San Antonio Hams

The Unusual Suspects group will have an “upgraded” monthly meeting at a new location this next Saturday, September 1st, at 9am.   Instead of the usual meet & greet at the Taco Cabana in Universal City, the group will be meeting in San Antonio, at the Astro Bowl, near the intersection of Austin Hwy, Eisenhauer Rd & Harry Wurzbach.

LOCATION:ASTRO BOWL {PRIVATE PARTY ROOM}  3203 Harry Wuzbach, San Antonio, TX 78209

Recommend early arrival to get breakfast ordered.  Food & Drink available for purchase.

PROGRAM:

• 9:am to 9:45     Meet & Greet Breakfast…..Casual enjoy your meal and chat
• 9:45 to 10:15    Technical Training:      Topic: Introduction to APRS by Lee Besing

Note: As we are still setting up our VE training sessions, unless we have PRE-SCHEDULED NEW AND UPGRADING HAMS,  there will not be a VE Session this month.  We are putting together a VE Team to hold regular test sessions in the future, following our meetings.   So if interested in testing, please e-mail Greg Lewis right away: n5xo@satx.rr.com.   Effective with the October meeting, this will be a regular scheduled event and walk in’s will be welcome.

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Effective immediately, Joe Bruno W5AUQ is appointed as EC for Guadalupe county in District 12.  Joe replaces Joe Thompson W4CTH who became a silent key July 7th.  Joe Thompson was a terrific EC and all around ham and will be missed…

Our thanks to Joe Bruno for reassuming the EC slot.

Tom Whiteside, N5TW
ARRL South Texas Section Emergency Coordinator

The annual 4th of July parade was held in Startzville,Texas, on the south side of Canyon Lake.

As usual for the past 20+ years, the members of Hill Country REACT, with assistance from the HCHams (Hayes / Caldwell County Hams), and a few others, managed the staging area, got everybody lined up in the right order, and merged in the units (like the USAF Band, the horses, & the local dignitaries) when the parade started around 11am.

The parade started with a fly over by the Combined Air Force (used to be Confederate Air Force) based in San Marcos.

We did shoot some video of the parade, with quality of questionable focus, using a new HD Vehicle DVR Recorder mounted inside the front windshield of my van.   Even though I had washed the van the night before, it sprinkled on the way up that morning before dawn, and perhaps some neighborhood birds decided to add their deposits on the way up as well. (Note to self: Wash the window before shooting video thru it next time!)   With the glare of the sun, sometimes the focus wasn’t as sharp as I would have preferred, or expected had I used a real video camera mounted outside the glass.  I’ll post that edited video later on, for those who care to watch it.  It’s clear, just slightly not as clear as I’d prefer, or maybe it’s just my eye glass prescription needing tweaked.  🙂

Here is a list of hams and other volunteers working on behalf of REACT for this event, followed by a gallery of photos taken by either myself or Jake Creamer.

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W4CTH @ Texas Water Safari

We just got the heads up about Joe Thompson W4CTH passing away today. Joe had a fatal heart attack at home around 2am this morning (7/7/2012). His wife & daughter were home at the time it happened.

W4CTH @ July 4th Parade

Joe was a active member of Hill Country REACT, Chaparral Amateur Radio Club (Seguin), and was the ARES EC for the Guadalupe County ARES group.Joe had  helped this year with Heart of the Hills Horse event in March, Net Control for the San Antonio Tour de Cure in May, the Luling Crossing Checkpoint for the Texas Water Safari in June, and the Canyon Lake 4th of July Parade this week.

From Louis N5STX –  His full name was Needham Joe Thompson!  Joe was EC for Guadalupe County ARES, Member of Hill Country REACT, Chaparral Amateur Radio Club, active with Bexar County ARES, RACES and MARS (AAR6TO < I believe)!  I believe he may have been the the County Liason Officer with RACES in Guadalupe County. Very active with the various ultra-marathons, bike events and the AERC Heart of the Hills event in Bandera.

Unknown to many, Joe was a retired Doctor, when on many of his traveled, still practiced/volunteered at a clinic in South Carolina and I believe one in Florida! <need to confirm this – I do remember him talking about this! Joe live for his grand children, frequently taking them to events around the country.

Service Information
Mass will be held on Wednesday, July 11, 2012 at 1:30p.m.
St James Catholic Church
510 S. Camp St
Seguin, TX  78155

More details will be posted here as made available.  Our thanks to Louis K5STX for providing us with the notice a few hours ago.

It is with a sad and heavy heart, that I have the task to notify the Ham Community, that Joe Thompson – W4CTH became a silent key at 02:00 hrs the 7th of July 2012.

Joe was at home with his wife Mary Kay at the time of his passing!  His daughter was also on the property near their home!

Details regarding services will be passed to the community as they are made available!

Our thoughts and prayers are with Mary Kay, family and friends!

