San Antonio Hams

2010 National Weather Service
Skywarn Recognition Day
December 4, 2009 (Friday Night – Saturday)
0000-2400 UTC

SKYWARN Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League. It celebrates the contributions that volunteer SKYWARN radio operators make to the National Weather Service. During the day SKYWARN operators visit NWS offices and contact other radio operators across the world.

The National Weather Service Austin-San Antonio will again be a part of this year’s Skywarn Recognition Day event. If you wish to be a part of the Austin-San Antonio effort, contact Louis Upton – K5STX who will be spearheading the schedule.  Please contact him at: k5stx@arrl.net

In other areas of the country, check with your local National Weather Service office to see if they are participating in this event or having an “open house”. It is not a contest, but rather an operating event. Amateur radio operators will be on the air from National Weather Service offices and from their home stations as well. Depending upon how many NWS stations a ham operator contacts they will be given certificates of varying levels.
The certificate (shown to the left) was given to W2IK in 2006 for contacting over 40 different NWS stations all across the US. Be a part of this fun event by either visiting your local NWS or by making contacts with as many stations as you can.

For updated information concerning this event, just go to:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/hamradio/

At this site, you can get a list of participating NWS offices, their call signs, and other useful information. Check this site often as additional participating offices will be listed as the day approaches. I hope you’ll join in on the fun and learn more about the National Weather Service and the function Skywarn plays in keeping the country safe during severe weather conditions.

Last year, we made 360 contacts from our site which was a major increase from previous years. This year, we want to break that record. Contact Louis to join us or go on the air from your home station to work us.

Medina County Rest Area, Hwy 90 west of DeHanis

April 10, 2010 – Noon until all the antennas and equipment are stowed.

Come to the Medina County Rest Stop; U.S. Hwy 90, approximately 40 miles west of the Loop 410 and Hwy 90 intersection; approximately 7 miles west of D’Hanis.

Here is their PDF flier for the event.  2010 Spring Field-Nic

Contact Walter  Hock KK5LO for details kk5lo@swbell.net

On board was a crew of seven: Colonel Rick Husband; Lt. Colonel Michael Anderson; Commander Laurel Clark; Captain David Brown; Commander William McCool; Dr. Kalpana Chawla; & Ilan Ramon, a Colonel in the Israeli Air Force.

The Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club will again hold a special event station in remembrance of the shuttle disaster on Feb. 1, 2003.

The event will occur on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010. Ham operators from other areas are welcome to attend the event. If you cannot come to Nacogdoches, we would like to hear from you on 20 or 40 meters. Operation will begin at 0800 CST (1400 UTC) and end at 1500 CST (2100 UTC).

The station will be set up at the McMichael Middle School located at 4330 SE Stallings Drive in Nacogdoches. This is on Loop 224 between Hwy 21 east and FM 2259. The event commemorates how the ham radio operators from the local area went into action immediately after the shuttle crash to provide emergency communications and relay traffic necessary to the coordination of the event. Within hours, ham operators from across the state of Texas and other states as well also became involved. Many ham radio clubs sent members to assist in providing communications for the varied search teams. Other clubs provided towers and repeater equipment necessary to relay vital information.

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Okay, the long wait is finally over!   We’ve compressed 24 hours of operation down to about 5 minutes, without using the fast forward button.  Amazing, but true!  Of course since we weren’t personally there the whole time to take photos and videos of every single operator, we weren’t able to include more than the three operators shown in the video (recorded live) plus a few others that had their photos taken and forwarded to us.

Most of the footage in the video was provided by Lee N5NTG, with some by Bob W2IK and Wade W5ERX.

Here is the YouTube link to this video…

Here are some photos taken during the 2009 Skywarn Recognition Day during the operations held at the Austin / San Antonio National Weather Service office in New Braunfels…  We’re working on a video as we type this blog entry, so check back later to see some area hams working the bands, without doing Kareoke…  See Video Here..

The following 9 hams worked at this year’s 24 hour event locally…

• Wade W5ERX  – REACT / GVARC
• Louis K1STX  – REACT / Chaparral ARC
• Bob W2IK   – Bexar Operators Group
• JC N5RXS  – SARC
• Pat AD5BR  – REACT
• Lee N5NTG  – REACT
• Gary K5GST  – REACT / GVARC
• Jeremy KE5ELI  – Chaparral ARC
• Al KE6LGE  – REACT
• Wade KE5ZOU – REACT

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The busy ham radio operators down at the San Antonio – Austin National Weather Service office in New Braunfels, TX are using the club call sign KD5UMW on the air, using 20/40/80 meters HF, VHF, UHF, Echolink, IRLP, and who knows what other modes?  I know that Skywarn has established standard modes / frequencies to be used, but we aren’t limited to just those.

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr/hamradio/

With the inclement weather in the area, operators may be tasked with gathering actual weather info during the event.  So if we are asked for help, lets do all we can.  For those of you working longer shifts you might want to bring food if you think you will want to eat.  Restaurants are a not all that close to the NWS. 

Paul would like to keep operators inside the Weather Service to 3 at a time.  There should be times that we may have 4, so this would be a good time to give Bob a break as he is working the whole event.    Please bring a headset if you have one as we need to keep things fairly quiet inside.  If there are any questions please contact me.

 Bob W2IK has generously offered to handle QSL cards for the event (an SASE will be required) and the KD5UMW QRZ info will be used. 

For those that may need the address:
2090 AIRPORT RD NEW BRAUNFELS, TX 78130 USA

Thanks to all of you,

Wade (w5erx@arrl.net)

October 17th was the date of the 15th anniversary celebration at the Great Northwest Branch Library, one of many branches that is part of the San Antonio Public Library system.  This library is located off of Grissom Road, near Culebra & Tezel Rd.  

Because this branch is the site of VE Test Sessions every other month by Pat AD5BR, representing the SARC VE Team, the head librarian asked Lee N5NTG to put on a demonstration Ham Radio Station as part of their celebration.  SARC was already committed to being at JOTA over at McGimsey Scout Park in Castle Hills, so Hill Country REACT agreed to sponsor the station at this event.

Below are two videos that I made up from the raw footage and photos taken during the event. 

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From ARRL listing of Special Events Station Operations:   

Parade with floats, displays, vendors. A nice, small town fair.
Bob  W2IK

Following are some photos by Krissy, KD5YTN and a few byW2IK.
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