W2IK | 
05 23rd, 2009| 
Before I moved from Long Island to Texas, I had the privilege of doing something very rare. While a member of the Suffolk County Radio Club, I had the honor of actually operating from an antique, time worn, 10 foot by 10 foot wooden “shack”.
May
21
We’ve set up a new Twitter Account for user “tourdecuresa” to be used for the 2009 Central Texas bike tour. This event is May 30-31, just a week away. The organizing committee is concerned about being able to quickly spread the word, should something “strange” happen, like has happened to the last two MS150 events in Texas. (Severe weather forcing closure of course, or other emergency requiring evac of riders). Obviously we’ll be depending upon Ham Radio as the backbone of our response system, but using Twitter allows us to contact non-hams quickly with updates.
We’ll be using this Twitter account to keep our followers informed of only Tour de Cure event news, no personal comments, etc. You can sign up to follow this user if you already have a Twitter account, or create a new account for yourself and then sign up to follow.
May
19
Hill Country REACT Meeting – May 27 @ 7pm
Come one, Come all!
Join the festivities!
Find out all about this PSK 31 Stuff!
Bob Rodriguez/K5AUW (photo on right)
Bob Rod, a local Guru will be speaking about PSK 31 in the first of a new series of speakers at the next REACT meeting!
REACT is largely committed to Public Service Events as you may already know but this year we are expanding our activities to include some more of the fun stuff. Later this year we will be having a FOX Hunt, a great activity for the old timers and a fantastic learning experience for the newcomers! And this summer we are planning on having a special test session, a one time deal, in the middle of the week up in Bulverde, to help new people and those already licensed either get licensed or upgraded.
May
19
We’ve still got a few slots left open for hams to volunteer for this year’s American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure bike event. This is a 2-day event from San Antonio to San Marcos, and San Marcos to Austin, on May 30th and 31st.
- We’ve got a couple of Saturday Rest Stop positions that will only need manned in the morning, would be over before noon.
- We could use 1 or 2 more hams at the San Antonio Start Line on Saturday, would be over before noon.
- We could use a couple more Hams to ride in the Supply Trucks. (2-day assignment)
- We’ve got a few driving assignments available for hams 25 yrs or older, driving brand new Toyota pickup trucks. (2-day assignment)
Contact Lee Besing N5NTG via email or by phone (210-771-7075) to get more info.
May
19
Field Day 2009 is June 27 and 28, and this year’s event promises to be a memorable one for San Antonio.
This year, a huge, multi-club Field Day site will be sponsored by the Bexar County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) with participation by members of the Alamo Area Radio Organization (AARO), the San Antonio Radio Club (SARC), Radio Operators of South Texas (ROOST) plus several other San Antonio area amateur radio groups (SARO, REACT, Baptist Men, etc.).
Field Day will be held at the San Antonio Fire Department Training Academy at Highway 151 and Callaghan Road, near Southwest Research Institute.
All amateurs and their families are invited to participate, regardless of club affiliation. New hams and prospective hams are especially welcomed. The event is also open to the general public, and there will be a “Get On The AIR (GOTA)” station available for unlicensed individuals to make some Field Day contacts.
Eric KD5YZU
May
13
This is NOT a simple, typical “field day”operation. This IS a serious over-night “real day – real deal” learning session.
A much shortened version of my full 3 day Jump Team Boot Camp will be offered ONLY IF there are enough interested hams in this area.
Note: My full 3-day boot-camp is still being held in late October but it’s been requested that I also hold a simpler one. We will go through the same basic steps needed to set up and run a complete emergency communications complex at a location where nothing would be standing.
May
9
We’ve just learned the bad news that Denny Findley KD5YRR has passed away. Denny suffered a heart attack and was declared deceased at 4pm on Friday, May 8th.
Denny was best known for his laugh, generous spirit, distinctive voice on the radio, driving a convertible and smoking cigars out on the back patio of his house while talking on the AARO radio nets.
He held a general class ham license, and was a member of AARO. His “day job” was providing chaplain services at various prisons.
May
7
Title: Field Nic This Saturday May 9th US Hwy 90 West of D’Hanis
Location: US Hwy 90 Rest Area just West of D’Hanis, TX
Link out: Click here
Description: JOIN US for a “Field Nic” this Saturday May 9 from 11am ’til 4pm at the US Hwy 90 Rest Area just West of D’Hanis, TX Hosted by the Medina County Amateur Radio Club. Come on out and see K5AUW Bob Rod\’s fully portable Emergency Amateur Radio station. Bring a lawn chair, some sandwiches, soft drinks, and enjoy the HAM fellowship.
Walter Hock, KK5LO
p.s. “Field Nic” is a mini Field Day set up.
Start Time: 11:00
Date: 2009-05-09
End Time: 16:00
May
2
One of the reasons some hams don’t wish to participate in amateur radio contests is that they believe they can never win a top spot using simple equipment against thousands of stations.
There are several ways to answer this.
One, you aren’t competing against the big stations in most contests as they usually break down the entries in to level playing fields such as entries for high and low power levels, etc.
Second, you should be thinking of your own contest operation as a challenge to yourself and not to others, to see how well you can do based upon the set up you have and your choice of bands based on propagation.
May
2
Dear Fellow Hams! Just in case you were unaware of this free source of information about ham radio hardware “fixes”, I chose to share this recently received electronic newsletter from www.mods.dk to which I subscribe.
While the site is hosted in Germany, the site is written in English. I’ve found lots of hard to find manuals for obscure radios, or current radios. And if you wanted to modify a radio, but didn’t know how, they usually have the instructions. Of course, I’m not trying to encourage anyone to make illegal mods, or to use their transmitter in an illegal fashion. But there are legit reasons for being able to receive or transmit out of what was “normal” when a rig was built, such as the 60 meter band that was recently opened for hams to use (few years ago). Many older HF rigs won’t go there without a mod, like the ICOM 706MKII-G, etc.
Anyway… Here is the newsletter I just received today. If you find it interesting, please visit their website and sign up for your own copy. It only comes out every 2 or 3 months.