Jun 4

I just learned that the annual Fourth of July parade up at Startzville, on the south side of Canyon Lake, has been canceled for 2020 as a casualty to the coronavirus scare. While there may be some locals who decorate their vehicles and just happen to spontaneously cruise back and forth around the area, there will be no organize parade.

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Mar 16

As of 3/15, 2 clubs have announced that their membership meetings normally held on the third Tuesday each month, will be canceled or changed to Teleconference (using FreeTeleconference.com).

South Texas DX Contest Club has canceled their March 17th meeting that is normally held at Bobby J’s Hamburger restaurant in Helotes, TX.

Hill Country REACT Team normally meets on the third Tuesday at the Methodist Stone Oak Hospital on Sonterra & Hardy Oak, in the cafeteria. They always have teleconferencing set up for those members who cannot attend in person. But due to the Hospital implementing new restrictions on unnecessary / non-critical access into their building, the entire meeting will be held by Teleconference. Contact info@hillcountryreact.org for more details.

I’ve not been advised of any other cancellations by area clubs, but please use reasonable caution before attending any such gatherings. If you aren’t healthy or fall into the age brackets most affected by this virus, think about your options before going. We want all of our aging hams to stay with us for as long as possible and no, I did not just invite all of you to come live with me. Lol

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Oct 27

Just wanted to touch base to see if anybody was interested in helping out with the Universal City Veterans Day Parade in coming up on Saturday, November 2nd.
Hams & other volunteers are needed to work with the UCPD in moving the cones / barricades to block off traffic onto Pat Booker Road when the parade is about to begin.

Law enforcement handles the cross traffic and volunteers handle parking lot entrances and side streets.
We’ll meet up at 9am inside UCPD headquarters in the Universal City Hall on Universal City Boulevard, just off of Pat Booker. Note this is a 30.06 & 30.07 posted building. <hint>
Ironically enough, the police department will furnish free donuts, coffee and juice for the volunteers.
Traffic vests are recommended, but the Police will have some “one size fits some” orange vests. Our experience has been that you get hassled less while wearing a vest.
We’ll have some commercial HT radios available for the non-hams and will be serting up a temp repeater for those radios.

We get our assignments and move out onto Pat Booker Road and get ready to deploy the barricades a little after 10 when they tell us to.

The parade kicks off at 11 a.m. and we’re generally done by no later than 12:30.

Contact me direct at 210-771-7075 (send text msg) or via email at info@sanantoniohams.org

Lee Besing, N5NTG

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Oct 30

Location: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera County, TexasBandera_2014_buckle

When:    6th and 7th of January 2018

Description: 25k, 5ok and 100k Ultra-Matathon

It is that time of year, to start marking your calendars and making preparations for the 16th Annual Bandera 100k Ultra-Marathon held at Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera County.

Tejas Trails Communication Group – Coordinated by Hill Country REACT with support of Highland Lakes Amateur Radio Club, Chaparral Amateur Radio Club, and other dedicated Amateur Radio Operators from San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Kerrville and other locations throughout the state, have supported and provided communications for this event the past 12 years. The team is responsible for communications, health and welfare, tracking, and occasionally Search and Rescue. We also manage the parking at o’dark-thirty to get the 900 runners and crews parked and to the start-finish line on time.

There is little to NO cellular coverage at this venue, thus the participants, families, crews and promoters rely on the skill and expertise of the Amateur Radio Community.
We have 4 Aid Stations/Break Points, Net Control and Rovers to cover for approximately 20 hours.
This event typically requires 14 – 18 Amateur Radio Operators in a situation that is similar to what an Emergency Communications Operator would experience in a disaster zone. Remote operations little to no permanent infrastructure. Bring it, work it, test it, and enjoy it!

Horseback Hams are also needed and greatly appreciated by the participants.

If you know of a youth organization that needs public service hours, this is a great opportunity to get them in.  We have numerous positions from assisting the communications team to helping serve the runners at the aid stations.

UHF, VHF Voice and Packet communications are involved in this event.  We have been wanting to deploy a Broadbrand-HamNet but research and development has stalled. Anyone with experience in this area is encouraged to help us out.

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Feb 7

Morning all!

Event: AERC Heart of the Hills Endurance Ride

Dates: 5th and 6th March 2016

Location: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera

Times: 0700 hrs to 1700 hrs – assignment times very based on Checkpoint.

Help is needed on both days, but, if you can only work one of the other, your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Operators will be responsible for tracking the progress of Horse/Rider thru the course at 4 different checkpoints.  We also handle in health/welfare information and other task as submitted by the event coordinator/manager.

3 checkpoints should be able to contact net control with ht and a gain antenna.  One checkpoint is a little more challenging requiring a mobile unit, possibly crossband.

Comms will be VHF simplex.

RMS Express/Packet will be utilized during the event.  Packet not required to participate.

Most checkpoints are easily accessible by car or truck.  One will require a truck with moderate clearance.

If your are interested please contact Charlie Land at charlesdland at gmail dot com or Mike Perez at mikerey01 at yahoo dot com

Event is coordinated by Hill Country REACT – membership not required to participate.

