San Antonio Hams

 The photo below was taken today while I was testing the output of my solar panels that I’ll be using for the W5BOG (Bexar Operators Group) Field Day up at Lost Maples State Park. We will be setting up in the afternoon on Friday, June 26th so as to also operate during a Navy-Marine Corps MARS traffic net that evening. Field Day starts on Saturday, June 27th and runs through noon Sunday, June 28th. It is a 24 hour event, but we’ll be doing other ham-related things, including experiments, while we are there.

Since the duty cycle of SSB is much less than FM (25% vs 100%),  they’ll be able to easily keep my six banks of marine deep cycle batteries charged.

 Combine this system and my 200 watt wind turbine unit (pix shows three blades before I added three more to make it much more efficient) will mean plenty of power for at least two SSB stations to operate. This setup will also be used for my jump team programs. I may even skip bringing any of my gas generators with me to my jump team boot camps. Anyone who wishes to join us at Lost Maples is free to do so. Bring a sleeping bag (we provide the tent) and whatever personal items you wish. (check out the park  and how to get there by clicking on the red “Lost Maples State Park” title above)  All power, including the LED lighting system, will be furnished using either battery charged solar energy or wind energy. Cooking will be accomplished using propane stoves. This will be a non-polluting  “GREEN” power operation. Antennas won’t be commerically made, but will be built “on the spot” as if deploying under emergency conditions. Come and learn how to operate during a real emergency situation where all you have is what’s brought to the site. Learn about site survey and set up from scratch, setting up and using solar and wind turbine power, duty cycles of equipment, propagation (how it works for or against you) and basic contesting skills from someone who has earned several operating awards and deployed emergency stations many times using survival skills acquired over the past 35 years. Since we are out in the field, I will even give mini-lessons on subjects such as how to filter “local water” using a 4- step filter system, of my own design, which ecom workers may need if deployed to a rustic area and run out of bottled water.   Learn alot and have a lot of fun! If you plan on coming, email me at:   alonestaryank@aol.com    

Bob  W2IK – W5BOG – NNN0KSI – NNN0BGY2  MARS Ecom

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.

Area Spring Games Canceled

All Special Olympics Texas Spring Games scheduled for this weekend, May 1-2, have been canceled because of concerns over the spread of swine flu.  This decision was made based on public health recommendations, the cancellation of some host venues and the withdrawal of many participating delegations. Also, it is consistent with the action taken by the University Interscholastic League (UIL).

{Photo from 2008 San Antonio Special Olympics Spring Games Opening Ceremony in San Antonio, Area 20 – Lee} Read the rest of this entry »

The original article was emailed to me from WServerNews, dealt with “cloud computing” and the danger of relying soley upon having your data “out there” in the Internet, vulnerable to such disruptions…   Something my company, Digital Fortress, also deals with on a daily basis, called “business continuity planning” or “building a Plan B”.  

But the article goes on to talk about how some hospitals dealt with their crisis, by calling out the ham radio operators….. ta da!  (The link in the quoted extract below, links to an ARRL article that goes into more details about ham radio involvement – Lee)

Realizing that they’d need more two-way radio, authorities dispatched police to wake up the emergency coordinator of the regional ham radio club, and escort him to the community hospital with his equipment. Area hams dispatched ambulances and doctors, arranged for essential supplies, and relayed emergency communications out of the area to those with working telephones.

Here is the article, with a link at the bottom to the full story.   Read and follow the link if you are interested in it…

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As we reported earlier, the organizing committee for the BPMS150, Houston – Austin bike tour wisely made the decision to “cancel” day 1 of the 2 day event, due to excessive rain, flooding, and generally nasty weather. 

More than 10 inches of rain fell on Friday, accompanied by winds gusting in excess of 60 mph.  On Saturday, more of the same hit the area.  6-8 inches of rain hit much of Day 1’s route, flooding the minor side streets like the state highways or Farm Market roads normally ridden by the bike riders.   Many of the rest areas were under water or were too muddy to be used.

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During their April 24, 2009 meeting of the members, the San Antonio Repeater Organization (SARO) was presented a plaque in recognition of the club’s service in support of the BikeMS Bike to the Beach event held last October.

Tony Ralf KE5ZT (National MS Society) presented the plaque to SARO club president Erik Olsen WB5ZJQ during a special presentation at Martha’s Mexican Restaurant.

Due to severe t-storms which dropped as much as 10 inches of rain or more across the route being used for the 2009 BPMS150 event, and the prediction of 60% chance of more severe t-storms dropping another 6-10 inches of rain on Saturday, the executive committee met on Friday night and pulled the plug on the first day of the 2 day event.  Riders will be transported Saturday afternoon to La Grange, TX (or will find their own way there in private vehicles) where they will spend the night, and take off as normal Sunday morning for the ride to Austin, TX where the finish line awaits.

Here is a YouTube video showing the La Grange Fairgrounds area on Friday, the day before the BPMS150 (video only, no audio) …

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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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