San Antonio Hams

Preparation requires each communicator to develop a cache of supplies to help them in fulfilling their communications duties.

There are various websites you can rely on as basic lists in building your “go bag” of supplies. I realize that most of you are on limited budgets regarding the purchase of additional rigs or other related equipment, so improve on what you have with the addition of a better antenna system and upgraded power sources. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to “run home” to get something you’ve forgotten.

There are NO second chances with emergency communications during a hurricane.

 Reminders –

Time to test and inspect all your equipment. Replace weak re-chargable batteries and check out all cables for wear or fraying. Make some test transmissions to see how well your equipment will “hit” the various local repeaters that are used during emergencies and put them in your radio’s memory bank. Perhaps it’s time to buy that deep-cycle marine battery as you might need it to power your mobile rig indoors during a power failure. (Don’t forget that emergency VHF antenna system as mentioned above)

Hopefully you are a member of some emergency communications group in your area. Time to attend meetings and on-air lessons in earnest. Ask questions no matter how trivial you think they are because others will probably benefit from the answers. If your group is smart, they’ll have a small drill or two. Keep your group updated on any new gear (radios, antennas, etc) which would make your deployment more valuable to your team.

Keep on your toes when a developing storm starts it’s march across the Atlantic. Follow the path and look at projected paths at: WEATHER UNDERGROUND website. It’s a good source of info during hurricane season.

PREPARE your family for the hurricane season.  Train your family members and build a “home bag” so they won’t have to do without should severe weather occur in your area.

Make sure that if a hurricane is within 300 miles of your home that you keep all your vehicles’ gas tanks “topped off” and buy extra, extra batteries for any flashlights used by your family. At the same time, be sure to monitor your EmComm group’s repeater frequency for updates or possible “call outs”. Make sure that you also have “wide-range” repeater frequencies in you rig’s memory. If you have a General or above license, try to have a working, portable HF station which also includes an NVIS antenna system for reliable short-range HF communications.

Keep every battery charged and have all equipment gathered and ready.

Be an active member in your EmComm groups activities so you can all be “on the same page”. Hopefully, your emergency communications group has in place an honest, comprehensive emergency plan for it’s operators and has trained it’s members with something more than “table-top” drills. FIELD DAY IS NOT ENOUGH.

Due to the normal restaurant being closed for Good Friday after 3pm, the board has decided to postpone the date of  tonight’s meeting until next Friday, April 29th, at 7:30pm.   We’ve put a sign on the restaurant door, with permission, to advise any members who might not have received (or read) their email notice sent out this afternoon.

– Royce Taylor, President, KA5OHJ

Just got the heads up from Andrew Watson, president of Alamo Area Radio Organization, that his club has locked in the date of  Saturday, April 9, 2011, at Incarnet Word University.

We (AARO) have co-sponsored nine one-day CRASH REVIEW courses with the Southwest Research Corporation’s ham radio club.  We have received confirmation on room scheduling at the Univ. of the Incarnate Word for Saturday, 9 April 2011. 

The anticipated cost will be $50, which includes a continental breakfast, a box lunch from Jason’s Deli, and $15 fee for the test that goes to the American Radio Relay League and is filed with the Federal Communications Commission.

Download the flyer here…  TechFlyer_040911wUIWmap

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On January 23rd at 1600 UTC, W5BOG, the Bexar Operators Group, will go on the road (operating ROVER) during the 2011 ARRL January VHF SweepStakes. We will attempt to cover a few rare grid squares during this operation: EM00, RT 41 North Of Leakey, DL99, RT 55 South of Rocksprings, EL 08, La Pryor, DL98, West of La Pryor on RT 57, and DM90 at Rocksprings with a quick stop at EL09 at the “look out” North of Leakey. (Grid square operation in the following order but subject to change especially if we get any pileups) We will be operating on both 6 meter (horz. loop) and 2 meter (horz. beam) SSB.:  EL09 (1600 utc), EM00 (1730 utc), DM90 (1930 utc), DL99 (2100 utc), DL98 (2300 utc),  and EL08 (0030 utc).  Anyone who wishes to join us may do so by emailing: alonestaryank@aol.com   See what it’s like to operate vhf rover and hand out QSOs from rare grid squares.

Where: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera County Texas

When:  January 8 and 9th, 2011

What:  Tejas Trails – Bandera 100k Ultra Marathon

Start: 0700 hrs Saturday, the 8th

Finish: 0700 hrs Sunday, the 9th (radio operations typically stand down at 0430 hrs, when the last aid station closes down)

The event is three races in one, a 25k, 50k and 100k that incorporates nearly every trail on the 5400 acres of Hill Country State Natural Area. This is a unique situation to train and test EmComm abilities in a remote environment, provide a service, as well as enjoy the Texas Hill Country!

Duties:  This is a 24 hour all weather event! Amateur operators man the Aid Stations and duties are basically like any other bike or running event (BP150, MS150, River Safari, etc), relaying supply needs, runner counts and times, and coordinating the Horse Patrol with Safety and SAR operations!  Operators support Race Control, Aid Stations and the HCSNAP Coordinated Horse Patrol! Operators will stay in constant contact with the Aid Station Captain and/or Race Recorder, in order to keep the Database up-to-date.

