About 21  radio operators gathered at the Mountain Valley Middle School in Sattler, Texas (just east of Canyon Lake) to help organize the staging area for the 2010 Annual Canyon Lake Christmas Parade at 8am Saturday morning, December 11, 2010.

Hill Country REACT has been organizing this event for more years than we can remember, 14+ years at least.   For the past few years, we’ve been lucky to get help from neighboring ham clubs, and this year was no different.  In addition to members from our own team, we also had volunteers from Travis County REACT (Austin), HC Hams (Hayes / Caldwell), and Guadalupe Valley ARC (GVARC – New Braunfels). Not shown in photo is photographer Lee N5NTG.

Here is a list of radio operators working the event…

• Ray McLeaird            HC REACT
• Charlie Land              HC REACT
• Lee Besing                HC REACT
• David Besing             HC REACT
• Gary Tangrady           HC REACT
• Charles Manley III     HC REACT
• Barbara Manley          HC REACT
• Wade Bolling             HC REACT
• Wade Martyn             HC REACT
• Mike Pérez                HC REACT
• “Skipp” Stem             GVARC
• Samuel Stem            GVARC
• Richard Graham       GVARC
• Chuck Donohoe       GVARC
• Jake Creamer          HCARC/ HC REACT
• Rick Coleman          HCARC
• Bernard Ederer        HCARC
• Dianne Shirey          HCARC
• Bob Shirey               HCARC
• Roger Wines and  4 other Travis County REACT members

This year the parade staging area was changed, reversed from previous years.  The new layout worked much better for us, giving us more room to stretch out the entries.  We had nearly 60 entries this year, and the Shriners counted as just one entry, so you can guess how big it really was.    The parade route was more than 2 miles, starting on the northside of  Sattler, ending on the south end.  Traffic was snarled for more than an hour and a half while the parade was on the main route thru town.

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An amateur radio operator from Australia, VK4ION, recently posted on her website a story about reading W2IK’s Emergency NVIS antenna construction plans and with some adaptation building her own portable ENVIS antenna system for emergency communications. Her website, VK4ION Emergency N.V.I.S. antenna, shows in detail, with many pictures, her construction of this antenna along with NVIS theories on how low antennas are perfect for local (under 400 mile) emergency communications. A photo of her ENVIS antenna is shown below.

Her report included comments such as when it was used during their “field day” operation it was the “hit of the show”. On her website is also a link to W2IK’s 4 part website on building the original antenna including the adapter for 80 meter and MARS operation. This antenna is the only NVIS antenna posted in the NAVMC MARS websites.

Bob W2IK

Due to lack of response, W2IK and the Bexar Operators Group (W5BOG) have decided to cancel the 2011 Jump Team Boot Camp  for emergency communicators. It takes a great deal of lead time and planning to run this program, reserve the wildlife refuge area, line up the two Army survival specialists, check out several tons of jump team gear, etc. With no inquiries, usually by now the reservation list would be almost full, we can only assume no one feels this training is needed so we will also retire from offering it in the future.

Bob  W2IK

2010 National Weather Service
Skywarn Recognition Day
December 4, 2009 (Friday Night – Saturday)
0000-2400 UTC

SKYWARN Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League. It celebrates the contributions that volunteer SKYWARN radio operators make to the National Weather Service. During the day SKYWARN operators visit NWS offices and contact other radio operators across the world.

The National Weather Service Austin-San Antonio will again be a part of this year’s Skywarn Recognition Day event. If you wish to be a part of the Austin-San Antonio effort, contact Louis Upton – K5STX who will be spearheading the schedule.  Please contact him at: k5stx@arrl.net

In other areas of the country, check with your local National Weather Service office to see if they are participating in this event or having an “open house”. It is not a contest, but rather an operating event. Amateur radio operators will be on the air from National Weather Service offices and from their home stations as well. Depending upon how many NWS stations a ham operator contacts they will be given certificates of varying levels.
The certificate (shown to the left) was given to W2IK in 2006 for contacting over 40 different NWS stations all across the US. Be a part of this fun event by either visiting your local NWS or by making contacts with as many stations as you can.

