San Antonio Hams

I’ve finally completed the promised full length video that covers both days of the 2009 Valero Alamo Ride to the River, from start to finish.  

This video includes footage from 1 other ham, Joe KA1MZY, used to fill in some gaps where I was unable to be in two places at one time.  It contains “live, unedited” audio tracks from the ham radio featuring traffic between SAG vans and with Net Control.

I also knew that I had “skipped” taking photos at BP #1 and BP #3 for some reason.   So I found some photos from the LaVernia United Methodist Church’s website for BP #3 (they were the host location for the BP) and have included a few of them in the video.

BP#1 photos…. well, I guess that was about the time we started hearing about course closures when I arrived at the BP, and I spent most of my time talking with the BP Hams and the BP Bike repair guy, rather than snapping photos. So, no photos or videos from BP #1 unless someone else took some.

BP#3 photos… it bugged me for quite a while why I couldn’t even remember visiting BP#3 at all, much less why there weren’t any photos…     Then I remembered the welcomed call on the radio from SAG #12 advising that there was a Dairy Queen just past BP#3 on Hwy 87, where the other SAG’s had been taking lunch breaks on an alternating basis.    I was never there…

Susan & Chuck in SAG#12 offered to relieve me as “turtle” (bringing up the rear of the riders), long enough for me and my son to take a break at Dairy Queen in LaVernia. We decided to take time to eat there, use their facilities, etc, and so SAG #12 was the “turtle” when BP#3 was reached by the last riders, and when I resumed “turtle duty”, it was past BP#3. But I found some photos from the LaVernia United Methodist Church’s website, and have integrated some of those into this video as well.

So this video covers both Day 1 and Day 2 events, with a full listing of Ham volunteers (according to Milton’s report earlier) and other credits. The video is 33 minutes long, about 690mb in size, and exceeded the allowed hosting limits of YouTube, because they won’t accept videos longer than 10 minutes in length.

I recommend downloading (By right clicking the link(s) below and choosing “save as”), then viewing, the video on your computer to avoid buffering delays.  Also, the initial audio track from the starting of the race can be a bit loud, so watch the speaker volume levels on your computer.

3 Choices of Video Format to choose from:

(Had some “issues” with uploading the videos, working on that problem now. … )

1. We’re uploading our video (690mb)  in hi-def AVI DivX format (full screen size) to…   www.SanAntonioHams.org/audio/2009_VALERO_ALAMO_RTTR_VIDEO.avi
2. I also subsequently converted the AVI version to a lower def MP4 version (184MB, 320 x 240 screen size), and we’re also uploading that version here …  www.SanAntonioHams.org/audio/2009_VALERO_ALAMO_RTTR_VIDEO.mp4

But just for grins and giggles…

3. I also converted the AVI version to a lower def WMV version (24.7mb, 292 x 219 screen size) , and we’re also uploading that version here…  http://www.SanAntonioHams.org/audio/2009_VALERO_ALAMO_RTTR_VIDEO.wmv

You can download any of the three versions and view it on your own computer using most any video player.  

If your Real Player says it needs a DivX upgrade, I highly recommend this free version of DivX 7 (free to play, $19.99 to unlock other features), or this free DivX Codec also from download.com

I also recommend the free viewer from http://www.altools.com/ called “ALShow” (current version is 1.7) which has lots of features and is compatible with most video formats “as is”.  Sorry, it only runs on Windows, and it didn’t work well tonight with the projector (which used a USB interface). 

 The hi-def AVI version of this video was designed to be full screen for computer opr TV display, suitable (I hope) for use with a projector onto a big screen in a meeting room environment.    I’ll be testing that theory tonight at AARO’s club meeting…

Comments & constructive criticisms are welcomed.  I don’t plan on quitting my “day job” to become the next blooming film producer for Hollywood…

This was my first attempt to use this new software (Pinnacle Studio Ultimate ver 12.o), and it was a steep learning curve to learn how to merge photos with video footage from different sources, and overlay sound tracks (that weren’t copyrighted material) and static or scrolling titles that could be read easily on a projected screen from across the room.  I made about 12 versions before accepting the final version that I posted above.  Each had much room for improvement.  This version has room for improvement, but I got tired of tweaking and then waiting 1-1/2 hours for the program to convert to MP4 or AVI formats to test the results.