Dr Larry Becker W5VEO

Dr. Larry Becker W5VEO, a well known & active member of Kendall Amateur Radio Socity (KARS), was hit and killed Thursday night (6/28/2012) while riding his bicycle on the access road of Interstate 10 in Kendall County.  Larry was 69 years old, a ham operator & a dermatologist with offices in Boerne and San Antonio.He had last been spotted riding his bicycle along the IH-10 access road less than an hour before the accident by another KARS member, who said Larry had been wearing his trademark bright yellow jersey and a helmet. It was dry and still daylight at the time Larry was hit by the truck.

Around 7:15 p.m. on 06/28/2012, Dr. Larry Becker was struck by an unknown vehicle that fled the scene in the 39000 block of west-bound Interstate 10, a relative confirmed. A Department of Public Safety official said the impact of the crash threw Becker into a ditch and left his bike, a carbon fiber racing-style bicycle, in pieces. Officers at the scene said Becker had died from his injuries.

His wife, Dorothy made public pleas via the news media for information about the hit & run accident, asking for any witnesses or the person driving the vehicle to step forward.  The Kendall County Crime Stoppers put a hefty reward out for info leading the arrest & conviction of the guilty person or persons.

On Monday, July 2nd, after the word went out today about a $25,000 reward going out by Kendall County Crime Stoppers for info//capture of the person who ran down, killed, and hit&run Doc Larry W5VEO Becker, Col MedicalCorps US Army, at 7pm last Thurs late-afternoon — the perp decided to turn himself in.  Hams from KARS had been scouting out the area, looking for pickup trucks or other vehicles with a missing radio antenna (AM/FM was found on the scene) and damage to the right front / side of the vehicle.

Richard reports the following details:

1.)  There will be a viewing at David Vaughn’s Funeral Home, here in Boerne, 319 East San Antonio St., on Monday 9 July from 6-8pm. 2.)  The Funeral Service at 10:30am on Tue 10 July at First Baptist Church is still the same.  There will be a lunch at the church afterwards. 3.)   But, Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery has made room to receive Larry with Military Honors at 2:30pm on Tuesday 10 July 2012.

Our thanks to Richard McDaniel K4RMC & other KARS members for keeping us informed.

I spent about 8 hours at the AARO Field Day at Raymond Russell Park, where they almost ended up with a Marachi Band for entertainment (band went to the wrong pavilion), then moved on to visit the KARS Ham Club in Boerne before swinging back down south around midnight to the SARC Ham Club in Shavano Park.

By the time I left SARC, still running on those 5 hour energy drinks, I started to head south to ROOST, knowing they would be still running full steam ahead even in the middle of the night, but sanity prevailed, and I advised my “extra” wife that I’d be heading home soon instead of visiting more FD sites this weekend.

I used my cell phone to make some videos and take some pics, but the phone battery died & had to be recharged after I left AARO, so no middle of the night pics from KARS or SARC to be shared.  I’ve been promised pics from other hams who were at those locations, however.

AARO did a 1 day only FD event, starting setup around 10am when the park opened (county park hours restricted how long they could stay there), and shutting down & leaving before midnight when the county park turned into a pumpkin one more.  They were running 6 stations in different modes (voice / digital / cw / satellite) on various bands, and had more antennas and generators than I’ve seen in a long time.

Most of the actual radio operators were taking it very seriously, but the bulk of the 50+ hams were just there for the workshops, free food & fellowship.  A few were experimenting with different antennas, mostly home brew, and learning new modes.  There were a handful of brand new hams show up, and AARO took extra time to show them the operations and get them talking on the air to make a contact or two.

Workshops also were conducted on various topics:

• Proper Soldering Techniques
• Building DiPole Antennas
• Quadrafillic (sp?) Antennas
• Anderson Power Pole

Click the link below to continue this article & see some of the pics I took.

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We have collected information for the following Ham Club Field Day Locations, in and around the San Antonio extended metro area…. 

• Alamo Area Radio Organization (AARO)…
• San Antonio Radio Club (SARC)…
• Radio Operators of South Texas (ROOST)…
• Kendall Amateur Radio Society (KARS)… (Boerne, TX)
• Guadalupe Valley Amateur Radio Club (GVARC)… (New Braunfels, TX)
• Hill Country Amateur Radio Club (HCARC)… (Kerrville, TX)
• South Texas DX Contest Club (STXDXCC)… (Bandera, TX)
• Atascosa Amateur Radio Club (AARC)… (Poteet, TX)
• Coyote Amateur Radio Club (KS5TX) (Uvalde, TX)

ARRL’s Master Field Day Search Site – Map 

See below for details…  Not all clubs have registered with ARRL’s website.

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ONE-DAY HAM RADIO REVIEW COURSE
For Amateur Radio Technician License Exam
Saturday, June 16, 2012
8:30 a.m. to ~6:00 p.m.

COST: $75 – Includes book, continental breakfast, lunch, and fee for one 35-item multiple-choice exam given at the end of the day (or $55 if you already have book)

TARGET AUDIENCE: Anyone wanting to earn their entry-level ham radio license

COURSE BOOK: Study and bring to class (7th edition, ISBN 978-0-945053-62-0) Technician Class, EFFECTIVE July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2014, by Gordon West.

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