San Antonio Hams

Later this month on August 29th, the combined talents of Navy-Marine Corps MARS, REACT, National Weather Service, Bexar Operators Group and others will work together during a hurricane drill. Information will be passed using both MARS EEI and standard text messaging when a “hurricane” landfalls on an area just north of Corpus Christi. We will also have coastal hospitals and Skywarn personnel working the event.  The drill is scheduled for the morning of Saturday, August 29th.

This will be a test of various MOUs and our ability to communicate with each other in case a real weather event should erupt.

This is NOT just some “table top” drill, as stations will actually deploy along the coast and along evacuation routes from both Houston and Corpus Christi. In addition, there will also be stations up and running at two National Weather Service offices (New Braunfels & Corpus Christi).  And now it looks like “someone invited” Tropical Storm Bill to come help make our drill be a bit more realistic. 🙂

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As the drought continues down here in South Texas, I thought I’d take time to remind hams to double check their grounding systems (if they have any), because the ground is so dry and getting cracked, and you might not as well grounded now as you thought you ought to be. You might have to water around your grounding rods, or around your tower base to prevent shifting / cracking ot that. Of course if you’re having that much of a problem, you need to have soaker hoses around your house’s foundation as well.

I took these photos at a customer’s front yard this afternoon, thought it was ironic that a yard care company would leave a sign in this desolate dry yard, warning folks to not walk on the grass until it dried.

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I was updating some of my wiring harness for my ham radio emergency go-kit, and needed to unsolder some wires from a LED switch to that I could try to reuse it.  I succeeded in getting the older wires removed and cleaned the solder off the terminals so that I could later reattach the connectors of my choice.

But something happened (this was 3am in the morning) and the soldering pencil (all 12 watts of it) decided to roll off the table and land on the inside of my left forearm.  

Ouch!   Those things are hot enough to melt solder, and hot enough to start burning their way thru my skin, especially the more tender skin on the inside of my arm rather than the weather beaten outer side. 🙂

Kids, don’t try this without adult supervision, and adults, don’t try it without adult supervision. 

I should have used my soldering station to put the pencil in while hot, but that was outside in my van from when we were installing the antenna and power lines for the radio, and (did I mention it was 3am?) so I didn’t feel like going out side to fetch it back inside just for a quicky task. 

Shame on me for taking short cuts and using my spare soldering pencil without taking proper precautions to ensure it didn’t get knocked off and start a fire or other hazard (like hitting my arm).

Six days later (8/5), and burn mark still very noticeable.  Not hurting as much, still keeping neosporin applied, plus those spray on bandages instead of tape on bandages.  Here’s a current photo.

Information about the Bexar Operators Group, including what they have done and their planned events, can now be found at their new site: Bexar Operators Group – Home  

This club is an active amateur radio group and not a social club. Up coming events include participation in this year’s JOTA event which will focus on operating “green” with solar panels and wind turbines.

We also sponsor the annual “Jump Team Boot Camp”. All types of antenna testing and field operations are done in order to make members better operators in both contests and during emergency conditions.

This webpage also includes two links which will get you to W2IK’s old AOL webpages (45 of them) that were thought lost. Between the two you should find them all!

For further info, contact us through our new web page or at: W2IK@arrl.net

Planning is good, but sometimes even the best planning needs some “tweaking” in the real world.

Being flexible in field contesting, just as in emergency communications deployment, is the best way to get things done.  All ham radio operators need the experience of going out in to the field to do this sort of thing. It makes them better operators.

I tend to over pack my truck when it comes to doing ham radio events, and for good reason: You never know what obstacles you might encounter and how to overcome them. However, this time I had a minimal amount of gear and supplies. This was the height of my “daring”. Never again!

