San Antonio Hams

Okay, it’s time to unveil the full length, 140 minutes, runners video that we took at Mile Marker #4 on Camden Street.   It has minimal editing, mostly to add titles at the front / back, and a running date / location stamp during the video.  All sound is original once the video portion begins.  (The video file itself was more than 2gb in size, and it was only 640×480 screen size.)

I’ll be posting more info about the race itself, who the volunteers were from AARO and other ham volunteers, etc., in another post.

This post is just for the runners.    This is the view from Mile Marker #4 on November 11, 2012, starting around 7:45am, after all the bicycle riders are gone.  You can see the approaching lead vehicles, watch the guy and my son, David KD5MTJ, relocate the mile marker and clock closer to the curb, and hear all the spectator comments (uncensored) in the background.  The video with the bicycle riders is found here http://sanantoniohams.org/blog/?p=6394

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The following video was shot at Mile Marker #4 along the route of the 2012 San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon, and is for the Bike Tour part of the event only, no runners in this clip.   The Bike Tour, with about 1,000 riders, started at 6:45am, before the 7:30am main start for the Marathon.

Ham Radio Operators from the Alamo Area Radio Organization (AARO) and other volunteers, staffed every mile marker along the routes to ensure the timing clocks were started accurately at 7:30am when the net control (Dave W5QS) gave the count down over the radio.  This year’s event started without a hitch, other than some timing clocks had dead batteries or other malfunctions, but the operational end of from the ham radio operator perspective went fairly smoothly this year.

We’ll be posting more videos and photos later this week, as we find more “free time” to do the editing. This was the short one, so be warned!

I spent about 8 hours at the AARO Field Day at Raymond Russell Park, where they almost ended up with a Marachi Band for entertainment (band went to the wrong pavilion), then moved on to visit the KARS Ham Club in Boerne before swinging back down south around midnight to the SARC Ham Club in Shavano Park.

By the time I left SARC, still running on those 5 hour energy drinks, I started to head south to ROOST, knowing they would be still running full steam ahead even in the middle of the night, but sanity prevailed, and I advised my “extra” wife that I’d be heading home soon instead of visiting more FD sites this weekend.

I used my cell phone to make some videos and take some pics, but the phone battery died & had to be recharged after I left AARO, so no middle of the night pics from KARS or SARC to be shared.  I’ve been promised pics from other hams who were at those locations, however.

AARO did a 1 day only FD event, starting setup around 10am when the park opened (county park hours restricted how long they could stay there), and shutting down & leaving before midnight when the county park turned into a pumpkin one more.  They were running 6 stations in different modes (voice / digital / cw / satellite) on various bands, and had more antennas and generators than I’ve seen in a long time.

Most of the actual radio operators were taking it very seriously, but the bulk of the 50+ hams were just there for the workshops, free food & fellowship.  A few were experimenting with different antennas, mostly home brew, and learning new modes.  There were a handful of brand new hams show up, and AARO took extra time to show them the operations and get them talking on the air to make a contact or two.

Workshops also were conducted on various topics:

• Proper Soldering Techniques
• Building DiPole Antennas
• Quadrafillic (sp?) Antennas
• Anderson Power Pole

Click the link below to continue this article & see some of the pics I took.

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We have collected information for the following Ham Club Field Day Locations, in and around the San Antonio extended metro area…. 

• Alamo Area Radio Organization (AARO)…
• San Antonio Radio Club (SARC)…
• Radio Operators of South Texas (ROOST)…
• Kendall Amateur Radio Society (KARS)… (Boerne, TX)
• Guadalupe Valley Amateur Radio Club (GVARC)… (New Braunfels, TX)
• Hill Country Amateur Radio Club (HCARC)… (Kerrville, TX)
• South Texas DX Contest Club (STXDXCC)… (Bandera, TX)
• Atascosa Amateur Radio Club (AARC)… (Poteet, TX)
• Coyote Amateur Radio Club (KS5TX) (Uvalde, TX)

ARRL’s Master Field Day Search Site – Map 

See below for details…  Not all clubs have registered with ARRL’s website.

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ONE-DAY HAM RADIO REVIEW COURSE
For Amateur Radio Technician License Exam
Saturday, June 16, 2012
8:30 a.m. to ~6:00 p.m.