For updated information concerning this event, just go to:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/hamradio/

At this site, you can get a list of participating NWS offices, their call signs, and other useful information. Check this site often as additional participating offices will be listed as the day approaches. I hope you’ll join in on the fun and learn more about the National Weather Service and the function Skywarn plays in keeping the country safe during severe weather conditions.

Last year, we made 360 contacts from our site which was a major increase from previous years. This year, we want to break that record. Contact Louis to join us or go on the air from your home station to work us.

Good Morning,

Sorry for the late notice on the location, but here we go!
As requested during post race briefings last year, we are having a test and tune for the Bandera 100k, which also benefits the Water Safari Volunteers!
Jeremy and I will be holding a test and tune session of the spreadsheet program and packet equipment that is used for the Texas Water Safari and Bandera 100k events.
Saturday, Nov 13th between from 8:00 a.m. to around noon! Jeremy and I will be on site at 0800 hrs, with the majority of the group coming in around 0900 hrs!
Location: Guadalupe County Office of Emergency Management: 415 E. Donegan St. Seguin, TX
Two blocks East of the Courthouse, one block south!

The purpose of the test, is to try the new configuration with various computers, to make sure the spreadsheet will communicate with the computers comm port settings correctly.
Bring the set-up you plan to use during the Bandera 100k event or Water Safari!
Note: We have found already, that the new Windows 7, running 64 bit is not working correctly(Jeremy may find a fix for this).  Windows 7, running 32 bit appear to be functioning properly.

We will be running the program through the digi-peater, back and forth, and really try hard to crash the system to try and eliminate any problems that could occur during the events.

If you can make it, fantastic!  If not, one we have the bugs worked out, the files will be sent out with detailed install instructions for you
to try prior to the race.
The session is primarily for Bandera 100k/Water Safari volunteers running packet, but anyone with an interest is invited to attend. This spreadsheet and packet software could have many uses!

If you have any questions, please contact me @ trlrider@gvec.net or 830-305-2889.
Also, PLEASE RSVP if you can make it!

Thanks,

Louis – K5STX

Medina County ARC
Great Antenna Shootout & Tail Gate Swap Fest

Date: November 13, 2010       Time: 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Hondo Community Center
1014 18th Street
Hondo, TX 78861

Contact: Walter Hock/KK5LO (281) 684-8075

Entry: FREE – ZIP – NADA

Categories: (Commercial & Home Brew)
1. Beginners – Single Element
2. Beginners – Multi Element
3. Old Pro – Single Element
4. Old Pro – Multi Element

• Are you the next Marconi or Tesla?
• Have you designed and built the best 2M antenna ever made?
• Do you want to know how yourfavorite commercial 2M antenna stacks up?

If you answered yes to any of the above, then you need to come to the
Great Antenna Shootout & Tail Gate Swap Fest

Make your YL happy and bring your “old” stuff to sell too!
Or buy just one thing you’ve been looking for..

Food & drinks will be sold to raise funds for the Mediina County Amateur Club!

The Annual Universal City Veteran’s Day Parade will be held this year on November 6th, actually the weekend before the San Antonio Rock N’ Roll Marathon.

We are still in need of more volunteers so if you are available and would like to help please contact me Gary S. Tangrady, K5GST, either at K5GST01@gmail.com or phone me at 210-619-6217. This is my cell phone number and I use it for work, so if I do not answer your call right away feel free to text me or leave me a message.

The parade route is from the staging area on Universal City Boulevard where it will turn left onto Pat Booker and head towards Randolph AFB. It will turn right at Byrd Boulevard just before the main gate into Randolph and from there take the first left and travel to the end of that street and break up at the VFW Post.

Between the hours of 0800 and 0900 people will start showing up at the Universal City Police Department on Universal City Boulevard.  (note: when you come to the front of the building there are two doors, take the door that says Police Station and tell the dispatcher you are there for the parade. He will direct you to the training room where the briefing will be held.) Coffee and donuts will be provided by the police department and I plan on being there at 0800. I need one other person to show up with me at 0800 to run the talk-in on the 147.000 New Braunfels repeater, negative offset with a PL of 88.5.

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Nov 6th, Need more amateurs to do it right. Please drop me an email at k5gst01@gmail.com or give me a call at 210-619-6217.