San Antonio Area Hams 
This page is where we post local Amateur News as we find out about things of general interest which have been happening in our community, or which have directly affected our local Amateur Community. We've also included the news highlights from ARRL's web site. And just like we're pulling the highlights from ARRL's web site, the news highlights are available to be pulled from this page for use on other radio club web sites. Contact the webmaster for info to obtain permission and instructions on how to accomplish this.
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From Noon Saturday thru Noon Sunday
using only Old Vacuum Tube Radio / Equpment
by K5AXN - Jerry Barry
Jerry says... It's time for my 8th annual Vintage Field Day. this is mostly a social event, so bring a yard chair and join the fun. The place may need mowing and I might be slow in getting the equipment set up, but come pitch in and have fun. This is a gathering of some old AM guys and some family, plus new friends, and not a contest, so come join us to discuss Ham Radio or the problems of the world. Enjoy some tiem under the big pecan trees down by Cibolo Creek near Marion, Texas. We will have Polish Sausage wrapped in tortillas and bottled water. Carol will play you Hammered Dulcimer. If there is a lot of rain, call first because this is near a creek bottom with the usual country / creek insects.
TALK-NET - PICNIC AND SWAP MEET FESTIVAL
MAY 31, 2008 SATURDAY - TIME 11:00 A.M. TO 1:00 P.M.
FREE HOT DOGS, DRINKS, AND CHIPS AT
ORSINGER PARK 12230 HUEBNER
For more information, check in to the Tuesday night net on 146.42 at 7:30pm, or contact Andrew Watson at 210-422-5304 or BEXARTALK@GMAIL.COM
Close to 3 dozen hams showed up for this first annual event at Orsinger Park. Free foot long hot dogs, with buns almost long enough to hold them, plus all the toppings, chips and cold iced tea you could ever want. Click here to view some photos taken during the event by Lee N5NTG.
I've collected 673 photos from hams taken during the 2008 Tour de Cure event which rode from San Antonio to San Marcos on Day 1, and San Marcos to Austin on Day 2. Around 56 ham volunteers worked this event on Saturday, 53 Ham Volunteers on Sunday this year, a new record. We also drove 9 SAG vans on Saturday, 8 SAG vans on Sunday, manned 9 Rest Stops on Saturday, 6 Rest Stops on Sunday, plus we had around a dozen or so Motorcycle Safety Marshals on both days.
Photos provided by Lee Besing N5NTG, Joe Plano KA1MZY, John Trigg W5KXO, Eugene Bentz KI6MPA, and Phil Boggan KD5MMM as indicated. If you have photos to share, contact me for simple FTP instructions. Credit will be given to each source.
Photo at left, Day 1 San Marcos Net Control Station. L-R rear, Roger W5WIA, Sterling KE5KZE, Mike KD5OZM, front - Pat AD5BR
Two pix of my "NAV3" operation for the Armed Forces Day Cross Band event. I contacted about 100 stations from my set up at Bullis Cnty Park, San Antonio, using one of the 40 meter "inverted V" antennas I'll have for the N5D event next weekend. - Bob W2IK
About a dozen hams showed up for ROOST Ham Club's annual 2-meter Antenna Shoot-out. Homebrew antennas and commercial antennas were compared using the same transmitter and receiver to see what designs worked the best. Click here for a collection of photos taken by Andy, KD5TNI.
A seven member VE Team lead by Pat AD5BR on behalf of San Antonio Radio Club, gave tests to 16 TSA agents and two other hams who wanted to try and upgrade. The test session was held during the week on a Wednesday morning, which created a challenge for Pat to find enough VE's willing to take off work to handle this session.
TSA agents from all over the USA were flown in for a week's worth of training, including studying for their ham radio license. 15 of the 16 passed their tech test, 1 tried twice but missed by 1 or 2 each time. One local ham upgraded to General while another tried for Extra without any luck.
After the test session was completed at the San Antonio International Aiport in the SA Airport Police's training room, the participants got some hands-on work with stringing dipole antennas and other on-the-air practice.
Click here for more photos from this event.
Actually, despite the perception you might get from this photo, Bob W2IK was not up to monkey business during the Special Olympics Area 20 Spring Games held May 3rd at Harlendale's Memorial Stadium in south San Antonio. Bob set up his self-contained EmComm station on battery power, plus an inverted 40 meters dipole. While there were at least 4 pop-up awnings destroyed by the high winds that morning (winds gusting to over 30+ mph), Bob wisely had used metal stakes to secure the legs of his awning, plus used a pair of bungee cords to secure the top cover to prevent the wind from lifting it off.
