San Antonio Hams

Don’t forget that SARO is holding their quarterly membership meeting this Friday at Martha’s Mexican Restaurant (Corner of Babcock Rd & Huebner) on the NW side of San Antonio. SARO president Erik Olsen reminds members and visitors that they “need not buy a meal or drink” if they choose to attend, but aren’t interested in eating.  Meeting starts at 7:30pm, but feel free to come early if you want to eat prior to the meeting, rather than during the meeting.  Visitors are always welcomed.

Program this time will be fairly short, primarily dealing with past events (like field day) and the two major upcoming public service events that SARO is responsible for coordinating, i.e. the LaVernia Wild West Hammerfest bike ride in September and the BikeMS event in October.  Come learn more about how to volunteer for these events. 

One note:  2009 BikeMS volunteers are being required to submit for a background check, no credit check involved, just criminal background check.  Those volunteers who worked the BPMS150 Houston to Austin ride last April have already had their checks completed and do not need to have it done a second time within 12 months.

More info @ SARO’s website, www.sarepeater.net

The Bexar Operators Group has closed the availability of our late October, three  day “Jump Team Boot Camp” session as we have reached both our limits of registered applicants and  filled a short standby list.

I did turn away a few people, such as a father and son team from the mid-west who wanted to “audit” (just watch) the event. This boot camp is only for the “doer” and all participants are expected to do everything so they can be prepared for any real emergency event.

Some slots were filled by hams from North Texas, Army MARS and hams from the mid-west. There were no hams from South Texas who wanted to attend. I may have to make some minor adjustments to the timing of the event in order to accommodate people coming in from out of state and so the personnel teaching survival skills can be available. 

I probably will have a few of the special 200+ page session guides available after the event, replete with any additions made during the event, for sale to others.

Bob  W2IK – NNN0KSI – NNN0GBY2  STX NAVMC MARS Ecom

Howdy Roosters,  I submitted our Field Day report online to the ARRL yesterday evening.  I will mail in our logs for our backup documentation.

Operating score:    1,605
Bonus points:         670
Total:              2,275

I bet we gave the Super Field Day folks a run for the money!  That’s a helluva score, guys.  You’ll notice under Club Name it says “None”: only clubs operating A, B, or F can operate under the club name – we were operating E.  I don’t really understand the distinction.

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Planning is good, but sometimes even the best planning needs some “tweaking” in the real world.

Being flexible in field contesting, just as in emergency communications deployment, is the best way to get things done.  All ham radio operators need the experience of going out in to the field to do this sort of thing. It makes them better operators.

I tend to over pack my truck when it comes to doing ham radio events, and for good reason: You never know what obstacles you might encounter and how to overcome them. However, this time I had a minimal amount of gear and supplies. This was the height of my “daring”. Never again!

Lesson number one learned: Pack for the worst, pray for the best and be happy with the in between. New hams need to remember this

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Members of the BEXAR OPERATORS BROUP will be running, W5BOG/R in this contest this weekend as a rover station and plan to be in the following grid squares at the following times and on the following bands:

Saturday July 18th

Grid                          Time                     Frequency (SSB)

EL09XA             1 – 2 pm local            144.200 mhz

EL09XA             2 – 3 pm local             50.125 mhz

EL08XX             3:30 – 4:30 local        144.200 mhz

EL08XX              4:30 – 5:30 local        50.125 mhz

EL18AX               6 – 7 pm local          144.200 mhz

EL18AX               7 – 8 pm local            50.125 mhz

EL19AA               8:30 – 9:30 local      144.200 mhz

EL19AA               9:30 – 10:30 local      50.125 mhz

We will drop down to CW on request and as time permits.

Times/Bands/Grid Squares subject to change.

This morning I met Bob W2IK up on the north side of San Antonio at a county park named Bullis Park. This is near Blanco Rd & Borgfield Road, on the back side of Camp Bullis (way outside Loop 1604). The purpose of this meet was to test some of Bob’s new antenna deployment ideas in preparation for the CQ VHF Contest next weekend. He had just received a new aluminum flag pole that would extend from 6′ to 25′ tall in 5 sections.

Bob rigged a mount in the bed of his truck, using an old heavy-duty umbrella stand (emphasis on the “heavy” part of that description) that he had rescued a couple of years ago at a yard sale or side of the road (I forget which), strapped the mounting pipe to that stand, inserted the flag pole, attached the yagi 2 meter beam antenna and coax, then raised it up to the full height. The pole itself only weighs about 10 pounds. He bought it on eBay for about $80 including shipping.

He powered up his rig on battery power and started calling CQ, CQ on 144.200, but at 10am on a Sunday morning, there weren’t all that many folks running SSB on 2 meters. He contacted one ham up in Boerne, TX, but that wasn’t more than 20 miles from his setup location at the park.

Here are some photos….

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Hill Country REACT Team #4804

Visit us at www.HillCountryREACT.org

We would like top take a chance to invite you to attend the next meeting of Hill Country REACT Team #4804 to hear our guest speaker Skip Stem/WB4DAD talk about CW Operations!

Skip is along time CW Operator and has been working CW on the HF bands for a number of years.  Many of us learned our CW years ago to upgrade our licenses but few us have taken to the air and used this skill.  And many new operators, despite the fact that CW is no longer a requirement to hold an amateur license desire to learn this mode.  So come one, come all and find out what CW is all about!

We meet at the Bulverde Fire Station on Cougar Bend in downtown Bulverde at 1900 (7:00 PM) on the fourth Wednesday of the month.  This month that will be July 22nd.

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Title: Chaparral ARC / GCARES
Location: Guadalupe County Emergency Management Office – 415 E. Donegan – Seguin
Description: Monthly meeting of the Chaparral Amateur Radio Club a.k.a. Guadalupe County ARES. All licensed Amateurs and prospective licensees are welcome to attend!
Start Time: 18:00
Date: 2009-09-08

Title: Bandera 100K Ultra-Marathon
Location: Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera, TX
Link out: Click here
Description: Hill Country REACT and San Antonio Region Amateurs have provided Comms support for this event over the last 5 years. There are 5 fixed and a couple of rover positions to be filled over the 24 hr event. Typically 10-14 operators are needed! Safety, Supply and Tracking logistics are involved. For the 2010 event we are adding Packet to facilitate the tracking logistics, and with some technical help, will provide live internet updates to the families and friends of the participants at home! For more information or to volunteer, contact Louis Upton @mailto:k1stx@yahoo.com (210-687-4347) or Gary Tangrady @ k5gst@live.com. Thank You!
Start Date: 2010-01-09
Start Time: 06:30
End Date: 2010-01-10
End Time: 07:30

Title: CARC / GCARES Monthly Meeting
Location: 415 E. Donegan – Seguin
Description: Monthly meeting of the Chaparral Amateur Radio Club a.k.a. Guadalupe County ARES. All licensed Amateurs and prospective licensees are welcome to attend!
Start Time: 18:00
Date: 2009-07-14