San Antonio Hams

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls…..

It is that time of month once again, yes the monthly event you have all been waiting for……..This Saturday (Feb 2nd) at 9:am at the Astro Bowling Alley Conference room is our 1st Saturday of the month MEET & GREET session.

SWAP MEET, TECHNICAL TRAINING, GOOD FOOD AND GREAT FOLKS TO MEET.

Agenda       

• 9am to 9:45am – Meet & Greet Casual Breakfast (on your own expense)
• 9:45 to 10am  – Quick intro-planning information for up coming Unusual Suspect Remote Field Day.
• 10am to 10:30am   – Guest Speaker Bob Rodriguez will be giving this month’s training class.
• 10:30am –  Monthly Swap Meet. Bring your stuff to sell, your money to buy….. LOT’S OF GOODIES

Normal turn out for our monthly Meet & Greet’s is in the 20 to 30 range. GREAT chance to meet that voice on the other end of the microphone……

COME JOIN US
When: 9 AM Saturday, February 2, 2013
Where: Astro Bowling Alley, 3203 Harry Wurzbach {by Austin Hwy},
Conference room. Just to right of main desk.
Who: Anybody interested in Amateur Radio Service

Title: 2013 AERC Heart of the Hills Endurance Event
Location: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera, Texas
Link out: Click here
Description: The AERC Heart of the HIlls is a 25 and 50 mile equestrian endurance event that test the horse and rider.
Hill Country REACT as well as members of other organizations have provided Amateur Radio Communications, Safety and Tracking for the last 3 years. Amateur Radio has become and important part of this event due to the remoteness and terrain, and our familiarity of the facility. In being able to consistently and accurately track the competitors at various checkpoints, we have become more than just a safety net!

Any licensed Amateur Radio Operator with interest in Public Service and Emergency Communications are invited to assist with this event. Events like this are the best way to test equipment and hone skills that would be useful during a disaster deployment.

This years event will be two days, with the major emphasis and need on Saturday March 2nd, as the largest group of competitors will be on this day. Sunday March 3rd will be the same course for the most part, but the expected group is smaller.

Communications for this event is typically VHF simplex voice and the utilization of a event specific packet spreadsheet utilized for tracking.

We need 8 – 12 operators for Saturday March 2nd and 5 – 8 on Sunday!

For more information or to sign up, contact Louis – K5STX at k5stx@arrl.net

Thank You!
Start Date: 2013-03-02
Start Time: 06:00
End Date: 2013-03-03
End Time: 15:00

The January 23rd Hill Country REACT meeting has been cancelled.
Our next meeting will be on the 27th of February 2013

Thank You,

Louis Upton – K5STX
Hill Country REACT President

Here is the list of hams who worked the marathon at what mile markers.    Dave Espinoza W5QS started out really early (before 4am) at the start line, acting as Net Control until 9am.  Lee Besing N5NTG was at mile marker 4 at 6am, and assumed Net Control duties at 9am, and continued until the race ended at 3:30pm when Lee was the last vehicle to cross the finish line. Literally the last person and vehicle, playing the Porky Pig tune “That’s all folks!”…

Here is the list…

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Okay, it’s time to unveil the full length, 140 minutes, runners video that we took at Mile Marker #4 on Camden Street.   It has minimal editing, mostly to add titles at the front / back, and a running date / location stamp during the video.  All sound is original once the video portion begins.  (The video file itself was more than 2gb in size, and it was only 640×480 screen size.)

I’ll be posting more info about the race itself, who the volunteers were from AARO and other ham volunteers, etc., in another post.

This post is just for the runners.    This is the view from Mile Marker #4 on November 11, 2012, starting around 7:45am, after all the bicycle riders are gone.  You can see the approaching lead vehicles, watch the guy and my son, David KD5MTJ, relocate the mile marker and clock closer to the curb, and hear all the spectator comments (uncensored) in the background.  The video with the bicycle riders is found here http://sanantoniohams.org/blog/?p=6394

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The following video was shot at Mile Marker #4 along the route of the 2012 San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon, and is for the Bike Tour part of the event only, no runners in this clip.   The Bike Tour, with about 1,000 riders, started at 6:45am, before the 7:30am main start for the Marathon.

