San Antonio Hams

The picture to the right was taken in March of this year when former President George W. Bush met up with Bob Hejl, W2IK, while the former President was touring the “Center For The Intrepid” where W2IK works.

The Center For The Intrepid is part of the BAMC military hospital complex in San Antonio where “Wounded Warriors” have physical therapy and are outfitted with the latest in prosthetic limbs.  

W2IK explained to Bush that the last time he had seen him was when he was doing emergency communications work at “Ground Zero” during the World Trade Center Disaster in 2001. After hearing that, Bush slapped him on the back and said : “God Bless you for being there. It’s an honor to shake your hand.”

After some small talk, such as W2IK explaining how he moved down to Texas in 2002, married a “good Texas woman” (Krissy, KD5YTN)  and how he knew it was a Texas residency requirement to root for a Texas football team, the former President finished his building tour.

 The photo below was taken today while I was testing the output of my solar panels that I’ll be using for the W5BOG (Bexar Operators Group) Field Day up at Lost Maples State Park. We will be setting up in the afternoon on Friday, June 26th so as to also operate during a Navy-Marine Corps MARS traffic net that evening. Field Day starts on Saturday, June 27th and runs through noon Sunday, June 28th. It is a 24 hour event, but we’ll be doing other ham-related things, including experiments, while we are there.

Since the duty cycle of SSB is much less than FM (25% vs 100%),  they’ll be able to easily keep my six banks of marine deep cycle batteries charged.

 Combine this system and my 200 watt wind turbine unit (pix shows three blades before I added three more to make it much more efficient) will mean plenty of power for at least two SSB stations to operate. This setup will also be used for my jump team programs. I may even skip bringing any of my gas generators with me to my jump team boot camps. Anyone who wishes to join us at Lost Maples is free to do so. Bring a sleeping bag (we provide the tent) and whatever personal items you wish. (check out the park  and how to get there by clicking on the red “Lost Maples State Park” title above)  All power, including the LED lighting system, will be furnished using either battery charged solar energy or wind energy. Cooking will be accomplished using propane stoves. This will be a non-polluting  “GREEN” power operation. Antennas won’t be commerically made, but will be built “on the spot” as if deploying under emergency conditions. Come and learn how to operate during a real emergency situation where all you have is what’s brought to the site. Learn about site survey and set up from scratch, setting up and using solar and wind turbine power, duty cycles of equipment, propagation (how it works for or against you) and basic contesting skills from someone who has earned several operating awards and deployed emergency stations many times using survival skills acquired over the past 35 years. Since we are out in the field, I will even give mini-lessons on subjects such as how to filter “local water” using a 4- step filter system, of my own design, which ecom workers may need if deployed to a rustic area and run out of bottled water.   Learn alot and have a lot of fun! If you plan on coming, email me at:   alonestaryank@aol.com    

Bob  W2IK – W5BOG – NNN0KSI – NNN0BGY2  MARS Ecom

by Shane O’Neal NS5D

Field Day 2009 is nearly upon us, and preparations are underway to make this the largest, most successful Field Day event in San Antonio’s history. This is thanks to the participation of AARO, SARC, ROOST, SARO, Hill Country REACT, QCWA and many other organizations and individuals, operating jointly under the banner of Bexar County ARES.

Field Day 2009 is expected to draw record numbers of operators and will feature many different bands and modes of operation, including PHONE, CW, SSB, PSK-31, FM and ATV as a Class “A” station. The total number of transmitters to be operated has yet to be determined, but will number at least six.

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Before I moved from Long Island to Texas, I had the privilege of doing something very rare. While a member of the Suffolk County Radio Club, I had the honor of actually operating from an antique, time worn, 10 foot by 10 foot wooden “shack”.

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Hill Country REACT Meeting – May 27 @ 7pm

Come one, Come all!
Join the festivities!
Find out all about this PSK 31 Stuff!

Bob Rodriguez/K5AUW (photo on right)

Bob Rod, a local Guru will be speaking about PSK 31 in the first of a new series of speakers at the next REACT meeting!

REACT is largely committed to Public Service Events as you may already know but this year we are expanding our activities to include some more of the fun stuff. Later this year we will be having a FOX Hunt, a great activity for the old timers and a fantastic learning experience for the newcomers! And this summer we are planning on having a special test session, a one time deal, in the middle of the week up in Bulverde, to help new people and those already licensed either get licensed or upgraded.

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This is NOT a simple, typical “field day”operation. This IS a serious over-night “real day – real deal” learning session.

A much shortened version of my full 3 day Jump Team Boot Camp will be offered ONLY IF there are enough interested hams in this area.

Note: My full 3-day boot-camp is still being held in late October but it’s been requested that I also hold a simpler one. We will go through the same basic steps needed to set up and run a complete emergency communications complex at a location where nothing would be standing.

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We’ve just learned the bad news that Denny Findley KD5YRR has passed away.  Denny suffered a heart attack and was declared deceased at 4pm on Friday, May 8th.  

Denny  was best known for his laugh, generous spirit, distinctive voice on the radio, driving a convertible and smoking cigars out on the back patio of his house while talking on the AARO radio nets.  

He held a general class ham license, and was a member of AARO.  His “day job” was providing chaplain services at various prisons.

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Title: Field Nic This Saturday May 9th US Hwy 90 West of D’Hanis
Location: US Hwy 90 Rest Area just West of D’Hanis, TX
Link out: Click here

Description: JOIN US for a “Field Nic” this Saturday May 9 from 11am ’til 4pm at the US Hwy 90 Rest Area just West of D’Hanis, TX Hosted by the Medina County Amateur Radio Club. Come on out and see K5AUW Bob Rod\’s fully portable Emergency Amateur Radio station. Bring a lawn chair, some sandwiches, soft drinks, and enjoy the HAM fellowship.

Walter Hock, KK5LO

p.s. “Field Nic” is a mini Field Day set up.
Start Time: 11:00
Date: 2009-05-09
End Time: 16:00

One of the reasons some hams don’t wish to participate in amateur radio contests is that they believe they can never win a top spot using simple equipment against thousands of stations.

There are several ways to answer this.

One, you aren’t competing against the big stations in most contests as they usually break down the entries in to level playing fields such as entries for high and low power levels, etc.

Second, you should be thinking of your own contest operation as a challenge to yourself and not to others, to see how well you can do based upon the set up you have and your choice of bands based on propagation.

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Title: 5k Run For The Hills
Location: Bulverde Senior Citizens Center
Description: 5k Run to benefit the Bulverde Senior Citizens Center. Ham radio support coordinated by Hill County REACT. Contact Gary K5GST – k5gst@live.com
Start Time: 8:00
Date: 2009-04-27
End Time: 11:00