Bob checked into the Navy Mars HF net before the start of Special Olympics, then allowed Schuylar KE5VIP to borrow his station while he explored the nearby facilities and looked for refreshments. This event is about the fifth time in a row that Bob has offered to help with this event, using K5BCR club call for Hill Country REACT as the special event call. Operators making contact could send SASE to the REACT Team's PO Box address for a certificate to be mailed to them.
Click here for more photos from this event.
Here is what Bob reported following the conclusion of this annual event...As a warm up for the N5D operation (to be held May 16-17), this Saturday (May 3rd) from 10am-2pm local, I operated using the call sign K5BCR, on behalf of Hill Country REACT during the Special Olympics Texas Area 20 Games which took place at Harlandale Stadium on the south west side of San Antonio.
The event took place on a sunny, but very windy day. I had planned to use an "inverted V" mounted on a 31 foot orange telescoping fiberglass pole, but not having the area for "tie downs" to prevent it swaying in the strong gusts, which over turned several industrial strength steel framed canopies, I switched to my old reliable steel telescoping mast which I lashed to an 8 foot chain-link fence that ran along the "Olympic Village" area where I was going to operate. It never budged. (Always be prepared for the unexpected.... in this case winds that gusted to over 40 mph!) My ez-up canopy went up quickly and I did two very important things..
After the operating area was completed with tables and chairs, I did a quick station setup using my MARS Ecom station which is a self-contained station/tuner/speakers/rigs/power supply/clock all permanently mounted in a large transit case. Hooking up to a deep cycle marine battery and connecting the coax from the "inverted V" had me on the air in a minute.
My first contact to test the system out was checking into a Navy MARS net '"around" 60 meters with my signal getting good copy all over that net's region: AZ,NM,TX,OK,AR,LA. Band conditions were fair in the morning on 40 meters, with me making contacts as far as Colorado, with 5/9+ replies and in to many other states.
After several hours, however, the band conditions on both 40 and 20 took a nose dive and contacts became few and far between. Very few signals were even heard on any band. I did manage to also give out points in the "7-Land QSO Party" by contacting stations on 20 meters. Band conditions played an open/closed game for most of the day.
As per planned operations, I closed down at 2pm local after making a modest amount of QSOs and did a reverse cycle to pack up the station. Lee Besing, N5NTG, who was handling local communications for the Special Olympics, took some pix of this special events operations. As always, by taking more than what you need, and pre-planning for contingencies, helped make this another smooth operation regardless of propagation factors. (The one thing you can't adapt to a great extent is cranky propagation.)
Next weekend (May 10th) ..... MARS/HAM Crossband operation with my same basic setup in the field at a location north of San Antonio.
Bob W2IK - NNN0KSI - NNN0GBY2
About a dozen hams helped support the annual Wildflower 100 Bicycle Tour, which operated from Retama Race Track on the NE side of San Antonio, and runs multiple courses thru Bexar, Comal and Guadalupe counties. We've been promised an article about this event, but in the meantime, here are some photos taken by the webmaster. Click on photo for a larger view.
Barry W5BLH working Net Control
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Net Control for the Wildflower 100  |
Finish Line
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Finish Line
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First Aid Station @ Last Break Point
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First Aid Station @ Last Break Point
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About a 150+ hams helped support the annual BP150 Bicycle Tour, from Houston to La Grange on Day 1, La Grange to Austin on Day 2. 3 calls for life flight to pick up riders with serious problems, plus a few transported by ambulance on Day 1. No major medical calls on day 2. We're working onan article about this event, but in the meantime, here are some photos taken by the webmaster. Click on photo for a larger view. We'll put to gether a photo montage set of pages, separate from this page to keep from causing the load time to deteriouate for all viewers. Webmaster Lee, N5NTG, and his son David, KD5MTJ, was driving SAG 10, Alternate Turtle on Day 1, Express Route Turtle on Day 2. This was a tremendous effort with hams from Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and points between, setting up temp repeaters in areas that had little or no coverage normally, including digipeaters for APRS. Echolink and IRLP were used to tie in all repeaters each day, so that Houston Net Control was able to run the route up until the last segment of Day 2 when it closed with Austin. (And I'm not sure they weren't still listening in, but they needed some sleep also.)
Got a few minutes to look at a couple hundred more photos?
Click Here to start viewing the webmaster's collection of photos.
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