT FOR AN EVENT
LASTING SEVERAL DAYS:

“PROTEIN DEPRAVATION” AND “FOOD FATIGUE”

………….You must also provide nutritional food with plenty of protein.

Protein Depravation

The result of an unbalanced diet may cause “Protein Depravation” which may impair judgment, cause lack of energy, poor sleep, slurred speech and other symptoms. “Cults” use protein depravation to control their members as it becomes difficult to think or reason when your brain is deprived of protein. Sending the wrong “traffic” in a message may cause disaster or heart ache.

Junk food and “sweets” should be kept to a minimum, although some salty snacks should be allowed in moderation as they can help in matters of dehydration if you are deployed in the aftermath of a hurricane where it becomes hot and humid.

Some of the best sources of protein, beyond your food cache of canned meats, canned tuna and canned poultry (all of which you should bring), are servings of beans, such as lima beans, pinto beans and red beans. Beans and rice combination is inexpensive yet can be part of a well balanced meal. Beans are easy to store and prepare and their purchase price is very reasonable.

If you wish, you could store this type of food in the same way “long term food” peppers do. Take a supply of dry beans, pour them into a heavy Mylar bag, add an oxygen absorber and seal the bag by ironing it closed being sure to squeeze any excess air out of it. LABEL the Mylar bag with what’s inside and date it. If properly done, and if the sealed Mylar bag is also protected from punctures and rodents by storing them in plastic buckets, it should remain a viable food product for about 20 years.

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POWERING A QRP FIELD STATION – Bob Hejl W2IK

SITE SURVEY – An Important Detail For Longer-Term (over a day) Emergency Communications Deployment

TAUGHT AS PART OF OUR “JUMP TEAM BOOT CAMP” session  by Bob W2IK

How and where you erect any operating, sleeping and cooking structures is very important. This also includes areas for erecting any antennas. This is why when you get to a location and decide upon a general area,  you first must do a site survey. This is especially true if your team does a full-scale tent deployment and not a deployment using existing free-standing buildings. One of the most important things to consider is: Will this emergency intensify, such as will there be additional rains or wind in the short-term future while you are deployed? Even if you do choose to use an existing building, you need to do site survey.

Threat Assessment –

• Will there be drainage for additional rains or will your operation be flooded out or will you have to sleep in soaked sleeping bags like I had to do once in the 1980s in the Virgin Islands because the team leader decided on the wrong area for placement of the communications team?
• An existing building may become flooded or cut off from access or evacuation.
• A road to any building may become a river that will flood out any building when you least expect it.
• Always choose an area which is on higher ground than the surrounding plain and NOT near any stream or river or their associated flood plains. You can usually tell about where the flood plain is by observation. Along streams there will be what’s known as a “debris line”. On flat terrain, this could be hundreds of yards from the stream itself. This is the highest area that has been recently flooded. Stay FAR AWAY from any debris line, as the emergency you might be deploying for, will have greater flooding potential than the average heavy rain.
• Areas near a dry creek bed should be avoided because a dry creek bed can be flash-flooded and you along with it. I have seen one of these creek beds flood out to a half-mile wide river in a matter of minutes. High winds can cause trees to come crashing down when already saturated roots give way so keep away from large trees. Yes, they may make handsome places to string up an antenna, but at what cost? Read the rest of this entry »

Lighting For Emergency Communications

Once again, the members of Hill Country REACT, along with support from other area ham radio operators, has successfully organized the Canyon Lake 4th of July Parade in Startzville, Texas.  This annual parade is sponsored by the Canyon Lake VFW Post 8800 (Startzville).  This year, there were about 40 entries, some small and some not so small.  The parade route stretches from the west end of Startzville to the eastern side of town near the VFW post location.  It starts on Old Cranes Mill Road and runs for about a mile or so until it reaches the de-staging area.

The following volunteers helped put on this year’s parade…

• Wade Bolling W5ERX  – IC / Coordinator REACT
• Lee Besing N5NTG REACT
• David Besing KD5MTJ REACT
• Nick Sellers (non ham volunteer)
• Daryl Mai W5MAI REACT
• Joe Bruno W5AUQ REACT
• Richard Graham N5RAG
• Dave Eggebraaten AF5IA

JUMP TEAM BOOT CAMP 2014 (April 4th-6th)
A maximum of 8 attendees only!  

This is a FREE course, With 200 page training manual written specifically for this class.

W2IK and The Bexar Operators Group (W5BOG) located in San Antonio, Texas, will sponsor their 6th annual “Jump Team Boot Camp” in 2014, commencing on April 4th (Friday AFTERNOON) and running through the 6th (Sunday AFTERNOON).

Our “Jump Boot Camp” will concentrate on the ways and means to get a “Jump Team” operational should there be a need to deploy far from your home and communicate in the aftermath of a disaster where nothing is standing.

Just like the other “Jump Team Boot Camps” we’ve taught, this will be an actual drive-and-operate operation and NOT a desktop drill. This is the “no BS, real deal” of emcomm training and is as close as it gets to an actual disaster. The only emcomm boot camp in the country!

You will get very dirty so bring extra clothes! You will test your personal limits.   You will leave with self-confidence in dealing with extreme emergency communications work.

ECs and AECs from any group are especially encouraged to attend so they can bring valuable information back to their group(s) and so they are aware of what any of their members will be facing when you ask them to deploy to an extreme disaster area.

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