Ham Radio Operators from the Alamo Area Radio Organization (AARO) and other volunteers, staffed every mile marker along the routes to ensure the timing clocks were started accurately at 7:30am when the net control (Dave W5QS) gave the count down over the radio.  This year’s event started without a hitch, other than some timing clocks had dead batteries or other malfunctions, but the operational end of from the ham radio operator perspective went fairly smoothly this year.

We’ll be posting more videos and photos later this week, as we find more “free time” to do the editing. This was the short one, so be warned!

Title: 13th Annual Skywarn Recognition Day
Location: Austin/San Antonio National Weather Service Office – New Braunfels Airport
Description: The 13th Annual Skywarn Recognition Day 2012 will be December 1st – 0001 – 2400 zulu time or November 30th 1800hrs to December 1st 1800 hrs local time!

Title: Bandera 100K Ultra-Marathon
Location: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera, Texas
Link out: Click here
Description: 12th Annual Bandera 100k Ultra-Marathon held at Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera County.
Communications over the last 8 years has been covered by Hill Country REACT and several other teams and individuals. The Amateur Radio community plays a valuable role during the event, providing real time tracking and safety for the participants and crews. Over the years, our role has increased from basic communications relays to an integral part of the timing, scoring and tracking of the participants.
This 24 hour event typically requires 15 – 16 Amateur Radio Operators in an environment that is similar to what an Emergency Communications Operator would experience in a disaster zone. UHF, VHF and Packet communications are used during this event.
Interested operators should contact the Communications and Safety Team coordinator – K5STX, Louis Upton at k5stx@arrl.net or 830-305-2889
Start Date: 2013-01-12
Start Time: 06:00
End Date: 2013-01-13
End Time: 07:00

In view of the terrible plight involving Hurricane Sandy, I think everyone needs to read an article I posted in one of my web sites several years ago. Emergency communicators – take heed.

Sometimes Getting There Can Be Your Greatest Problem

Bob Hejl W2IK

So, you’ve joined some emergency support group, taken some training and even done a few drills. That’s great! Your equipment is ready. You’re ready. But, “Murphy” has other ideas. Whether you’re a member of ARES, RACES, SATERN, REACT, CERT or any other group, you need to do more homework than what they’ve suggested. What good is all your equipment, training and confidence if you can’t get to a deployment site? Unfortunately, I’ve never seen any group adequately cover one of the most important steps in emergency communications: Getting volunteers to their final destinations as quickly and as safely as possible. Although this is especially true during natural disasters such as winter storms, hurricanes or intense periods of rain which produce almost catastrophic flooding, it can also encompass volunteers who attempt to deploy during other events such as wildfire emergencies. Can you imagine deploying to a wildfire disaster and almost getting trapped by the flames because no one told you the extent or the range of the fire? Well, it happened to me when I, with others, attempted to deploy during the Long Island wildfires a number of years ago. We were armed with everything we thought we needed…. except up-to-date information. No maps or directions were given so there we were “driving by the seat of our pants” in the dead of the night into what almost was a catastrophe for us all. Luckily, we back tracked and took the long way around finally reaching our deployment points.

Everyone was to blame for this screw-up.

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QUARTER CENTURY WIRELESS ASSOCIATION SAN ANTONIO CHAPTER 38
PROGRAM 22 SEPTEMBER  2012

This month’s program promises to be of importance to all of us since we are all dependent on energy.  This month we will have Mr. John Moreno from CPS who will inform the audience how to deal with energy conservation.  Let’s all make an attempt to attend this month’s program so that we can all be enlightened on energy.

The meeting will take place at Sea Island Restaurant located on Bandera Road just inside Loop 1604  The restaurant is located inside Bandera Shopping Center across the street from HE.B.  The restaurant’s phone number is 651-7000.  The meeting starts at 12:00 but many start showing up at 11:00 a.m. to order their lunch.

It is not necessary to be a member of QCWA to attend any of our presentations.  Visitors are always welcome.

QCWA weekly net:  Chapter 38 conducts the weekly net at 147.380- (162.2) and is conducted at 8:30 p.m. local time Sunday.  All are invited to participate.  Thanks to AARO for the use of their repeater.

QCWA International Net is on 14.347 at 2:00 p.m. local time Sundays.,

QCWA CW Net takes place on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. local time at 7.036 Mhz.

73 de Chetto WB6BIE