San Antonio Hams

“And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make”
The Beatles

Please forgive me for a little bit of nostalgia by starting off this e-mail with Beatle Lyrics. But they are very apropos for this e-mail. The lyrics simply state that what you get out of something equates to what you put into it.  Me myself and I have personally discovered what I put into Amateur Radio equates to me getting even more out of it.

For almost all of us starting off in Amateur Radio we can find some one to thank for assisting us with this wonderful hobby. For me originally it was the 70 year old man who seemed older than the hills to my 10 year old mind, but never before or since had I met anyone with so much patience in helping a very annoying little neighbor kid. We became introduced twice originally once as I was delivering papers on my route and one summer afternoon….I saw him in the yard and asked him what those antennas were for {he had what seemed to me at the time a 500ft tower with dozens of antennas}, he showed me his shack, his wife offered cookies and lemonade and I proceeded to ask 40 million questions {and yes the rest of the papers on my route that evening were very late}.

That fateful day, followed by science class on Marconni and a ready source of old model T-Spark coils…..and a friend as insane as me….had us building crude versions of spark gap transmitters and using the AM radio as our receiver. It never occurred to us we were destroying anyone in a 5 mile radius….ability to listen to the towns only station and watch television {those were the days when moms blender and a VW beetle would do the same}. Once again introductions were made to the kindly gentleman down the road and this time in made it his goal to get me on the air properly, I think he felt I needed focus for that energy.  Read the rest of this entry »

Local Time: 1800 hrs Friday December 5th to 1800 hrs Saturday December 6th, 2014

This annual event is always the first Friday / Saturday of December each year.  Ham Operators, operating from their local National Weather Service Offices around the country, are trying to contact as many other NWS offices as possible during a 24 hour period that runs from 6pm CDT Friday until 6pm CDT Saturday.  Modes used include VHF/UHF,HF, Internet Enhanced (EchoLink, and IRLP) and various digital modes..

Access is limited at the local NWS office due to space constraints and the fact that the meteorologists are actively working in the same room, so the noise level and disruption factor is a concern.

Operators are scheduled to work in groups of no more than 3 in multiples of 2 hour shifts!

All classes of licensed Amateur Radio Operators are encouraged to participate.  This is a great opportunity for Technician class operators to get some HF time in the early morning shifts with a General or Extra class on the roster!

Visitors are limited to those who RSVP before the event! No drop in visitors!  Please, if you would like to come by just to visit, you MUST be on the roster!

To volunteer for a 2 hour shift or more, Contact event coordinator Louis – K5STX at k5stx@k5stx.net or k5stx@hillcountryreact.org!  Sign up early, the based slots go fast!

Location:

Hill Country State Natural Area – Bandera, Texas

When:  10th and 11th of January 2015

Description: 

It is that time of year, to start marking your calendars and making preparations for the 13th Annual Bandera 100k Ultra-Marathon held at Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera County.

Tejas Trails Communication Group – Coordinated by Hill Country REACT and supported by Highland Lakes Amateur Radio Club, Chaparral Amateur Radio Club, Crew 317 and many dedicated Amateur Radio Operators from San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Kerrville and other locations throughout the state, have supported and provided communications for this event the past 10 years.

This event typically requires 15 – 16 Amateur Radio Operators in a situation that is similar to what an Emergency Communications Operator would experience in a disaster zone. Remote operations little to no permanent infrastructure.Bring it, work it, enjoy it!
UHF, VHF and Packet communications are involved in this event. And with some hard work between now and then, possibly HSMM-Mesh!

This is a fun event with challenges. The participants of this event, are of a type you will not encounter at most other events we deal with throughout the year. Over the years, we have made some lasting friendships among the event management, participants and operators that come out to help. This is one event, where your hard work and efforts are truly recognized and appreciated from top to bottom.

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UC Parade

Date: 01 November 2014 – Important, they moved the parade up one week this year due to multiple large events around the area on the following weekend.

Title: Universal City Veterans Day Parade

Location: Univeral City, Texas
Description: For more years than we can count, HIll Country REACT and radio operators around the region have provided support for this Patriotic Event.

Ham Radio Operators provide a valuable service during this event by assisting the Universal City Police Department in shutting down the parade route (Pat Booker Rd.) in preparation of the parade.