Thank You,

Louis Upton – K5STX

Hill Country REACT – Team # 4804 – President
Tejas Trails Communication Group – Cactus Rose and Bandera 100k Ultra-Marathons – Coordinator

Rocky Raccoon Communications Group – Tejas Trails Liaison

 

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Nov 4

The 2015 Veterans Day parade will be held in Universal City on this Saturday, November 7th. Ham radio operators are needed to assist the Universal City Police Department with crowd and traffic control (mostly just moving the pre positioned barricades into place when the police order Pat Booker Road to be shut down when the parade is about to start).

We’ll be using a 2 meter frequency, HT recommended, but there will also be some commercially licensed HT radios available for those who don’t have one, or are not a licensed ham yet. Reflective vests recommended. Might need rain gear, depending on the forecasts.

We’ll meet at the UCPD HQ, located in city hall on Universal City Blvd by 9am. Free donuts, coffee and juice will be provided. Briefing starts at 9am, with the volunteers moving to their assignments along Pat Booker Rd by 10am.

Parade route runs south on Pat Booker towards Randolph AFB, turning either left or right (varies each year) on Byrd.

Many of us gather afterwards at a Mexican restaurant for lunch (not free, sorry) located near Universal City Blvd, next to a motorcycle shop.

Coordination by Hill Country REACT Team, contact Lee Besing, N5NTG, at (210-771-7075) or info@sanantoniohams.org

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Nov 1

The 2015 communications team, for the running of the Cactus Rose 100, was supported on-air for 31 hours by five members of Hill Country REACT and one member of the Chaparral Amateur Radio Club.

CR100 has been a event on the public event schedule for 5 years now, with Hill Country REACT as the lead with participation from numerous individuals and organizations.  Our involvement with Tejas Trails is going on about 11 years, between the Bandera 100K and Cactus Rose 100.

Both events are held on the Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera County Texas. Continued support and dedication from members of Hill Country REACT, Highland Lakes ARC, Chaparral ARC, Hill Country ARC and numerous individuals of various affiliations continue to make these events a communications success which bring awareness and appreciation to the Amateur Radio community.

 Hill Country State Natural Area is a 5,400 acre facility with over 34 miles of equestrian, hiking, biking and running trails from flat and smooth to 45 degree rocky climbs.

The environment and terrain at HCSNA creates numerous challenges for communications. Cell phone coverage is nearly non-existent with the average smart phone, the nearest permanent ham repeater is over 20 miles away and behind a range, and simplex vhf/uhf communications can be finicky.

At most events we deploy a portable repeater onsite, but due to the impending weather forecast the decision was made to work strictly simplex and not attempt this to expedite demobilization. At the remote aid stations, HT’s were supported by mobile units positioned nearby.

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Sep 11

Hill Country REACT Team 4804 will be holding their monthly  meeting on Tuesday,  22 September 2015 @ 1900 hrs.  The meeting is held at Picadillo’s  Restaurant in Bulverde.

Anyone interested in purchasing service and/or emergency communications is invited to attend.   Our team is very diverse and active with many benefit and community service activities in the region that require additional communication  via radio.

Looking forward to seeing some new faces.

Thank You,

Louis Upton – Hill Country REACT President

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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May 24

The Skywarn Operators at the Austin-San Antonio NWO are in the process of updating our files and call-up list. Recently we have found the EC’s, Skywarn Coordinators and Net Controls have changed drastically in the various counties we serve.
It has also been found that several repeaters used in the past to contact and monitor Skywarn operations have changed or are no longer functioning.
If someone from each county could please e-mail me the contact information, frequencies and other pertinent information for ARES and Skywarn it would be greatly appreciated.
Also be advised that we have created a Facebook page and Twitter account to help get the word out. Feel free to like or follow to stay up to date with our operations.
Thank You, Louis – K5STX
e-mail to wx5exw at gmail dot com

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Oct 9

Local Time: 1800 hrs Friday December 5th to 1800 hrs Saturday December 6th, 2014

This annual event is always the first Friday / Saturday of December each year.  Ham Operators, operating from their local National Weather Service Offices around the country, are trying to contact as many other NWS offices as possible during a 24 hour period that runs from 6pm CDT Friday until 6pm CDT Saturday.  Modes used include VHF/UHF,HF, Internet Enhanced (EchoLink, and IRLP) and various digital modes..

Access is limited at the local NWS office due to space constraints and the fact that the meteorologists are actively working in the same room, so the noise level and disruption factor is a concern.

Operators are scheduled to work in groups of no more than 3 in multiples of 2 hour shifts!

All classes of licensed Amateur Radio Operators are encouraged to participate.  This is a great opportunity for Technician class operators to get some HF time in the early morning shifts with a General or Extra class on the roster!

Visitors are limited to those who RSVP before the event! No drop in visitors!  Please, if you would like to come by just to visit, you MUST be on the roster!

To volunteer for a 2 hour shift or more, Contact event coordinator Louis – K5STX at k5stx@k5stx.net or k5stx@hillcountryreact.org!  Sign up early, the based slots go fast!

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