San Antonio Hams

It’s time to dust off those radios, go-kits, antennas and get signed up to volunteer for the public service events that will be starting up in September and October 2915.  I’ll make another post later to cover the events happening in November (Veterans Day Parade, Tour de Gruene) and December (Skywarn

September 12-13th – Central Texas American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure (Austin) – This will be a two-day event starting at the Oak Hill Freescale campus on Saturday, overnight at Jellystone near Fredericksburg, then back to Freescale on Sunday. Also on Sunday, there are other lower-mileage rides on Sunday, basically orbiting Freescale. Contact is Jeff Schmidt N5MNW and Lee Besing N5NTG. Repeater and APRS coverage is still be coordinated. More information about the ride can be found online at this site.

September 12th – La Vernia Wildwest Hammerfest – The San Antonio Ham Support Team will NOT be working this ride this  year due to a disagreement with event organizers over something that occurred during the 2014 ride.  Other hams from Wilson County may be involved, but the usual crew from San Antonio will not be coordinating.

September 13th – HEB 110th Anniversary Bike Fest in Boerne – This is a brand new ride celebrating HEB’s 110th anniversary, benefiting the Junior Diabetes Research Foundation.  Lead Ham Club on this event will naturally be Kendall Amateur Radio Society (KARS) since it is their backyard.  Looks so far like we’ll need to cover 9 break points and 6 SAG vehicles with ham operators, so KARS needs our support to keep this event safer.   Contact David Moore N7RF  (KARS) or Mary Anne Horn N5MYN (SARO) to volunteer ASAP.

October 3-4th – Valero BikeMS Ride To The River – This is our annual 2-day event that was changed from the 2nd weekend to the 1st weekend of October this  year.  On Saturday, the ride goes from the east side of San Antonio (near Houston St and IH-10), out thru Seguin (lunch stop) and back west to New Braunfels, ending at the Comal County Fairgrounds.   Route includes an option to tour River Road if the rider gets past the cut-off point prior to 3:30pm.   Both of Sunday’s routes will start and ends at the Fairgrounds, with courses remaining in the Canyon Lake area.

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If you’re bored and you know it, charge your batteries, dust off those emergency go-kits sitting in the garage, and get your radios programmed to work these upcoming events.  Even if you aren’t bored, it’s still that time of year anyway.

I know more help is really needed for the two upcoming bike rides on September 21st and October 12-13th. I’m pretty sure that all of the other events will be grateful for some extra ham help as well.

Where available, I have listed email address links for the contact person. If you don’t see a contact link, or are unsuccessful in contacting them, please feel free to contact me direct for more info or help. – Lee N5NTG

• September 21st – OLPH Wildcat Ride and Run – Jeremy KE5ELI
• September 28-29th – Texas QSL Party
• October 5th – Belton HamExpo
• October 5th – BikeMS150 San Antonio Training / Briefing meeting for hams / volunteers at 10am – Lee N5NTG.
• October 12-13th – BikeMS150 San Antonio. 2 day event. SARO Ham Club. Charlie KC5NKK
• October 19th – JOTA at the McGimmsey Scout Park. SARC Club – Bob K5AUW
• October 19th – Alamo Area Law Enforcement Explorer Competition (AALEEC) at SW High School – Dave W5QS
• October 26-27th – Cactus Rose Run (36 hour 5:30am Sat -5:30pm Sun) – Bandera Hill Country State Natural Area (100 mile). REACT Team – Louis K5STX
• November 2nd – UC Veterans Day Parade. REACT Team – Lee N5NTG
• November 2-3th – Tour de Gruene – GVARC ham club. Mike WQ5C
• November 17th – San Antonio Rock & Roll Marathon – AARO – Lee N5NTG
• December 6-7th – National Skywarn Recognition Weekend – New Braunfels NWS Office – 24 hour event (6pm-6pm) over 2 days – Louis K5STX
• December 14th – Christmas Parade at Canyon Lake / Sattler – REACT – Wade W5ERX
• January 11th – San Antonio Radio Fiesta – (Schertz TX) SARC Club – W5SC.ORG – Rowena KF5JCZ
• January 11-12th – Bandera 100K Run at Hill Country State Natural Area (state park) 24 hour event over 2 days – Louis K5STX

When: March 2nd and 3rd, 2013 0600 hrs briefing, 0700 event start
Where: Hill Country State Natural Area, Bandera, TX

Ham Radio support needed for the 2013 AERC Heart of the Hills Endurance Ride.
We will be providing communications and check point support during the event.
The team will be the eyes and ears of the Event Director by providing timely and accurate tracking of the horses/riders on the course and any safety/medical coordination as needed!

We have a briefing at 0600hrs at event control with enough time to disperse and set-up prior to the start.

Voice Communications will be on VHF simplex for the majority of the event. We do have access to an off-site repeater should HT communications be weak.

Packet: if you have portable packet capability, that is a plus, but not required! The set-up we use is similar to the Texas Water Safari program!

For more information or to volunteer, contact Louis – K5STX at k5stx at arrl dot com!

Hill Country REACT Team #4804 is the coordinating group of this event. All licensed Amateur Radio Operators with an interest in Public Service and Emergency Communications are invited to participate!

Thank You,
Louis – K5STX