San Antonio Hams

HELLO EVERYONE AND HAVE  HAPPY EASTER FROM Corpus Christi ARC!!!

At the March 2012 CCARC Eyeball meeting,  discussion lead to a vote that passed by majority to change the Eyeball Meeting format. We will no longer have a set day ( First Thursday of each month) nor will we meet every month at Driscoll Children’s Hospital. Our Club has become, by popular demand, an EVENT instead of Meeting Club..

 The next 4 months have been planned already..

For April.. we will be caravanning up to the Belton Ham-Fest.. A group Friday afternoon and then   a second group early Saturday morning will be headed up. After the Saturday morning stroll thru the Ham-Fest at 3pm we will be meeting at the Ox Bow restaurant almost right next door to the Belton Expo. This will be our April 2012 CCARC Eyeball meeting.  Everyone come up and enjoy the Ham-Fest and the CCARC Eyeball meeting at the Ox Bow before the trip back.

 In May, the CCARC Eyeball Meeting will be at the 2nd annual Buccaneer Tail Gate, More info coming the APOC has moved to the shopping strip behind the old Luby’s on Alameda (Near DCH). Testing, Food, lots of “trash to treasures” stories to be told here!! More Info to com.. Stand By!!

In June, the CCARC Eyeball Meeting will be breakfast at the “STARTING LINE” of the First Annual CCARC “On the Air Car Rally/Mobile Net around the BAY”.. A full day, afternoon and evening of tripping around the bay , on the air and stops for fun things to do.. More Info to come.. Stand By!!

In July.. plans are under way and development of our FIRST Mobile Fox Hunt!! Working on the route and the hardest locations for all those foxes!! We’ll let you know about that one!!!

Hope to see everyone in Belton.. If you want to go, don’t have a ride give me a call .. we’ll get ya there!!!

Linda Peterson
DCH Disaster Services*W5LSS / W5DCH Trustee
361.442.9852 cell

A few weeks ago, we were quietly told that Craig Kennedy, owner of  KComm The Ham Store, would likely be closing his doors at the end of March. 

 March 31st was to be the last parking lot tail-gate sale.   We were asked to keep the news quiet until all the final arrangemens had been made with the employees, etc., before publicizing the news. 

During the past couple of weeks, the word was spread by rumor, by email, by phone calls, during Ham Breakfasts, etc. that the store was closing. 

The San Antonio Radio Club, W5SC, has been holding their monthly meetings in the store, and had their club station setup for visiting hams to use while at KComm.  That era has also come to an end, with the club needing to move their equipment & trailer (in back parking lot) to another location, and to find a new meeting location.   I was told today, that April’s SARC meeting will still be at KComm, but starting in the month of May, the meetings are moving to Jim’s Restaurant on San Pedro & Ramsey.

Store on Gulfdale

Yesterday, we stopped by the store around 9am to find that it was the most crowded that we’ve ever seen it, including during a SARC Club meeting night.  

Craig was playing “lets make a deal” with old equipment, furnishings, anything that wasn’t nailed down to the floor or wall it seemed. 

It was our opinion that he likely did more sales that day in a few hours, than he had likely done all month.  Several folks commented that if Kcomm had seen this much business every weekend, we wouldn’t be there for the closing today.

When I got my ham license back in the late 80’s, Kcomm The Ham Store was located over on the NW side of town, on Mobud Street, just off Loop 410, between Evers & Bandera, in a small industrial complex. 

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The following letter (from REACT) was hand delivered to SARO at their membership meeting on January 27th. The SARO membership subsequently passed a motion at that same meeting, to authorize the SARO board to spend up to $5,000 for obtaining the services of a tower crew and needed hardware to finish this project ASAP. 

Nearly 2 years ago, Hill Country REACT purchased  a 1283 ft long’ spool of 1-5/8″ foam core Anderson Heliax, and reserved it for the completion of the 147.14 restoration project, but if the project remains unlikely to move forward, this valuable resource will be reassigned, or sold  by, REACT for other more feasible projects. – Lee N5NTG

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SARO has resumed publishing quarterly issues of the SARO Bulletin, their club newsletter. The newsletters are open for reading by the general public, and the January 2012 issue can be read using the link below.

NEXT SARO Memberhip Meeting – Friday, January 27th. See website or newsletter for details.

THE SARO BULLETIN (CLUB NEWSLETTER) IS BACK!

Eric Olson, WB5ZJQ, is the new editor.

