San Antonio Hams

It’s time to dust off those radios, go-kits, antennas and get signed up to volunteer for the public service events that will be starting up in September and October 2915.  I’ll make another post later to cover the events happening in November (Veterans Day Parade, Tour de Gruene) and December (Skywarn

September 12-13th – Central Texas American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure (Austin) – This will be a two-day event starting at the Oak Hill Freescale campus on Saturday, overnight at Jellystone near Fredericksburg, then back to Freescale on Sunday. Also on Sunday, there are other lower-mileage rides on Sunday, basically orbiting Freescale. Contact is Jeff Schmidt N5MNW and Lee Besing N5NTG. Repeater and APRS coverage is still be coordinated. More information about the ride can be found online at this site.

September 12th – La Vernia Wildwest Hammerfest – The San Antonio Ham Support Team will NOT be working this ride this  year due to a disagreement with event organizers over something that occurred during the 2014 ride.  Other hams from Wilson County may be involved, but the usual crew from San Antonio will not be coordinating.

September 13th – HEB 110th Anniversary Bike Fest in Boerne – This is a brand new ride celebrating HEB’s 110th anniversary, benefiting the Junior Diabetes Research Foundation.  Lead Ham Club on this event will naturally be Kendall Amateur Radio Society (KARS) since it is their backyard.  Looks so far like we’ll need to cover 9 break points and 6 SAG vehicles with ham operators, so KARS needs our support to keep this event safer.   Contact David Moore N7RF  (KARS) or Mary Anne Horn N5MYN (SARO) to volunteer ASAP.

October 3-4th – Valero BikeMS Ride To The River – This is our annual 2-day event that was changed from the 2nd weekend to the 1st weekend of October this  year.  On Saturday, the ride goes from the east side of San Antonio (near Houston St and IH-10), out thru Seguin (lunch stop) and back west to New Braunfels, ending at the Comal County Fairgrounds.   Route includes an option to tour River Road if the rider gets past the cut-off point prior to 3:30pm.   Both of Sunday’s routes will start and ends at the Fairgrounds, with courses remaining in the Canyon Lake area.

We need around 4 dozen hams to work this event, staffing such assignments as Rest Stops (Break Points), 15 SAG Vans, Race Official Shadows (ham assigned to shadow a particular event official like police, medical, tour director, etc.) and other positions.   SAG  positions include both driver and navigator, driving a 15 passenger rental van.  Installation of a mobile radio & antenna, plus amber lights (if you have them available) will be needed.

Due to requirements from the National MS Society, some positions require a criminal background check (once every 3 years), DMV driver license check (annually) and completion of an online Risk Management Driver Training course (takes 20 minutes or less) that any driver could almost pass while blindfolded (joking).

Hams at Rest Stops are NOT required to under go a background or DMV check, nor the online course.   All volunteers will need to complete the usual volunteer waiver however.  Contacts for this event will be Charlie Land KC5NKK, Mary Anne Horn N5MYN and Lee Besing N5NTG.

October 24-25th – Tejas Trails Cactus Rose 100. This cross country running event will be held in Hill Country State Natural Park out near Bandera, Texas.  Hams provide radio communications and safety monitoring of runners between Equestrian and the Lodge, as well as one other roving check point. Parking Lot monitoring at Equestrian may be needed.  Please check your calendars and let me know your availability as soon as possible.  Anticipated need will be 7 to 10 operators to monitor the course for a minimum of 30 hours. Thank you for your continued support of Tejas Trails events. Ham coordination provided by Hill Country REACT Team. Contact Louis Upton K5STX

October 31st – Sattler Halloween Night.  This is an annual Canyon Lake event with members of the Hill Country REACT Team participating to distribute 80-100 pounds of candy to the hundreds or thousands of kids from the area who converge on Sattler between 5pm and 8pm that night. Comal County Sherriff deputies and constables will provide safety and traffic monitoring along the 3 mile stretch down the middle of Sattler.   This is a fun event, as shown in this video from YouTube.com that was posted back in 2009 by Lee Besing N5NTG. (This was one of my first attempts to edit videos – Lee)  If you are interested in showing up for this event, contact Hill Country REACT Team for the exact location of our booth.  Candy provided by the Canyon Lake Chamber of Commerce.  If you want to  bring another bag or two with you, feel free to do so.