San Antonio Hams

Once again, the regional American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure event is upon us!  May 22-23rd are the Dates.  This is a 2-day event starting at the Retama Park in Selma (Just north of San Antonio, Off IH-35 & 1604).    Day 1 ends in San Marcos at the Texas State University, Butler Dorm.   Day 2 starts at the same place as Day 1 Finish, and ends at Akins High School in south Austin.

HELP IS STILL NEEDED!  

SAG DRIVERS & REST STOP HAMS (Day 1 only)

We’ve got a few vacancies left for driving either a Toyota Truck (from Austin Champion Toyota) or a 15 Passenger Van (from Enterprise in San Antonio near the airport).   Call Lee at 210-771-7075 ASAP If you want to volunteer cause time is running out.  1 Toyota Truck is available as of Sunday  night, and 2 of the 15 Passenger Vans are available as of Sunday night.   We could also put a few more folks into Documation SCION sag cars, but that is being controlled by another person and the # of vacancies is unknown as of Sunday night.

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This report just received from Anthony Jackson, KE5PWX, in his Smart Car, aka  known on the radio as “Smart Car 42” when he wasn’t at RS8 or RS2.

TOUR DE CURE, 2009: A QUICK REPORT FROM RS8, RS2 AND POINTS IN-BETWEEN

I had a great time working the TDC. It was quite a learning experience and I hope to participate in this capacity next year as well as volunteering at other community service events.

First, a few word about yours truly may help to understand this report. My wife says I am the “Perfect Storm” of impulsiveness, chaos, and obsession. She knows me pretty well, so I make every effort to slow down, organize, and limit myself when I become overly infatuated with a given endeavor. I work hard to overcome these character defects, but I’m afraid they still often come shining through. I get a true sense of satisfaction from times when I can honestly say to myself , “you were useful”, but enough about me.

If I were to advise anyone running a rest stop, or any portable station, it would be to say, “Get organized and fight to stay that way.”

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I wish to thank all of those hams who came out to help us the other weekend with the Annual Tour de Cure for the American Diabetes Association. We had approximately 1,700 registered riders this year, almost a 50% increase over 2008’s event.

Erika Bayless, the San Antonio ADA Tour de Cure Director, had this to say about this year’s event:

Whoo-hoo!  We made it!  What a fantastic weekend– it was long hours, hard work and lost sleep, but in the end we had 1,700 cyclists register and we have raised over ½ million for the American Diabetes Association’s mission.  Job well done!  The ADA staff could NOT have done it without you all.  ADA volunteers are the backbone to reaching the numbers that we do in South Central Texas.  Please take the week to reflect on what a difference you have made in the lives of the over 23 million Americans with diabetes and how the dollars we raised will help others like our Youth Ambassadors, Greg and Colby. Thank you.

Once again, we depended heavily upon the GVARC 147.000 ham radio repeater on both days for our primary net. We ran net control on Saturday out of San Marcos using Al Fields KE6LGE’s excellent RV. Al & Louis Upton K1STX were our initial net control stations, later supplemented by Jeff Schmidt N5MNW who also set up the APRS tracking system for us.    The 147.000 repeater covered all the way from San Antonio north past San Marcos to just the other side of Kyle, Texas.   Only one rest stop reported difficulties hitting the 147.o00, and that was the rest stop nearest Buda, TX, closer to Austin, which used the Austin 146.94 repeater instead.

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We’ve set up a new Twitter Account for user “tourdecuresa” to be used for the 2009 Central Texas bike tour.   This event is May 30-31, just a week away.   The organizing committee is concerned about being able to quickly spread the word, should something “strange” happen, like has happened to the last two MS150 events in Texas.  (Severe weather forcing closure of course, or other emergency requiring evac of riders).  Obviously we’ll be depending upon Ham Radio as the backbone of our response system, but using Twitter allows us to contact non-hams quickly with updates.

We’ll be using this Twitter account to keep our followers informed of only Tour de Cure event news, no personal comments, etc.   You can sign up to follow this user if you already have a Twitter account, or create a new account for yourself and then sign up to follow.  

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We’ve still got a few slots left open for hams to volunteer for this year’s American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure bike event. This is a 2-day event from San Antonio to San Marcos, and San Marcos to Austin, on May 30th and 31st.

• We’ve got a couple of  Saturday Rest Stop positions that will only need manned in the morning, would be over before  noon. 
• We could use 1 or 2 more hams at the San Antonio Start Line on Saturday, would be over before noon.
• We could use a couple more Hams to ride in the Supply Trucks. (2-day assignment)
• We’ve got a few driving assignments available for hams 25 yrs or older, driving brand new Toyota pickup trucks. (2-day assignment)

Contact Lee Besing N5NTG via email or by phone (210-771-7075) to get more info.

Attention all prospective & committed Tour de Cure Volunteers

May 30th – 31st

Here is an update for the 2009 Tour de Cure. It’s time to begin making duty assignments for all ham volunteers, but there have been some major changes regarding SAG Van duty.

There are only 4 full sized SAG Vans plus 5 Toyota Pickup Trucks to be driven by Ham Radio Operators, due to a donation of SAG services by a local San Antonio company who is providing both the vehicles, the drivers and paying for their fuel.

First, let me clarify points of contact… The following hams are coordinating different segments / times of the event:

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What the VE forgot to tell you, and the FCC didn’t print on your ham license…

Almost every ham radio related event will require you to get up before the chickens do. Yep, the early bird gets the worm!

Question: When is the best time for bargains at Ham Swap-Fests?  

Answer: During the first hour of the event, which will mean getting up, driving across the town or even part of the state, to get there first in line when the doors open at 8am.

Question: When do you need to be ready to drive your SAG van for the big bike tours?

Answer:  5am for the Houston BPMS150, 6AM for the San Antonio BikeMS

I’m being sort of sarcastic here, but the point is that 99% of the ham radio events, other than Field Day (which involves staying up way after the chickens go to sleep, and stay awake until way after the chickens have rested comfortably all night), require you to get up before dawn if you want to participate.   FD starts around Noon or 1pm, and runs 24 hours straight, non-stop, but the operators can change out and take breaks. You aren’t chained to your chair / stool for 24 hours without a potty break. 🙂

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Attention all prospective & committed Tour de Cure Volunteers

Here is an update for the 2009 Tour de Cure. It’s time to begin making duty assignments for all ham volunteers, but there have been some major changes regarding SAG Van duty. Most of the SAG Vans will NOT be driven by Ham Radio Operators, due to a donation of services by a local San Antonio company who is providing both the vehicles, the drivers and paying for the fuel.
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May 17-18, 2008 – Tour De Cure Hams

I’ve collected 673 photos from hams taken during the 2008 Tour de Cure event which rode from San Antonio to San Marcos on Day 1, and San Marcos to Austin on Day 2. Around 56 ham volunteers worked this event on Saturday, 53 Ham Volunteers on Sunday this year, a new record. We also drove 9 SAG vans on Saturday, 8 SAG vans on Sunday, manned 9 Rest Stops on Saturday, 6 Rest Stops on Sunday, plus we had around a dozen or so Motorcycle Safety Marshals on both days.

Photos provided by Lee Besing N5NTG, Joe Plano KA1MZY, John Trigg W5KXO, Eugene Bentz KI6MPA, and Phil Boggan KD5MMM as indicated. If you have photos to share, contact me for simple FTP instructions. Credit will be given to each source.

Photo at left, Day 1 San Marcos Net Control Station. L-R rear, Roger W5WIA, Sterling KE5KZE, Mike KD5OZM, front – Pat AD5BR

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