Spring is in the air, and our calendar list of events is springing into action. We’ll eventually get all of these posted to the actual calendar, but here is the quick and dirty listing of the next few major public service events where Hams are needed here in the Central / South Texas area.
FYI – This is our 500th article posted on San Antonio Hams! Yay!
- March 25th – Tall Texan Triathlon (Boerne), 1 day event. Participants swim in Boerne City Lake, ride their bikes 56 miles (route thru Waring), and run 12 miles. Hams needed at checkpoints / rest stops on the ride and run portion of the route, no need to get your radio wet in the lake. Gordon Dial K5SUZ coordinating. Contact him by phone (only) at 210-410-9518. No email.
- March 25th – Capitol 10K Race & Fun Run- 35th Anniversary! 35th Anniversary – Sunday, March 25, 2012. Jeff Schmidt, N5MNW, coordinating. Contact Jeff at N5MNW@arrl.net
- April 21-22nd – BPMS150 (Houston to Austin), 2 day event, arrive Friday night before to get free hotel room for SAG Hams. Using dual band mobile radios (preferred) because some nets are on VHF (2 meter) and others on UHF. Lee Besing, N5NTG, & Charlie Land, KC5NKK coordinating. Contact Lee at 210-771-7075 or email info@sanantoniohams.org, Contact Charlie at 512-796-7565 or email at kc5nkk@hillcountryreact.org.
- April 22nd – Wildflower 100 Bicycle Tour (San Antonio), 1 day event, start / end at Retama Park (IH-35 & 1604 area). SAG Hams and Rest Stop Hams needed. Gordon Dial K5SUZ coordinating. Contact him by phone (only) at 210-410-9518. No email.
- May 5th – Central Texas Tour de Cure (Austin), 1 day event. Start / Finish at Travis Expo Center. 5 routes, many rest stop hams & SAG Hams needed, plus net control. Using the Austin 146.94 repeater most likely. Jeff Schmidt, N5MNW, coordinating. Contact Jeff at n5mnw@arrl.net or Lee at info@sanantoniohams.org to volunteer.
- May 19th – South Texas Tour de Cure (Boerne / San Antonio), 1 day event. Start / Finish at Champion High School in Boerne, Texas. 5 routes, 8 rest stops, 8 SAG Hams (plus navigator), net control help, etc. Lee Besing, N5NTG, coordinating. Contact Lee at info@sanantoniohams.org to volunteer.
- June 9-10th – Texas Water Safari, multi-day event, but San Antonio hams usually only handle Day 1, way into the night on some locations. http://www.texaswatersafari.org for info. Eric Olson, WB5ZJQ, coordinating. Contact Eric by email at wb5zjq@sarepeater.net to volunteer. Packet Radio used to transmit canoe numbers to other stations down the river. Some positions are short (closer to start line), and others are mosquito bait (late into the night). This event can be lots of fun, sort of a mini-Field Day event, combined with a picnic. Every location is different.
- June 23-24th – Field Day Weekend. We’ll be posting locations for the various organized ham clubs in the upcoming weeks, and for the unorganized ones as well.
See more details below for the BPMS150 and Tour de Cure events…
April 21-22 – BPMS150 bicycle tour, from Houston to La Grange, then to Austin on day 2. Hams needed to drive SAG Vans or Box Truck / Bus Combos (super SAG’s). Hams probably needed to help with Break Points also, but I’m not the contact for that assignment, only for the SAG Hams.
Hams coming from the west (i.e. IH-35 corridor), can arrange to pickup their SAG Van / Truck at either San Antonio or Austin locations. Fuel is paid for, not a reimbursement situation. Free hotel room on Friday, 4/20, in Houston for the out of towners, and there may still be some limited free hotel rooms for the first come, first serve, out of town SAG drivers. Otherwise, free bunk bed at the Church Camp in La Grange on Saturday night.
MSBP150 Training will be in San Marcos for us “Western Hams” on April 7th. Contact Lee Besing @ 210-771-7075 or email him at info@sanantoniohams.org if interested. Did I mention free t-shirts, free food, and free place to sleep?
This year, the American Diabetes Tour de Cure will be on two different days. Both events will be one day events, starting and ending at same location, rather than the previous years where we started in San Antonio, stayed over night in San Marcos, and finished in Austin. Austin will come first on May 5th, followed by San Antonio’s event on May 19th.
May 5th – Central Texas Tour de Cure (Austin) will start and finish at the Travis County Expo Center. Jeff Schmidt, N5MNW coordinating, Lee Besing, N5NTG, assisting. Contact Jeff at n5mnw@arrl.net or Lee at info@sanantoniohams.org to volunteer. 5 routes, so lots of help needed! I don’t have lots of details yet for this event, regarding the ham assignments.
Here is link to more info & route maps for the AUSTIN RIDE… http://diabetes.org/austintourdecure
May 19th – South Texas Tour de Cure (San Antonio) will start and finish at Champion High School on the south side of Boerne, Texas (just off Hwy 46, east of IH-10). Lee Besing, N5NTG, coordinating. Contact Lee at 210-771-7075 or info@sanantoniohams.org for more information.
This year Hams Rule! Well, sorta. We’re expected to staff 8 break points / rest stops, plus 8 of the white 15 passenger SAG Vans, and the start / finish. Because the routes are challenging (4 routes, 2 go north, 2 go south), we’ll likely need to run 2 net controls. We’ve already been in contact with KARS (Kendall Amateur Radio Society) to get their help & use of their repeater, and with the Kerr Hams (Kerrville) to get their help and use of their repeater on the northern loop of the 104 mile route between Comfort & Kerrville. Below are some screen shots of the four (4) routes that start / end in Boerne. Note the 104 mile route overlaps the 60 mile route, and the 30 mile route overlaps the 18 mile route.
Click the images below for a much larger view of each route.
