San Antonio Hams

CHRISTMAS PARTY
DECEMBER 17TH @ 6:30 PM – 8PM

PAPA DANTE’S RESTAURANT
8607 FM 1976, CONVERSE, TX 78109

RSVP: wx5us@satx.rr.com

We will be holding our Annual Awards presentation, enjoying good Italian food and having a great time with each others company in typical Unusual Suspect Spirit.   Our Christmas Parties have always been a GREAT time for all, so you will hate yourself if you miss out on the fun.

Please confirm you will be coming and  how many in your party.   Remember the Unusual Suspects are about FAMILY and AMATEUR RADIO.  Family members young and old are welcome.

Please RSVP because we need to give the restaurant an accurate head count prior to the event.

The Unusual Suspects UNCLUB group came together in 2006, during that time I think we as a GROUP have done an amazing job of promoting Amateur Radio. I thought I would share some of our events and Activities. It is  these projects and the friendships of an incredible group of people that make me proud to be part of this fine group.   – Greg N5XO

Website: We built a new website, http://www.wx5us.us/, where we featured photos and news from various ham radio events that our members participated in, plus a list of our proud members.

Tower Raising:  I think we have had more tower raising projects than about any group around. Since every thing we do is about Taco’s… it would explain why as a group we seem to be getting fatter {grin}. We have helped  each other raise towers, design systems and improve our stations. I am impressed with our accomplishments. When we first started operating simplex like many ham’s and clubs we relied on repeaters and  our stations showed it … now we have stations that anyone can be proud of … and have outstanding simplex coverage.

In fact within the members of our group…

• we have 3 more tower projects coming along in the next month to month in a half…
• 2 of them 72ft towers with large antenna arrays….

PROMOTING SIMPLEX AND WEAK SIGNAL  is our thing {grin}

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Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls…..

It is that time of month once again, yes the monthly event you have all been waiting for……..This Saturday (Feb 2nd) at 9:am at the Astro Bowling Alley Conference room is our 1st Saturday of the month MEET & GREET session.

SWAP MEET, TECHNICAL TRAINING, GOOD FOOD AND GREAT FOLKS TO MEET.

Agenda       

• 9am to 9:45am – Meet & Greet Casual Breakfast (on your own expense)
• 9:45 to 10am  – Quick intro-planning information for up coming Unusual Suspect Remote Field Day.
• 10am to 10:30am   – Guest Speaker Bob Rodriguez will be giving this month’s training class.
• 10:30am –  Monthly Swap Meet. Bring your stuff to sell, your money to buy….. LOT’S OF GOODIES

Normal turn out for our monthly Meet & Greet’s is in the 20 to 30 range. GREAT chance to meet that voice on the other end of the microphone……

COME JOIN US
When: 9 AM Saturday, February 2, 2013
Where: Astro Bowling Alley, 3203 Harry Wurzbach {by Austin Hwy},
Conference room. Just to right of main desk.
Who: Anybody interested in Amateur Radio Service

The Unusual Suspects group will have an “upgraded” monthly meeting at a new location this next Saturday, September 1st, at 9am.   Instead of the usual meet & greet at the Taco Cabana in Universal City, the group will be meeting in San Antonio, at the Astro Bowl, near the intersection of Austin Hwy, Eisenhauer Rd & Harry Wurzbach.

LOCATION:ASTRO BOWL {PRIVATE PARTY ROOM}  3203 Harry Wuzbach, San Antonio, TX 78209

Recommend early arrival to get breakfast ordered.  Food & Drink available for purchase.

PROGRAM:

• 9:am to 9:45     Meet & Greet Breakfast…..Casual enjoy your meal and chat
• 9:45 to 10:15    Technical Training:      Topic: Introduction to APRS by Lee Besing

Note: As we are still setting up our VE training sessions, unless we have PRE-SCHEDULED NEW AND UPGRADING HAMS,  there will not be a VE Session this month.  We are putting together a VE Team to hold regular test sessions in the future, following our meetings.   So if interested in testing, please e-mail Greg Lewis right away: n5xo@satx.rr.com.   Effective with the October meeting, this will be a regular scheduled event and walk in’s will be welcome.

