San Antonio Hams

On Wednesday, April 14, 2010, AARO’s own Luke Ham (KF5CSK) achieved the Boy Scouts of America highest rank, Eagle Scout. 

Shown with Luke are his proud parents, David (KF5BGT and also an Eagle Scout) and Lisa Ham.   Click on photo for larger view.

All year long, there are opportunities for you to use your Ham Radio skills in events other than contesting, or rag chewing (chatting mindlessly with other hams about nothing in particular).

Coming up in the next couple of months, the event schedule is a bit lighter than the rest of the year, primarily due to all the holidays, or is it?

Here is a list of known Ham Radio Christmas Parties and Events…

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Members of the San Antonio Radio Club W5SC and Alamo Area Radio Organization AA5RO put on their annual JOTA event out in Castle Hills, at the McGimsey Scout Park, located off NW Military near Lockhill Selma Road.   This is an annual event held the 3rd Saturday of each October.  

Another local JOTA event was held up at Canyon Lake, but we don’t (yet) have any photos or details to share.

Andrew KD5NNN attended the event, and was kind enough to share these photos with us…

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I made the short trek over to Martha’s Mexican Restaurant this evening to attend the monthly AARO ham club meeting.  I got there a bit early to eat, so that I could pay better attention to what was happening during the meeting.    About 3 dozen hams and family members were there tonight, including two brand new hams, one who had his ticket about a month, the other for only 2 weeks.

During the meeting, it was announced that the annual awards / Christmas banquet would be on Friday, December 4th, at Grady’s BBQ on Bandera Rd.  Attendance will be prepaid RSVP only, last minute guests will be referred to the normal customer menu rather than the provided buffet. This change was due to a problem last year where some folks RSVP’d but didn’t show, causing the club to have to pay for the difference.

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The Alamo Area Repeater Organization (AARO) held their monthly membership meeting on the NW side of town in Martha’s Mexican Restaurant, corner of Babcock Rd & Huebner Rd.  3 dozen plus hams gathered to hear about what happened on Field Day, discuss the possibility of being becoming an ARRL Affiliated Club (they voted to do it), and listen to Lee Cooper W5LHC of Austin, who talked about recent legisture that might affect ham radio; what passed, what didn’t pass, and what is still pending.

by Shane O’Neal NS5D

Field Day 2009 is nearly upon us, and preparations are underway to make this the largest, most successful Field Day event in San Antonio’s history. This is thanks to the participation of AARO, SARC, ROOST, SARO, Hill Country REACT, QCWA and many other organizations and individuals, operating jointly under the banner of Bexar County ARES.

Field Day 2009 is expected to draw record numbers of operators and will feature many different bands and modes of operation, including PHONE, CW, SSB, PSK-31, FM and ATV as a Class “A” station. The total number of transmitters to be operated has yet to be determined, but will number at least six.

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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.

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Ham Radio Class Number 8! 

We’re proud to say that seems to be the consensus of our eighth Technician and first General crash review courses. AARO (Alamo Area Radio Organization) and SWRC ARC (Southwest Research Corporation Amateur Radio Club) again teamed up with Johnny Wallace K5POP for coordinating Tech instructors and being the liaison with the South Texas Regional Advisory Council for Trauma (STRAC).   And a new “Thanks Again!” to Bob Rodriguez K5AUW for coming up with plans for our first General Crash Review course and following it through.

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History is in the making for San Antonio Hams in 2009.    All of the major  Ham Clubs in San Antonio appear to be reaching agreement in coordinating a single Field Day location rather than holding a half dozen separate locations as had been done in the past.

AARO led the way, after losing their normal comfy spot over by the VA Hospital. They started the search for a new location, and thanks to our Ham Radio ties with the City of San Antonio, specifically our ties with the Fire Department, they found a new location to hold Field Day.   The City Fire Department offered them the use of their Firefighters Training Academy, located west of the downtown area near Hwy 151 and Callaghan Road, as the site of their 2009 Field Day event.

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I attended the 2008 Christmas party AARO with my lovely bride, Pat, and have the following report and photos to share.   

Lots of awards were given out in the form of certificates to former officers and members who had “done stuff” during the past year.  

I won’t try to keep up with that list here, but…

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