Check out the newest issue on the Bulletin webpage, or click on the image to the left of this notice. This file is in Adobe Reader format (PDF) and is 33kb in size

At the Board Meeting in January the board members elected the new officers for the coming year.

• President is Royce Taylor, KA5OHJ
• Vice President is Chuck Kenworthey, WB5FWI
• Secretary is Lyle Turner, KB5SU
• Treasurer is Don Kirchner, W5DK 
• Directors Stan Stanukinos, KA5IID
• Scott Renwick, WB5ZJI
• Gordon Dial, K5SUZ

Quarter Century Wireless Association
San Antonio Chapter 38

The QCWA monthly meeting will be on Saturday, January 28th at 11am.  The meeting will take place at Sea Island located on Bandera Road just inside Loop 1604. The restaurant is located inside Bandera Shopping Center across te street from H.E.B. The restaurant’s phone number is 651-7000. The meeting starts at 11:00a.m. but many start showing up at 11:00 to order their lunch.

Program will be:

Richard Elder WB5ACN will present this month’s program entitled “Inside Your Cell”. Richard is an AT&T Engineer and is very knowledgeable in electronics and antennas. This program will prove to be a very informative presentation.

It is not necessary to be a member of QCCWA at 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. Thanks for AARO for the use of their repeater.

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

QCWA CW Net takes place on Wednesday at7:00 p.m. local time at 7.036Mhz.

From SARC’s website, as of 04/16/2011, San Antonio Radio Club extends dues-free membership to area active-duty military…

The following provision was made at a recent Board Meeting to SARC Constitution, Article VI – Membership

2. Military Membership in the Club of all active-duty military personnel will be at no cost for membership dues. This condition extends to only active-duty personnel assigned in the metro area and not to any other personnel not activated as active-duty, or to any retired personnel of any military service. This membership status will continue for as long as the active-duty person is assigned in the metro area. Upon reassignment away from the metro area, membership may continue if the individual maintains residence of record in the metro area. Metro area will be defined as Bexar and adjacent counties. [change 4-16-2011]

I don’t know the final figures for attendance at this event last weekend, but the main vendor hall area was packed!  I was there handling the radio talk-in, as I’ve coordinated for the past 15-17 years or so, plus I was a paid vendor in the back corner of the room as well!

It was really nice to see friends from around Texas that I hadn’t seen in ages, or since last year’s event in some cases. 

Here are some photos that I took from this year’s event, using my handy dandy Sprint HTC EVO cell phone…  (love that 8 mega pixel camera feature).

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Location:

Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera, Texas

 When: 7th and 8th of January 2012

Description:

It is that time of year, to start forming the roster and making preparations for the 10th Annual Bandera 100k Ultra-Marathon held at Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera County.

Tejas Trails Communication Group – Sponsored by Hill Country REACT has been the lead team for communications for this event the past 6 years with the assistance of many hams from the San Antonio, Austin and other areas around the state..

This event typically requires 15 – 16 Amateur Radio Operators in a situation that is similar to what an Emergency Communications Operator would experience in a disaster zone. UHF, VHF and Packet communications are involved in this event.

This is a fun event with challenges.  The participants of this event, are of a type you will not encounter at most other events we deal with throughout the year.  Over the years, we have made some lasting friendships!

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Title: 13th Annual Skywarn Recognition Day
Location: Austin/San Antonio National Weather Service Office – New Braunfels Airport
Description: The Austin/San Antonio National Weather Service Office will be participating in the 2011 Skywarn Recognition Day, which will occur from 1800hrs 2 December 2011 to 1800hrs 3 December 2011.

Our station will again be operating for the entire 24 hours time period, utilizing 2m, 440, multiple HF bands, as well as Echolink and IRLP contacts.

This is the 13th year for the program, and I believe will be the 9th year this station has participated. Each year, our station, thanks to the dedication and perseverance of many dedicated hams from throughout the South Central Texas area, has improved on its contact status, and rating in the Skywarn Recognition Day program.

All Licensed Amateur Radio Operators are invited to participate in this fun event.  Yes, Technician class licensees are encouraged to participate, as we do utilize 2m, 440 and the digital modes!

We schedule operators in 2 hours blocks of time, with a maximum of 3 operators per block! Of course, if you choose to, you may request scheduling for multiple blocks, either consecutive or broken. Such as one evening shift and one early morning shift.

Due to limited security, space, and the fact the NWS staff is still operating, we can only have 3 operators, and try to keep the noise level to a minimum. Although, many members of the staff enjoy hearing the goings on, when things are not busy on their end. We have had severe weather events occur, during the SRD.

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