San Antonio Hams

While some of us have operated in the field under emergency conditions such as during hurricanes and just after earthquakes, most hams haven’t.

I have done both, but during the recent series of Haitian earthquakes I have been, for the most part, on the “sidelines”.

I currently monitor some of the emcomm traffic coming out of the affected area by listening to the SATERN frequencies and even taking a turn at being a SATERN net control op.

Very few communications have been coming out of the country because there are presently only two amateur radio operators down there.

Hopefully, things will change if agencies get “their act together” and send communications “Jump Teams” to help send health and welfare traffic from Haiti so loved ones back in the U.S. and other countries will know that their friends/relatives in Haiti are alive. Just this simple act will relieve a lot of burden and suffering.

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Title: Skywarn Training
Location: UT Pickle Research Campus – North Austin
Link out: Click here
Description: 20th Annual Lou Withrow SKYWARN
Austin / South Central Texas Severe Weather Spotter Training Session

February 20th, 2010

Schedule, Presentations and other information can be found at http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/kimmel/skywarn2010.html
Start Time: 08:15
Date: 2010-02-20

BEXAR OPERATORS GROUP announces the 2010 version of it’s “Jump Team Boot Camp” which will be held on May 14 – 16th. This year’s event is a full three days. 

This would be the fourth “Jump Team Boot Camp” given by the Bexar Operators Group. It would be a three day deployment event at a site yet to be disclosed. This “Jump Team Boot Camp” will concentrate on amateur radio and the ways and means to get a communications jump team operational should there be a need to deploy some distance from your home and communicate in the aftermath of a disaster when nothing is left standing. Learn what other groups don’t teach. This is a complete “hands on” class.

Just like previous sessions given by the Bexar Operators Group, this will be an actual drive-and-operate operation and NOT a desktop drill. When the destination has been reached, all participants will assist in the construction of shelters and operating areas after being prepped on procedures.

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On board was a crew of seven: Colonel Rick Husband; Lt. Colonel Michael Anderson; Commander Laurel Clark; Captain David Brown; Commander William McCool; Dr. Kalpana Chawla; & Ilan Ramon, a Colonel in the Israeli Air Force.

The Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club will again hold a special event station in remembrance of the shuttle disaster on Feb. 1, 2003.

The event will occur on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010. Ham operators from other areas are welcome to attend the event. If you cannot come to Nacogdoches, we would like to hear from you on 20 or 40 meters. Operation will begin at 0800 CST (1400 UTC) and end at 1500 CST (2100 UTC).

The station will be set up at the McMichael Middle School located at 4330 SE Stallings Drive in Nacogdoches. This is on Loop 224 between Hwy 21 east and FM 2259. The event commemorates how the ham radio operators from the local area went into action immediately after the shuttle crash to provide emergency communications and relay traffic necessary to the coordination of the event. Within hours, ham operators from across the state of Texas and other states as well also became involved. Many ham radio clubs sent members to assist in providing communications for the varied search teams. Other clubs provided towers and repeater equipment necessary to relay vital information.

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Reprinted from the CQ / WorldRadio Online Newsroom:

Some ham radio activity from Haiti is beginning to be heard, following yesterday’s devastating earthquake.

Father John Henault, HH6JH, in Port-au-Prince, made contact late Wednesday morning with the Intercontinental Assistance and Traffic Net (IATN) on 14.300 MHz, the IARU Global Centre of Activity frequency for emergency communications. Based on relays monitored at W2VU, Father John reported that he and those with him were safe, but had no power and no phone service. He was operating on battery power and hoping to get a generator running later in the day. He asked the station copying him, William Sturridge, KI4MMZ, in Flagler Beach, Florida, to telephone relatives with information that he was OK.

The following frequencies are in use for earthquake-related traffic and should be kept clear unless you are able to provide requested assistance:

• 14300 (IATN),
• 14265 (SATERN);
• 7045 (IARU Region II) and
• 3720 (IARU Region II) kHz.

Additional frequencies may be activated on different bands at different times of day, so be sure to listen carefully before transmitting to make sure you are not interfering with emergency traffic.

W2IK now has a new EMCOMM only web site:  WWW.W2IK.NET   which contains emcomm info including parts of his 250 page “EMCOMM AND YOU” CD.    

This site is a work in progress and is constantly growing, but it’s presently  loaded with lots of useful information about developing your own emergency communications skills.   

 This site contains ONLY EMCOMM material.

The new Canadian training course contains over 100 pages which were written by W2IK, so we must be doing something right.

On Wednesday, December 23, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued an Instruction concerning MARS, effective immediately.

This Instruction gives the three MARS services — Army, Air Force and Navy/Marine Corps — a new focus on homeland security and a new name: Military Auxiliary Radio System.

 The Instruction is the first major revision to MARS since January 26, 1988 — as such, the first revision since the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, two major events that changed the way Amateur Radio dealt with emergency communications.

The DoD defines a “military auxiliary” as “an organized body of volunteers prepared to supplement the uniformed services or any designated civilian authorities by provision of specialized autonomous services when called upon or when situations warrant,” and gives the Civil Air Patrol and Coast Guard Auxiliary as examples of auxiliaries.

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Okay, the long wait is finally over!   We’ve compressed 24 hours of operation down to about 5 minutes, without using the fast forward button.  Amazing, but true!  Of course since we weren’t personally there the whole time to take photos and videos of every single operator, we weren’t able to include more than the three operators shown in the video (recorded live) plus a few others that had their photos taken and forwarded to us.

Most of the footage in the video was provided by Lee N5NTG, with some by Bob W2IK and Wade W5ERX.

Here is the YouTube link to this video…

Here are some photos taken during the 2009 Skywarn Recognition Day during the operations held at the Austin / San Antonio National Weather Service office in New Braunfels…  We’re working on a video as we type this blog entry, so check back later to see some area hams working the bands, without doing Kareoke…  See Video Here..

The following 9 hams worked at this year’s 24 hour event locally…

• Wade W5ERX  – REACT / GVARC
• Louis K1STX  – REACT / Chaparral ARC
• Bob W2IK   – Bexar Operators Group
• JC N5RXS  – SARC
• Pat AD5BR  – REACT
• Lee N5NTG  – REACT
• Gary K5GST  – REACT / GVARC
• Jeremy KE5ELI  – Chaparral ARC
• Al KE6LGE  – REACT
• Wade KE5ZOU – REACT

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Just announced today on the South Texas ARES Email List…

 I’m pleased to announce that Don Kirchner W5DK has stepped up to become EC for Comal county.   Thanks Don!

Tom Whiteside, N5TW
South Texas ARES Section Emergency Coordinator

Webmaster note – To learn more about Don, view his video on YouTube shown below… (just kidding, but Don is well known for helping out with the MS150, Tour de Cure, maintenance for multiple area repeaters and EOC installations, including the newest repeater at Canyon Lake on 444.450. – Lee N5NTG)