San Antonio Hams

I received word that ROOST will be suspending VE Testing for ham radio licenses during the month of August. They also canceled their monthly in-person meetings for both August and September.

I’m presuming this change is due to the uptick in Coronavirus cases in the San Antonio area.

ROOST was the first club to resume testing for new & upgraded ham radio licenses at their clubhouse. Prospective hams, and those wanting to upgrade to General or Extra Class licenses, drove up to 200 miles to attend their VE Test Sessions.

But alas, with the average age of their volunteer examiners being over 60, perhaps this was a wise decision. We don’t need any more silent keys in the area.

If their testing status changes, I will post another article and update this one as well.

Lee N5NTG

As of today, the day before Field Day weekend, almost all of the local clubs have canceled their field day plans and a few of them are planning to use the amended rule that lets the members operate from their homes and congregate the point for a final score.

The San Antonio Radio Club (SARC) is canceling their field day operation, after originally planning to do a smaller version over at Joe Bruno’s place on FM 78. The members have decided that operating from home would be a safer bet.

The Radio Operators of South Texas (ROOST) Club will be holding a normal, but perhaps scaled down, Field Day event at their clubhouse. No camping overnight as they normally have done in past years. Masks are required to be worn for any visitors. Radio equipment such as microphones, headsets, etc., will be sanitized between operators. See their website, www.w5ros.org, for location and details.

Alamo Area Radio Organization (AARO) has decided to cancel their participation in field day. Individual members may be operating from their homes.

Kendall Amateur Radio Society (KARS) has canceled their group Field Day event, but their members will be operating from their homes.

Guadalupe Valley ARC (GVARC) will not be holding a field day operation this year. They are looking for alternate locations to hold VE Testing, but they think their July session may not happen either. They have resumed their Saturday breakfast tradition, but attendance is limited due to the restrictions on how many people the restaurant can hold under the current government orders.

Medina County (McARC) will not be holding a group field day, but their members will be operating from home under the new rules.

The ROOST Ham Club has raised the height of their 146.860 (PL 123) repeater to 115 feet above ground. The repeater is located on the SE side of town in Wilson County. The club holds a weekly net every Thursday evening at 8pm, open to all interested hams.

The club is very interested in getting reports from outlying areas to see if the reach has improved significantly. The repeater is just inside Wilson County up at 115′ and sees Port Aransas South and heard reports from Blanco going north so far. – Dale

Larry Stewart
KG5RVR

I just learned that the annual Fourth of July parade up at Startzville, on the south side of Canyon Lake, has been canceled for 2020 as a casualty to the coronavirus scare. While there may be some locals who decorate their vehicles and just happen to spontaneously cruise back and forth around the area, there will be no organize parade.

The word I’m getting from the different clubs around the Ssn Antonio metro area, is that in compliance with the various emergency health declarations, all in-person club meetings and test sessions have been canceled.

Several clubs are experimenting with using various forms of Teleconference services, such as Freeteleconferences.com, Skype, or Zoom. One group was overheard suggesting they all get on their club repeater and hold a net.

<gasp!> What will they think of next?

As of this morning, I’ve been told by different VE groups that they will be unable to hold test sessions until the ban on social gatherings (greater than 10) has been lifted.

While ROOST holds their exams at their own clubhouse, they posted on Facebook this morning that they are suspending their 1st & 3rd Saturday VE exams for the time being.

SARC holds theirs on the 4th Saturday in even numbered months, so perhaps the crisis will be over before the end of April?

AARO holds theirs the 3rd Saturday of odd numbered months, which would have been today, March 21st.

GVARC holds quarterly exams in New Braunfels, but the facility normally used has been placed on usage restrictions, which prevents them from using it.

KARS normally offers test sessions after their monthly meetings, but since they can’t hold their meetings in-person, no exam sessions will be possible.

As of 3/15, 2 clubs have announced that their membership meetings normally held on the third Tuesday each month, will be canceled or changed to Teleconference (using FreeTeleconference.com).

South Texas DX Contest Club has canceled their March 17th meeting that is normally held at Bobby J’s Hamburger restaurant in Helotes, TX.