COST: $75 – Includes book, continental breakfast, lunch, and fee for one 35-item multiple-choice exam given at the end of the day (or $55 if you already have book)

TARGET AUDIENCE: Anyone wanting to earn their entry-level ham radio license

COURSE BOOK: Study and bring to class (7th edition, ISBN 978-0-945053-62-0) Technician Class, EFFECTIVE July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2014, by Gordon West.

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Once again, the AARO Ham Club has been tasked with providing Hams to assist the San Antonio Rock & Roll Marathon on Sunday, November 13, 2011. 

We don’t have much time to get this organized, but we need volunteers at every mile marker, and a few other odd ball locations along the route.  We need about 2 dozen (minimum) volunteers to staff each of the assigned positions.

Duties include picking up the timing clocks prior to the event, (See #3 below for details), then being on-site at your assigned location prior to 6am, ready to turn them on when Dave Espinoza W5QS gives us the countdown over the radio.  We’ll send out exact locations for those of you who sign up to work the event.

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We received a batch of photos from the AARO President, Andrew Watson K5NNN, taken during their field day on June 25th at Raymond Russel Park, on the NW side of San Antonio.

Click the link below to see the gallery of photos –

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Thank you to all !!!

Wow….. AA5RO Field Day was the best !! We had over 80 hams that showed up to the Big event… We had 5 new members that join the club  and made many contacts.

Thank you to Martin for the antenna building Class. Martin’s class built over ten ladder line antennas and had lots of good fun.

Walt had a great class and we would like to see Walt teach his class to the whole club at a future meeting.

Tony our club V.P. did a great job cooking for the club and landing the Field Day spot at Raymond Russell Park.

Thank you to all the Volunteer’s and Members that made this a great Field Day..

Andrew, K5NNN
AARO Club President

“AA5RO ROCKS”
THE # 1 RADIO CLUB IN TEXAS!

AA5RO FIELD DAY SCHEDULE 2011
JUNE 25TH NOON TO MIDNIGHT
RAYMOND RUSSELL PARK (IH-10 West past 1604, Camp Bullis Exit)
See  Map Here

AARO will only be running 11 hours, until midnight, not 24 hours, so don’t show up for breakfast on Sunday morning. Some operators may decide to keep on operating, but the club’s FD effort will shut down as indicated on the schedule below.

Talkin on the 147.38 AARO Repeater (+,162.2 tone) maybe, if we aren’t too busy  on HF. 🙂

Schedule for Saturday, June 25th

• 10:00 a.m. til 1:00 p.m.                Set up for Field Day
• 1:00 p.m.                                           We start Field Day
• 2:00 p.m.                                          Martin N5WSU 2 meter Antenna
  Martin N5WSU is going to teach and build a 2-meter Ladder line antenna using 450 Ohm Ladder line, sometimes referred to as the “Slim Jim Antenna”… The class will be at at 2:00 p.m.  We will have enough material to go around for all. Martin will teach you on site to build your very own 2-meter ladder line Antenna.  So come and make your free Antenna !!!!!  This will be a great project for Field Day.  Come join us and bring a friend…
• 3:00 p.m.                                           Swap Meet
  Bring All of your ham stuff to Buy, Sell or Trade. We have lots of Tables in the shade for the Swap meet. No cost…. Just come Buy, Sell or Trade in the the Shade !!
• 5:30 p.m.                                            Dinner and more Fun
  Bring some side dishes to share!  Main course provided by the club.  Extra plates & plastic ware welcome. Bring your cooler with your favorite drinks, and a few more to share.
• 8:00 p.m.                                           Ice Cream for the family
  Provided by the club.  Not responsible for dripping on your clothing, or adding calories to your diet!
• 11:30 p.m.                                         Clean up of Field day
• Midnight                                             Field Day Take Down

Just got the heads up from Andrew Watson, president of Alamo Area Radio Organization, that his club has locked in the date of  Saturday, April 9, 2011, at Incarnet Word University.

We (AARO) have co-sponsored nine one-day CRASH REVIEW courses with the Southwest Research Corporation’s ham radio club.  We have received confirmation on room scheduling at the Univ. of the Incarnate Word for Saturday, 9 April 2011. 

The anticipated cost will be $50, which includes a continental breakfast, a box lunch from Jason’s Deli, and $15 fee for the test that goes to the American Radio Relay League and is filed with the Federal Communications Commission.

Download the flyer here…  TechFlyer_040911wUIWmap

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