Needed:  We need 10 or so licensed Amateurs to assist with this event. The more the merrier! Minimum 50 watt dual band portable/mobile EmComm type set-ups required in case we need to go simplex, if the repeater fails to produce.  Most communications will be done with 5 watts or so through the hilltop repeater, but just in case of a catastrophic failure of the repeater, we can go to simplex. All the Aid stations allow close proximity of your vehicle, so proper crossbanding can be utilized!

Even if you can only help out for a part of the event, we can still use you!

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About 21  radio operators gathered at the Mountain Valley Middle School in Sattler, Texas (just east of Canyon Lake) to help organize the staging area for the 2010 Annual Canyon Lake Christmas Parade at 8am Saturday morning, December 11, 2010.

Hill Country REACT has been organizing this event for more years than we can remember, 14+ years at least.   For the past few years, we’ve been lucky to get help from neighboring ham clubs, and this year was no different.  In addition to members from our own team, we also had volunteers from Travis County REACT (Austin), HC Hams (Hayes / Caldwell), and Guadalupe Valley ARC (GVARC – New Braunfels). Not shown in photo is photographer Lee N5NTG.

Here is a list of radio operators working the event…

• Ray McLeaird            HC REACT
• Charlie Land              HC REACT
• Lee Besing                HC REACT
• David Besing             HC REACT
• Gary Tangrady           HC REACT
• Charles Manley III     HC REACT
• Barbara Manley          HC REACT
• Wade Bolling             HC REACT
• Wade Martyn             HC REACT
• Mike Pérez                HC REACT
• “Skipp” Stem             GVARC
• Samuel Stem            GVARC
• Richard Graham       GVARC
• Chuck Donohoe       GVARC
• Jake Creamer          HCARC/ HC REACT
• Rick Coleman          HCARC
• Bernard Ederer        HCARC
• Dianne Shirey          HCARC
• Bob Shirey               HCARC
• Roger Wines and  4 other Travis County REACT members

This year the parade staging area was changed, reversed from previous years.  The new layout worked much better for us, giving us more room to stretch out the entries.  We had nearly 60 entries this year, and the Shriners counted as just one entry, so you can guess how big it really was.    The parade route was more than 2 miles, starting on the northside of  Sattler, ending on the south end.  Traffic was snarled for more than an hour and a half while the parade was on the main route thru town.

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An amateur radio operator from Australia, VK4ION, recently posted on her website a story about reading W2IK’s Emergency NVIS antenna construction plans and with some adaptation building her own portable ENVIS antenna system for emergency communications. Her website, VK4ION Emergency N.V.I.S. antenna, shows in detail, with many pictures, her construction of this antenna along with NVIS theories on how low antennas are perfect for local (under 400 mile) emergency communications. A photo of her ENVIS antenna is shown below.

Her report included comments such as when it was used during their “field day” operation it was the “hit of the show”. On her website is also a link to W2IK’s 4 part website on building the original antenna including the adapter for 80 meter and MARS operation. This antenna is the only NVIS antenna posted in the NAVMC MARS websites.

Bob W2IK

Due to lack of response, W2IK and the Bexar Operators Group (W5BOG) have decided to cancel the 2011 Jump Team Boot Camp  for emergency communicators. It takes a great deal of lead time and planning to run this program, reserve the wildlife refuge area, line up the two Army survival specialists, check out several tons of jump team gear, etc. With no inquiries, usually by now the reservation list would be almost full, we can only assume no one feels this training is needed so we will also retire from offering it in the future.

Bob  W2IK

2010 National Weather Service
Skywarn Recognition Day
December 4, 2009 (Friday Night – Saturday)
0000-2400 UTC

SKYWARN Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League. It celebrates the contributions that volunteer SKYWARN radio operators make to the National Weather Service. During the day SKYWARN operators visit NWS offices and contact other radio operators across the world.

The National Weather Service Austin-San Antonio will again be a part of this year’s Skywarn Recognition Day event. If you wish to be a part of the Austin-San Antonio effort, contact Louis Upton – K5STX who will be spearheading the schedule.  Please contact him at: k5stx@arrl.net

In other areas of the country, check with your local National Weather Service office to see if they are participating in this event or having an “open house”. It is not a contest, but rather an operating event. Amateur radio operators will be on the air from National Weather Service offices and from their home stations as well. Depending upon how many NWS stations a ham operator contacts they will be given certificates of varying levels.
The certificate (shown to the left) was given to W2IK in 2006 for contacting over 40 different NWS stations all across the US. Be a part of this fun event by either visiting your local NWS or by making contacts with as many stations as you can.

For updated information concerning this event, just go to:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/hamradio/

At this site, you can get a list of participating NWS offices, their call signs, and other useful information. Check this site often as additional participating offices will be listed as the day approaches. I hope you’ll join in on the fun and learn more about the National Weather Service and the function Skywarn plays in keeping the country safe during severe weather conditions.

Last year, we made 360 contacts from our site which was a major increase from previous years. This year, we want to break that record. Contact Louis to join us or go on the air from your home station to work us.