San Antonio Hams

October 17th was the date of the 15th anniversary celebration at the Great Northwest Branch Library, one of many branches that is part of the San Antonio Public Library system.  This library is located off of Grissom Road, near Culebra & Tezel Rd.  

Because this branch is the site of VE Test Sessions every other month by Pat AD5BR, representing the SARC VE Team, the head librarian asked Lee N5NTG to put on a demonstration Ham Radio Station as part of their celebration.  SARC was already committed to being at JOTA over at McGimsey Scout Park in Castle Hills, so Hill Country REACT agreed to sponsor the station at this event.

Below are two videos that I made up from the raw footage and photos taken during the event. 

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From ARRL listing of Special Events Station Operations:   

On Saturday, October 10th, I made the not so short trip west on Hwy 90 to the town of DeHanis, Texas, looking for a bunch of crazy guys called ham radio operators who decided to hold a combination “field day” and “picnic” in the middle of the highway.   

Medina County Amateur Radio Club has a small (when compared to some SA clubs) but very active core group of ham radio operators, supporting 2 repeaters about 30-40 miles west of San Antonio.  One repeater is in Castroville, the other a few more miles west near Hondo.   They provide emergency communications support to their communities, plus public service communications for events like bike-a-thons, etc.

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One View of the 2009 BikeMS: Ride to the River

By Milton Johnson – N5HMJ

The structure of the BikeMS Amateur Radio volunteers has changed over the last two years, without really changing.  What does that mean?  

In 2008, the final year of the Bike to the Beach, we had 81 Amateur Radio Volunteers not counting the Motor Marshalls who have their own organizational structure.  This year we had 64 volunteers.  Any school of management will tell you that a group that big is too large to effectively manage. 

Fortunately, the group has informally functioned around teams, and beginning last year we formalized the teams with team leaders which this year broke down as follows:

• Breakpoint Team: Bob Rodriguez-K5AUW;
• Net Control Team: Shane O’Neal-NS5D;
• Safety Team: Curtis Rabenaldt-N5QPN;
• Medical Team: Neil Martin-WA5FSR;
• Officials & Logistics Team: Alfred Horn-KG5QW;
• SAG Team: Gordon Dial-K5SUZ and Milton Johnson-N5HMJ. 

Coordinating and organizing these teams was the task of KG5QW, K5SUZ and N5HMJ. 

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Some of the crazier hams like to be Motorcycle Marshals on the BikeMS events, and Don W5DK, found a way to mount a camera on his helmet while he rode his Honda Goldwing during the event.  This 5 1/2 minute bit of footage was taken during the storm toward the end of the course on Saturday.   You can see the rain coming down hitting him and the camera, and see the lightening strikes zapping the camera.   The first minute or so has no sound, but the rest of it has the sound of the rain and motorcycle noise.

Thanks Don and the rest of the M&M’s for being out there with us making the event safer for all the participants!

Here is Don’s original version…

…and here is the version I “fixed up” for him afterward…

Here is the video you’ve all be waiting for. The video is about 9 minutes in length, with some narration and sound tracks left untouched.  Some titles added to explain what is going on, or to inform the viewer about all the work the ham radio operators are doing.   Would have liked to have included some photos or video of the ground to air lightening strikes at the Finish line, but we’re working with what I shot myself.

I inserted only a few still photos in the video, but not many, so if you want to see the photos, please visit the earlier posting made to this blog.  I’m willing to post more photos taken by other hams, if they send them to me.  <hint, hint>

Here is the video, courtesy of YouTube.com where it is hosted.

[

2009 ALAMO RIDE to the RIVER
MY PERSONAL THANKS

The first BikeMS: Ride to the River is over and it was quite the event.  As you all know, Saturday started with rain and it continued all day.  The weather deteriorated all day forcing a multitude of changes such as the closure of the River Road Century Extension, the move of the Lunch location, the move of Breakpoint 4, and the re-routing of the course into New Braunfels. 

All of these major changes were forced after the start of the ride and all of them were made very smoothly.  These changes went smoothly in no small part to you, the Amateur Radio operators.  You reported to your locations on-time and prepared to provide communications. 

 The flexibility of the Amateur Radio community is it’s hallmark and you proved that again this weekend.  My thanks to the Breakpoint Operators, the Shadows for the officials, the medical team and safety team.  By providing essential communications under adverse conditions you helped to make this ride both successful and safe.

 As Saturday’s weather continued to worsen with extreme rain, fog and ground lighting strikes, the ride was cut short.  The SAG and Motor Marshal Teams were fantastic, getting hundreds of riders off the course in these extreme conditions.  Read the rest of this entry »

As of 12:36 p.m. Saturday September 26, 2009, Chaparral Amateur Radio Club aka Guadalupe County ARES would like to announce the re-birth of the .76 repeater!

As many know, the .76 in Seguin has a special place in history, and is close to the hearts of many in the area. It was important to many, that this repeater pair stay with CARC and in Seguin.

Special Thanks go to Jeremy Davenport – KE5ELI, Don Kirchner – W5DK, and David Floyd – WD5IEH for their contributions in time, equipment and expertise completing the project.

Over the last several months, this group of dedicated Amateurs has been working on this project, and today, the 146.76 was brought back to life, better than ever. The overall goal, upon installation of the new antenna (still 6 weeks from delivery) and some minor tweaks, is to have a strong and reliable wide area coverage repeater, that can be enjoyed by all, and provide valuable communications links during public service and disaster events!

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This morning, a few dozen hams gathered at the American Red Cross HQ on the east side of San Antonio, TX, to get their briefing, packets and their free t-shirt, for next weekend’s BikeMS Valero Alamo Ride To The River.  Most of those who missed the briefing, will be given their materials when they pick up their SAG vans or on site at their assignment the day of the event from Milton (SAG 5) N5HMJ.

Here are a few photos taken this morning….

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News flash!

SARC VEs get to hit the snooze alarm a few more times!

In case you haven’t heard, our city leaders thought the library hours needed to be changed. As of October 1, the Great Northwest Library will be opening on Saturdays at 10 AM. Since we don’t want to start the test session in the parking lot, we’ll need to change the SARC VE session time to start at 10 AM when the library doors open. 🙂

Thanks for those of you who have been helping us, for your continued service at our test sessions. If you’d like to help at any of upcoming sessions (especially the January one), let me know!

Our next VE sessions will be:

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