Hill Country REACT Team normally meets on the third Tuesday at the Methodist Stone Oak Hospital on Sonterra & Hardy Oak, in the cafeteria. They always have teleconferencing set up for those members who cannot attend in person. But due to the Hospital implementing new restrictions on unnecessary / non-critical access into their building, the entire meeting will be held by Teleconference. Contact info@hillcountryreact.org for more details.

I’ve not been advised of any other cancellations by area clubs, but please use reasonable caution before attending any such gatherings. If you aren’t healthy or fall into the age brackets most affected by this virus, think about your options before going. We want all of our aging hams to stay with us for as long as possible and no, I did not just invite all of you to come live with me. Lol

The March 5th meeting will be at the Boerne Police Station located at 124 Old San Antonio Rd in Boerne. 

The EMS building will be in use for the next 5 months with equipment setup for a paramedic class. 

We will be meeting at the Boerne PD through July and then back to the EMS Building in August.  Sorry for the inconvenience, but after all it is an EMS building. Meeting is from 7 pm to 9 pm. 

Enter through the front door of the police department and there will be an open door to the right into the training room.  Please do not show up too early as the doors will not be open.

See ya’ll Thursday night. 

Rod K9ROD

Reminder: Radio Fiesta is 2 days this year!

When:

• Friday, 10 January, 1pm to 5pm,
• Saturday, 11 January, 8am-2pm

Where:

Shertz Civic Center, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, TX 78154

View Event

Organizer: San Antonio Radio Club. See www.w5sc.org for more details.

Description: We are opening the doors from on Friday at 7:00 am to 12:00 pm for setup. and Doors open for customers at 1:00 pm till 5:00 pm.

On Saturday setup from 7:00 am to 8:00 am doors open for customers at 8:00 am till 2:00 pm at the Main Hall.

VE Testing starts at 1:30pm. RSVP requested at hamtest@gmail.com, but walk-ins are welcome. ARRL Test fee is $15. Usual drill, bring copies of your Photo ID and current license (if upgrading). Do you know your FCC FRN number? Send us an email to get more info.

Tables and tickets are being sold now through Eventbrite.

www.eventbrite.com/e/sarc-radio-fiesta-tickets-64629584828

This Saturday, November 9th, SARC members will be able to celebrate the club’s Centennial in true radio fashion. This will be the forth and last Special Event operations during 2019.

We will be using the new station at San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology. http://samsat.org/

The station is set up in an office space at the Museum, and is supplied with equipment from the Museum’s warehouse and some donations from SARC members.

The Special Event day will proceed in three parts:

1. Setup, done by a volunteer team headed by Joe Bruno W5AUQ, which will begin at 7:45 AM at the storage facility. The setup team will move the club’s tower, beam, and rotator to SAMSAT on the club’s trailer. They will then set up the antenna system, connect it, and test it for proper operation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just wanted to touch base to see if anybody was interested in helping out with the Universal City Veterans Day Parade in coming up on Saturday, November 2nd.
Hams & other volunteers are needed to work with the UCPD in moving the cones / barricades to block off traffic onto Pat Booker Road when the parade is about to begin.

Law enforcement handles the cross traffic and volunteers handle parking lot entrances and side streets.
We’ll meet up at 9am inside UCPD headquarters in the Universal City Hall on Universal City Boulevard, just off of Pat Booker. Note this is a 30.06 & 30.07 posted building. <hint>
Ironically enough, the police department will furnish free donuts, coffee and juice for the volunteers.
Traffic vests are recommended, but the Police will have some “one size fits some” orange vests. Our experience has been that you get hassled less while wearing a vest.
We’ll have some commercial HT radios available for the non-hams and will be serting up a temp repeater for those radios.

We get our assignments and move out onto Pat Booker Road and get ready to deploy the barricades a little after 10 when they tell us to.

The parade kicks off at 11 a.m. and we’re generally done by no later than 12:30.

Contact me direct at 210-771-7075 (send text msg) or via email at info@sanantoniohams.org

Lee Besing, N5NTG