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Location:

Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera, Texas

 When: 7th and 8th of January 2012

Description:

It is that time of year, to start forming the roster and making preparations for the 10th Annual Bandera 100k Ultra-Marathon held at Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera County.

Tejas Trails Communication Group – Sponsored by Hill Country REACT has been the lead team for communications for this event the past 6 years with the assistance of many hams from the San Antonio, Austin and other areas around the state..

This event typically requires 15 – 16 Amateur Radio Operators in a situation that is similar to what an Emergency Communications Operator would experience in a disaster zone. UHF, VHF and Packet communications are involved in this event.

This is a fun event with challenges.  The participants of this event, are of a type you will not encounter at most other events we deal with throughout the year.  Over the years, we have made some lasting friendships!

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Where: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera County Texas

When:  January 8 and 9th, 2011

What:  Tejas Trails – Bandera 100k Ultra Marathon

Start: 0700 hrs Saturday, the 8th

Finish: 0700 hrs Sunday, the 9th (radio operations typically stand down at 0430 hrs, when the last aid station closes down)

The event is three races in one, a 25k, 50k and 100k that incorporates nearly every trail on the 5400 acres of Hill Country State Natural Area. This is a unique situation to train and test EmComm abilities in a remote environment, provide a service, as well as enjoy the Texas Hill Country!

Duties:  This is a 24 hour all weather event! Amateur operators man the Aid Stations and duties are basically like any other bike or running event (BP150, MS150, River Safari, etc), relaying supply needs, runner counts and times, and coordinating the Horse Patrol with Safety and SAR operations!  Operators support Race Control, Aid Stations and the HCSNAP Coordinated Horse Patrol! Operators will stay in constant contact with the Aid Station Captain and/or Race Recorder, in order to keep the Database up-to-date.

Needed:  We need 10 or so licensed Amateurs to assist with this event. The more the merrier! Minimum 50 watt dual band portable/mobile EmComm type set-ups required in case we need to go simplex, if the repeater fails to produce.  Most communications will be done with 5 watts or so through the hilltop repeater, but just in case of a catastrophic failure of the repeater, we can go to simplex. All the Aid stations allow close proximity of your vehicle, so proper crossbanding can be utilized!

Even if you can only help out for a part of the event, we can still use you!

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On Friday night, December 18th, Pat & I braved the traffic to join a couple dozen members of the Unusual Suspects Ham Club, an informal group of hams living in Central Texas, from as far north as Cedar Park north of Austin, down south to San Antonio.  Los Generales Mexican Restaurant on Nacogdoches Road, just inside Loop 1604 was the chosen place.  But when Greg N5XO scoped out the location in advance, they forget to tell him about the live entertainment with this really, really loud female singer who never took a break in the 2 1/2 hours were were there.

The dinner was scheduled for 6:30pm, fortunately some folks got there early enough to get the establishment to start clearing out an area big enough to hold all of us.  It was nearly 7pm by the time we were seated, and the food finally got delivered to our tables about 40 minutes later.

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After the remodeling of my shack I still have the following items for sale that I would like to sell asap. If anyone is interested let me know and we can work out a deal……

1.  MFJ 989D full Legal Limit Antenna Tuner: $275.00 {sells for $369 new}
2.  Hy-Gain: 160 to 6 meter ground mounted vertical: $240 {sells for $349 new}
3.  Cushcraft 2 meter 20 element hi-gain beam {10 elements vertical, 10 elements Horizontal}
   Excellent beam when you want one antenna to handle both SSB and FM on 2 meters}  $200.00

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MARK YOUR CALENDERS…….

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 13TH 2009 @ 9:30 AM

IT IS TIME ONCE AGAIN FOR AN UNUSUAL SUSPECTS MEET AND GREET EVENT!

COME ONE, COME ALL…….GREAT TIMES HAD BY ALL

Hope to see everyone there…..

Please RSVP using (N5XO@satx.rr.com)  so we can know how much area to set aside for the group.

Taco Cabana @ Pat Booker Rd and Kitty Hawk…….
in Universal City, TX