We meet at the U.C.P.D. in the morning for a briefing and assignments (City Hall is located on Universal City Blvd). After that we proceed to our assigned stations and await the call to setup our barricades.

FREE DONUTS, COFFEE, ORANGE JUICE, and maybe even some milk, courtesy of UCPD.

During the parade, we try to make sure no vehicles enter the route that could disrupt the parade. Afterwards, we meet for  lunch at a nearby Mexican Restaurant on Pat Booker Road and visit for a bit.

All licensed radio operators are invited to participate.
For more information of to be added to the roster of volunteers for this event, contact Lee Besing – N5NTG – Event IC
Start Time: 08:30
Date: 2014-11-01
End Time: 12:00

Fellow hams:

My name is John Ralston, K0RVB, Net manager for the San Antonio Area Rainfall Net. At the risk of sounding dramatic, I send you the following official communication.

It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that Sunday, July 13^th, 2014, will be the last day for the rainfall net.  This decision did not come easily, was not made quickly and involved a great deal of communication with the National Weather Service and board members of the net’s sponsor, the San Antonio Radio Club.

The decision to end the net was based solely on our data presentation to the NWS and how they receive their main data stream for daily rainfall amounts. Their main source of receiving daily, timely rainfall data is from CoCoRaHs, a web based reporting model, giving the NWS real time data on a 24 hr model from 8a to 8a.

I encourage each of you to sign up with CoCoRaHs, at http://www.cocorahs.org/ if you have not already done so. Our rainfall reports can still be utilized by the NWS by reporting through the website.

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Field Day is coming up soon, on June 28-29th, so here are a few thoughts (and facts) as you plan your group’s operation.

A FEW TIPS FOR ANY FIELD DAY OPERATION – I’ve posted some of this before but I think they should be repeated. (I’ve updated them a bit for 2014) 1. When setting up antennas within close proximity: If you are using wire antennas such as dipoles, and they run parallel to each other there will be interference on your HF operating bands in the form of hash so arrange them at right angles to each other and at slightly different heights.

If you use wire antennas such as dipoles, try to stay away from trap dipoles and use full length antennas instead. You may also wish to run your dipoles in different configurations such as have one as an “inverted V” and another as a sloper, etc. An antenna cut to the exact band you are using will decrease interference to and from other bands.

Do not compromise by using trap or “all band” antennas. (The only efficient “all band antennas” are a log periodic and a “fan dipole” NOT a “folded dipole” or others that claim they use “balancing resistors” as this only wastes RF energy in the form of heat.) With others you may make a few contacts, but they are junk and will cause harmonic radiation. Do not fall for any ads claiming “miracle antennas”.

Don’t waste your watts! Dedicated operating needs the right antenna. Wasted energy on trap antennas (some of your RF energy is used up in the form of heat) and that equals an inefficient radiator, especially as you go lower in frequency. On HF, try not to use vertical antennas as they receive too much man-made noise from sources such as generators, street lamps, etc.

Using a Yagi style antenna for Field Day may look impressive, but be careful that the “focused energy” doesn’t interfere with other operations. Know as well, that transmitting focused energy may be all well and good, but it, in receiving signals it can also make your station “deaf” from directions so you may have to waste time turning the beam…. is it worth it? —–  READ ON, THERE’S LOTS MORE INFO! —-

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NEW FUSION DIGITAL REPEATER SYSTEM IS NOW ON THE AIR – 443.025 PL 82.5
by Greg Lewis, N5XO

This repeater will replace the current UHF repeater (on same frequency) running at the American Red Cross HQ on East Houston Street & Commerce, near IH-10, on the east side of San Antonio, Texas.

GREAT news is that a 2 Meter VHF version of the Fusion System is planned for mid-summer 2014 “on the air” date.

Yaesu’s entry into the Digital Market is fantastic. Fusion is every thing that D-Star is not. The best part is the repeater supports both Analog, Wide Digital {fantastic audio} Narrow Voice and The Fusion repeater will auto switch between modes allowing all parties to communicate.  Data. Full GPS tracking and very soon it will be linked to a national Fusion Network.

We recommend that you research online for more information on Yaesu’s new Fusion radio system.

