San Antonio Hams

David Freiberger K5OLE on top of the American Red Cross Bldg working on one of the antennas

Our friend, mentor and leader, David Freiberger K5OLE is gone. He passed away this afternoon after a very long battle, first with cancer, then with complications from the treatment of it.

J C Smith, N5RXS, will update us with the funeral arrangements when he can.

I’m attaching a photo of my friend, doing what he loved.

Sadly,
Shane NS5D

Additional info will be posted here as provided.  We encourage other hams who knew David, to post comments on this article to share your thoughts, memories, etc.  

David was recently the Bexar County EC (Emergency Coordinator), stepping down only due to his health issues, and was a former president of the San Antonio Radio Club. He was active in the STXDXCC Club as well.  His cheerful attitude helped a lot of hams do their jobs better.

Lee N5NTG
Webmaster for SanAntonioHams.org

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Last week Joe Gadus, KD5KTX resigned as the Public Information Coordinator for the South Texas Section. I was sorry to receive this resignation as Joe has done a fantastic job in the Section both as a Public Information Officer and as the Public Information Coordinator.  During his tenure as PIC he pursued the creation of a new position in the section, that of  an Assistant PIC and signed up five excellent PIO’s to fill those slots. With the five assistants in place to help him they, as a team, have grown the South Texas Section list of ACTIVE Public Information Officers to over 21. This is very likely the largest active group of PIO’s in any single section in the league.  

Joe also was one of the very first to be recognized formally by the ARRL as one of three PIO’s of the year last year.  His PR efforts within the section have been everything I could have hoped for in both a PIO and PIC.  I want thank Joe for his time and dedication to the position.

In finding a replacement for the PIC job I found myself with the enviable task of having several very qualified volunteers that have offered their services to the section. It made the decision a tough one as I would have felt comfortable in appointing any of them and knowing they will do a great job. 

Having said that, I would like to announce the appointment of Mike Manshack, AD5OG, as the new Public Information Coordinator for the South Texas Section.  Mike has been active as a PIO and as an Assistant PIC and has done a great job in recruiting new PIO’s,as well as working with the local ARES and Clubs to get media coverage for their events. I feel comfortable that the entire PIO  team will continue to excel while working with Mike.

Please join me in congratulating Mike on his new role.

Lee, W5LHC
STX SM

During tonight’s Bexar County ARES  Training Net,  Lothar briefly mentioned the garage door problems those of us living near the intersection of 151 and Potranco Road (San Antonio, TX) are having.    As Lothar correctly stated, the issue is a conflict between a new radio communications tower put up at the NSA facility being built on Military Drive and garage door openers in the vicinity.

The NSA tower works on the LMR 390 Mhz frequency, which is shared with older garage door openers, including, as it turns out, my own. As NSA has stated in public, they believe they have the legal basis for operating on this frequency, and do not intend to stop operating on this frequency.   So, for those of us with garage door openers operating at that frequency, it means that your remote may not open your garage door until you are very close to it. In my case, I actually had to park in my driveway, get out of my car, and activate the remote standing two feet from the garage door. A bit of an inconvenience.

The Genie GIRUD-1T Universal Dual Frequency Conversion Kit alleviates frequency issues from the recently implemented Land Mobile Radio (LMR) communications system. The LMR system is used by military bases across the U.S. and was implemented as part of the nation’s Homeland Security efforts.

Most newer garage door openers operate on the 315 Mhz frequency to avoid this conflict. So if you are having these issues and would like some resolution, you can do one of two things: 1.) Purchase a new garage door opener that operates at that frequency, or 2.) Install a converter which will allow your existing garage door opener to operate on the new frequency.

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Quoted from ARRL news:

In February 2010, the  (AHA) filed a request with the FCC for a blanket waiver of Section 97.113(a)(3) of the Commission’s Rules “to permit hospitals seeking accreditation to use Amateur Radio operators who are hospital employees to transmit communications on behalf of the hospital as part of emergency preparedness drills.”

On March 3, the FCC issued a Public Notice — WP Docket 10-54 — seeking comments if the Commission “should grant AHA’s request for a blanket waiver of Section 97.113(a)(3) to permit amateur operators who are hospital employees to participate in emergency drills that are conducted by hospitals for accreditation purposes and that are not government-sponsored.”Section 97.113(a)(3) specifically prohibits amateur stations from transmitting communications “in which the station licensee or control operator has a pecuniary interest, including communications on behalf of an employer.”

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The National Weather Service in New Braunfels has announced they are moving their regional Skywarn Net away from the 147.14 repeater to the newer 444.450 UHF repeater that is located just south of Startzville, with an antenna up at 1670 ft above sea level.  That repeater has a tone of 114.8 and a POSITIVE offset.  The 444.450 repeater has very wide regional coverage, equivalent to what the 147.14 repeater used to be.  We’ve had folks from as far south as Wilford Hall on Lackland AFB in San Antonio, or north to south Austin on 6th Street.  Of course those contacts were made using 50 watt mobile or base radios.

This repeater will soon be hooked up via an IRLP node, but the trustee Wade W5ERX is still working out the bugs for that.   This repeater is being sponsored by the Hill Country REACT Team.

This Skywarn net is NOT to be confused with the local Skywarn Nets in San Antonio or Austin on the 146.94 repeaters.  In San Antonio, that repeater has a PL tone of 179.9 and a negative offset.  The Austin repeater has no PL tone required, but does have an output tone.

In San Antonio, most of the time, you will find one of the AEC’s (Assistant Emergency Coordinator) from the Bexar County ARES group running the local Skywarn Net, and the repeater has a tone that goes off periodically, sort of a beep, just to let you know something serious is going on even if you don’t hear anybody talking at the moment.

If the Net Control operator asks for specific types of reports, don’t call in with reports of “It’s not raining over here”, or “I just saw on TV that such and such was happening…”.  Don’t clutter up the frequency with chatter.

HAITI: ECOM Operatoins appear to be slowing down somewhat.  The hospital ship USNS COMFORT is no longer accepting trauma patients, at the request of the Haitian government, and is preparing to return to the U.S.

The University of Miami Mediashare Operation has beem moved from the International Airport to another area, so that the airport could open for regular commercial traffic.

Our MARS volunteers continue to provide support to the effort and will, for a while yet.   Keep them in your thoughts, as they are in a less secure area now that they have moved off the International Airport.