Lesson number one learned: Pack for the worst, pray for the best and be happy with the in between. New hams need to remember this

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Members of the BEXAR OPERATORS BROUP will be running, W5BOG/R in this contest this weekend as a rover station and plan to be in the following grid squares at the following times and on the following bands:

Saturday July 18th

Grid                          Time                     Frequency (SSB)

EL09XA             1 – 2 pm local            144.200 mhz

EL09XA             2 – 3 pm local             50.125 mhz

EL08XX             3:30 – 4:30 local        144.200 mhz

EL08XX              4:30 – 5:30 local        50.125 mhz

EL18AX               6 – 7 pm local          144.200 mhz

EL18AX               7 – 8 pm local            50.125 mhz

EL19AA               8:30 – 9:30 local      144.200 mhz

EL19AA               9:30 – 10:30 local      50.125 mhz

We will drop down to CW on request and as time permits.

Times/Bands/Grid Squares subject to change.

I wish to thank all of those readers who have expressed their concerns over the loss of my van last Sunday to the engine fire. 

The old van now has a new home in a junkyard somewhere in Texas, and I now have a new(er) van sitting in my driveway with seriously less mileage and years than the old van had on it.  

The new van is a late model Chrysler Town & Country mini-van with a factory installed alarm, dark limo tinted windows, sliding doors on both sides, and more option packages than I’m normally used to having.  At first, I was concerned about the black exterior causing the van to be too hot, but actually, it hasn’t been any hotter than my old van got on a summer day. Guess that’s why I always put that window shade in the front  windshield when not driving.  Those shades really work!

I sent out tweets and emails to various groups and individuals asking for input / suggestions on the best way to install the antenna in this type of vehicle. 

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This month is the 6th anniversary of the www.SanAntonioHams.org web site, and over the years, we ‘ve added a ton of stuff to the site, building upon previous entries and uploads. We’ve done some major revisions, but only in the past year have we added a bunch of new stuff, like this Blog, the online Classified Ads, and the online interactive (for registered users) Events Calendar.

But some of the “old” stuff is still useful!  

• We’ve got listings of most area clubs in Central South Texas, all of the ones in San Antonio, TX of which I’m aware of, and a bunch scattered around the area who requested to be included, all the way over to Corpus Christi, down into the Valley, or west into Medina County. Read the rest of this entry »

Title: Bandera 100K Ultra-Marathon
Location: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera, TX
Link out: Click here
Description: Hill Country REACT and San Antonio Region Amateurs have provided Comms support for this event over the last 5 years. There are 5 fixed and a couple of rover positions to be filled over the 24 hr event. Typically 10-14 operators are needed! Safety, Supply and Tracking logistics are involved. For the 2010 event we are adding Packet to facilitate the tracking logistics, and with some technical help, will provide live internet updates to the families and friends of the participants at home! For more information or to volunteer, contact Louis Upton @mailto:k1stx@yahoo.com (210-687-4347) or Gary Tangrady @ k5gst@live.com. Thank You!
Start Date: 2010-01-09
Start Time: 06:30
End Date: 2010-01-10
End Time: 07:30

Under the direction of Mike, AB5EB, another JOTA (Jamboree On The Air) operation is scheduled to take place this October at the Overlook Point near the Canyon Lake dam in Texas to show scouts what amateur radio is all about. Planning will show the diversity of amateur radio as scouts talk to other scouts from all over the world. 

The amateur radio operators, featuring Mike, AB5EB, Carlos, KE5DFK, Bob, W2IK, and others are ready to set up and operate several stations  using several modes, such as voice, morse code (CW), digital and slow-scan television. Additional hams who would like to be a part in helping out scouts should contact Mike at: ab5ebdxer@gmail.com 

Other events will be  offered such as two of W2IK’s “McGyver” antenna building sessions where scouts build actual antennas from scrap materials and use them to make contacts. A merit badge class given by Mike, AB5EB might also be planned. Still in it’s planning stages, Mike wants this JOTA to be even better than the event held last year at this location where over 70 scouts attended. Stay tuned as the planning cements into another great JOTA event!