• Here is one discussion on Eham.net  http://www.eham.net/articles/30918.
• There is also a  Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YaesuSystemFusion/

Important Operating Notes:

• The Repeater is currently running low power until we can replace the Duplexers. Our current duplexers were limited in power, N5XO have the replacement duplexers and will try to tune them and get them on the air ASAP allowing us to turn the repeater to full power.
• Because this repeater operates Analog and Digital, we recommend Analog users set not only the PL Tone of 82.5 but your Squelch tone as well to 82.5  This will eliminate RF HASH.

IF YOU HAVE ONE OF THE NEW YAESU DIGITAL RADIO’S

• FT-400DR Mobile rig
• FT1-DR HT

Hop on over to our upgrading Repeater and give your rig a work out.

Members of SARO and other hams helped out again at the annual Battle of the Bands Festival, sponsored by the Battle of Flowers Parade organization.   SARO was the coordinating club for communication shadows at this event.

The following 7 hams worked this event…

• Joe Bruno, W5AUQ – Announcer Shadow
• Eric Olson, WB5ZJQ – Dignitary Entrance Shadow
• Sharon Olson, KB5KZD – Band Starter Shadow
• Wendell Peters, AA5VN – Producer Shadow
• MaryAnne Horn, N5MYN – Operations Shadow
• David Besing, KD5MTJ – Medical Shadow
• Lee Besing, N5NTG – Security Shadow

I took some photos and video of the event, but haven’t had time to do any editing of the video.  But I did find out the organizers posted the full length video from the event on YouTube (was supposed to be on Ustream.tv), so you can now watch it there. I’ve been told that I was spotted in the video out on the north end of the field taking my own videos. I was wearing my lime green / orange reflective vest and dark pants that day.

Here is the video from YouTube…

Read the rest of this entry »

ARRL FIELD DAY -June 28-29, 2014

To work as many stations as possible on any and all amateur bands (excluding the 60, 30, 17, and 12-meter bands) and to learn to operate in abnormal situations in less than optimal conditions.

Field Day is open to all amateurs in the areas covered by the ARRL/RAC Field Organizations and countries within IARU Region 2. DX stations residing in other regions may be contacted for credit, but are not eligible to submit entries.

Field Day is always the fourth full weekend of June, beginning at 1800 UTC Saturday and running through 2059 UTC Sunday. Field Day 2014 is June 28-29.


This year, the BEXAR OPERATORS GROUP (W5BOG) will be running a good – old fashioned Field Day operation at the Callaham Unit at Choke Canyon Texas State Park.

In keeping with what Field Day should be about, we will be building our HF antennas from scratch and launching them, “site unseen”.

We will be operating out doors under canopies unless the temp exceeds 95 degrees in which case we will be operating from the air conditioned cabin we will be renting and sleeping in.

Anyone is invited to come and see what a real field day is all about. Our rigs will be powered by deep cycle batteries which will be solar charged. Please contact us at alonestaryank@aol.com  if you wish to join up with us for this fun event. We will be supplying the food and drinks.  Bob – W2IK

Note from webmaster – Bob knows how to conduct a really good, high scoring, field day operation. If you want to learn from one of the best, make the effort to drive a bit further and watch the master at work!  Other clubs will be holding Field Day in areas closer to San Antonio if you don’t feel up to driving so far, or if you want to support your local club’s activities. We’ll post those locations as soon as we have them confirmed. – Lee N5NTG

HAMSter Weak Signal Net

0:00 UTC / 6:pm Central Time
144.205 USB

The HAMster Amateur Radio group is about promoting this exciting area of our hobby from 50 Mhz to 1296 Mhz. The goal is to bring Experienced Weak Signal Operators and Weak Signal “rookies” together. To encourage and promote weak signal operations, contest activity and contact weekends.

Our weekly net has enjoyed checkin’s through out San Antonio, and Kerrville, Alice, Nixon, Houston, Cureo, Dallas, Schertz, Boerne, Seguin.

Let’s keep expanding that coverage areas

If you have not yet experienced the thrill of making contacts, 700, 1000, 1400 miles on 2 meters and up, or daily 2 meter and up contacts of 100, 200 and 300 miles….then you are not operating Weak Signal SSB.

The HAMSter group is about experiencing those thrills and encouraging and promoting others to learn more about this exciting aspect of our hobby. Read the rest of this entry »