San Antonio Hams

Clarification from the ARRL News Site. Looks like ham repeaters are welcome on state lands under the following proviso (requires hoops to be jumped through):

“Our contact in the California Office of Emergency Services suggests that, if any affected repeater is in any way involved with local emergency or government support activity, they should ask that agency to engage with CAL FIRE concerning the repeater. If the agency makes the case, there is a good chance that the repeater will be unaffected,” Tiemstra added.

http://www.arrl.org/news/report-causes-concern-and-confusion-in-california-s-amateur-radio-ranks

2019 ARRL West Gulf Division Ballot Process

The paper ballots for the election of the ARRL West Gulf Division Director were mailed on September 30, 2019 by third-class mail.
The envelope containing your ballot should arrive within the next 3-5 days. (Note: original date of this email was 10/7/2019). Along with the paper ballot will be a self-addressed ballot return envelope.

Your marked ballot MUST be returned in the enclosed self-addressed ballot return envelope. If it is not, your ballot will not be counted, even if it is received. The purpose of requiring the use of the provided self-addressed ballot return envelope is to maintain election security.

There is no online voting. Voting may only occur by use of the paperballot provided.

If you, or a family member, have not received your ballot by the close of business on October 14, 2019, please send two separate emails stating you have not received your ballot and requesting that a ballot be sent to you, to: (1) Dan Henderson at n1nd@arrl.org; and (2) Lee Cooper,W5LHC01@gmail.com.

Sending two emails acts as a cross-check to ensure the ARRL has received notice that you did not receive a ballot and that you are requesting a ballot.

All ballots, in the provided self-addressed ballot return envelopes MUST be RECEIVED on or before noon, November 15, 2019. Please allow sufficient time before November 15, 2019 for your ballot to be received. All late ballots will not be counted.

Voting is a right unique to free men and women. Please exercise your right, and vote for the candidate of your choice in the ARRL West GulfDivision Director Election.

If you have questions regarding the voting process, please contact DanHenderson, N1ND, at ARRL HQ, 1-860-594-0200 or at n1nd@arrl.org.

John Robert Stratton N5AUS

ARRL West Gulf Division Director

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of ARRL’s first president and cofounder Hiram Percy Maxim (HPM), W1AW, born on September 2, 1869.

ARRL will hold an operating event this summer to celebrate HPM’s legacy, getting under way at 0000 UTC on August 31 and continuing until 2359 UTC on September 8. It is open to all radio amateurs.

ARRL members will append “/150” to their call signs during this event.

Check out http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-announces-happy-150-hiram-percy-maxim-birthday-celebration

The ARRL Foundation has announced it is accepting scholarship applications between September 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019 for the academic year 2020-2021.
If you know a deserving Amateur, please urge them to apply.
For details of the program, please see:

http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-foundation-scholarship-program-is-now-accepting-applications

Field Day 2017 is nigh upon us! June 24-25th. We will be operating for the full 24 hours, 1300 hours Saturday thru 1300 hours on Sunday. Members will be arriving earlier, around 0930 hours, to do some permitted preliminary setup and arrange for logistics.

All SARC members are encouraged to participate in Field Day. Yes, you can bring all of your own equipment, but you don’t have to bring all of your equipment or even any equipment.

We welcome visitors of any type. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t a club member or a non ham operator. Everybody is welcomed.

Our location will be at Shavano Park’s City Hall, outside in the parking lot.   The address is 900 SaddleTree Ct, Shavano Park, just off of NW Military Drive, north of De Zavala Rd, and inside Loop 1604.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bexar County ARES has scheduled another Field Examination session for the ARRL Emergency Communications course to be held on December 1, at 5pm at the San Antonio Red Cross in classroom 3. The address is 3642 E Houston St. 78219.

So, if anyone would like to study up and take the test let us know.

Ref: http://www.arrl.org/emergency-communications-training

So far we have 1 ham interested. The requirements are: Identification (FCC license not required), there is the standard ARRL fee of $15, cash, and you must provide the dates of your completion of the FEMA course prerequisites, ICS-100 and 700.

73 Ray 210-845-2288

05/22/2015 from ARRL

The FCC is eliminating the regulatory fee to apply for an Amateur Radio vanity call sign. The change will not go into effect, however, until required congressional notice has been given. This will take at least 90 days. As the Commission explained in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Report and Order, and Order (MD Docket 14-92 and others), released May 21, it’s a matter of simple economics.

“The Commission spends more resources on processing the regulatory fees and issuing refunds than the amount of the regulatory fee payment,” the FCC said. “As our costs now exceed the regulatory fee, we are eliminating this regulatory fee category.” The current vanity call sign regulatory fee is $21.40, the highest in several years. The FCC reported there were 11,500 “payment units” in FY 2014 and estimated that it would collect nearly $246,100.

In its 2014 Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) regarding the assessment and collection of regulatory fees for FY 2014, the FCC had sought comment on eliminating several smaller regulatory fee categories, such as those for vanity call signs and GMRS. It concluded in the subsequent Report and Order (R&O) last summer, however, that it did not have “adequate support to determine whether the cost of recovery and burden on small entities outweighed the collected revenue or whether eliminating the fee would adversely affect the licensing process.

See full article at….

http://www.arrl.org/news/view/fcc-eliminates-amateur-radio-vanity-call-sign-regulatory-fee

W2IK

Date:  Tue, 5 May 2015 23:30:12 -0400 (EDT) HB 939 — Thank You For Calling/Faxing Your State Representative But, More Calls & Faxes Need To Be Made

HB 939 is still scheduled to be voted on by the Texas House of Representatives on Thursday, May 7, 2015.

We have a very, very good chance of passing this Bill — IF we have the same effort that everyone made on the cell phone bills. John Robert Stratton, N5AUS, West Gulf Vice Director and his XYL, Mary, visited the Capitol today to speak to each Representative to personally ask them to vote for HB 939. A lot of State Representatives and their staffs commented that they had been called and/or faxed by Hams, asking them to vote for HB 939 — they were impressed. But, many of you have not yet called or faxed your State Representative. We need you to do so. The ARRL cannot pass legislation beneficial to Ham Radio — or defeat legislation that hurts Ham Radio — unless you help us. For those who did not call or fax, we really, really need you to do so on Wednesday. You may determine who is your State Representative — and their fax and telephone numbers — by going to this link and inserting your zip code or your zip code and your address: http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/find-your-representative/

Please DO NOT CALL OR FAX STATE REPRESENTATIVES TONY DALE, RENE OLIVEIRA OR MATT SCHAEFER. These Gentlemen are our Sponsors — they don’t need to be convinced.

DO NOT EMAIL — the ONLY effective contact methods are either faxes or telephone calls. Whether you contact your Representative by phone or fax: BE POLITE – ALWAYS — elected Representatives and their staff are not our enemies. They want to hear from their constituents — the people who vote for them — about Bills their constituents want passed. Some staff members may ask where you are from or for your telephone number – it is ok to tell them – it makes you “real” and convinces them you are not a phony caller. If you call or fax and their telephone numbers are busy – that is good news, because it means other Hams are calling. KEEP CALLING OR FAXING UNTIL YOU GET THROUGH. Read the rest of this entry »