San Antonio Hams

The SARC Board of Directors announced the 2009 Dues schedule which includes the “Early Bird Special” effective immediately. All members may renew their registration, or New hams may register as a new member, by paying only $12 for their 2009 dues.  Deadline for this special time limited offer is the date of the Radio Fiesta, January 10, 2009.  Regular dues rate is $15/household per year.  (Flat rate for all hams in same household.)  A PDF copy of their membership application can be downloaded here.

The SARC Board of Directors also set an “advanced admision price” for the Radio Fiesta of $4/person.   No deadline was stated in the announcement, but obviously you need to pay up before the date of the event.  Check out their website at www.w5sc.org for details.

Alamo Area Radio Organization (AARO) will hold their next monthly meeting on Wednesday, November 12th, at a new location, Martha’s Mexican Restaurant, located at the corner of Huebner and Babcock Rd.  Meeting starts at 7pm, dining is optional, but at your own expense.  See their website at www.aa5ro.org for details.

San Antonio Radio Club (SARC)will hold their next meeting on Thursday, November 13th 2008 at K-COMM The HAM Store. Meetings start at 7:00pm.  This month’s meeting will have a special program featuring the recent DX trip to Belize by Tom O’Brien. Three radio operators from this area made the trip.  November is also the month to elect officers for the 2009 year.The address for K-COMM is 10815 Gulfdale and is located near the intersection of US HWY 281 and Isom Rd.  See their website at www.w5sc.org for details.

Radio Operators of South Texas (ROOST) hold their meetings on the 2nd Friday of the month, which would make that November 14th at 7:00pm.  They serve a meal, so the club suggests bringing a donation of $5 and a side dish to help out.  Visit their website at www.w5ros.org for more details..

Hill County REACT Team (REACT) has changed their monthly meeting date from the 3rd Monday to the 3rd Wednesday, same location, the Bulverde Volunteer Fire Dept on Cougar Bend Rd and FM1863.  This month, that would set their date as November 19th, starting at 7pm. They will be holding elections for various officer positions during this meeting.  All voting is done in person, not by mail-in ballot, must be present to vote. Visit website for details www.HillCountryREACT.org

For the November meeting times for other ham clubs in the area, visit the Area Clubs Web Page Here.

Fresh off the e-mail press from Jeff N5MNW…

The [Austin Amateur Radio Club’s] W5KA ’94 repeater has been exhibiting long/hanging squelch tails recently, most likely due to terrific VHF band openings and the decision to keep the Austin ’94 an old-fashioned carrier-access machine.  The antenna at ~1500′ ASL hears things we at ~700′ ASL can’t.  Near-threshold co-channel (Brownwood, HOU, SA, DFW) signals cause the hysteresis in the squelch circuit to keep the repeater keyed even though no audible signal is getting thru.

The [Austin] Technical Team is working on adding multiple, S/N voted 107.2Hz PL-tone-access remote receive site(s) that will help mitigate this effect.

Make sure you are encoding 107.2Hz to take full advantage of the planned upgrades!